Get your holidays on when Newport Live presents The Sweetback Sisters “Country Christmas Sing-along Spectacular” at the Jamestown Arts Center on Saturday, December 16th at 7 PM at the Jamestown Arts Center; 18 Valley Street, Jamestown, RI. Tickets are available on EventBrite or at the Newport Live website.
Technically speaking, The Sweetback Sisters come from Brooklyn, NY but philosophically, they hail from a parallel universe, one where country music history zigged instead of zagged.
“I wouldn’t call us a throwback band,” says Emily Miller. “What we do is look back to the golden era of country music and imagine that the genre took a different evolutionary fork, that the honky-tonk element took over rather than the pop-rock sound you hear everywhere today. I feel like we’re actually a very modern band, just on an alternate timeline.”
On their new album, King Of Killing Time, they push their sound into more adventurous and playful territory than ever before. Centered around the charismatic, airtight harmonies of Emily Miller and Zara Bode, the record’s ten tracks are a mix of infectious originals and unexpected interpretations of everything from George Jones to Gram Parsons. Hints of jazz and ragtime flesh out the Sisters’ unique brand of classic country, as Miller, Bode, and their remarkably versatile band conjure up a singular blend of heart, humor, and virtuosic musicianship.
Hailed as “brilliant” by NBC New York, The Sweetback Sisters first emerged in 2007 with their debut EP, Bang!, the band built a dedicated following in the US and Europe and racked up a heap of critical acclaim. The New Yorker raved that the women are “strong singers who revel in close harmonies,” while Sing Out! said that their music “bristles with the energy of the very best young American performers,” and NPR praised them as “Americana darlings with a roadhouse edge.”
With a live show that The Boston Globe described as “the perfect balance of sass, sincerity and swing,” the Sisters have performed everywhere from “A Prairie Home Companion” to “Mountain Stage” and graced festivals from coast to coast in addition to selling out numerous theaters with their annual “Country Christmas Singalong Spectacular.”
