In the heart of the creative renaissance taking shape in Oakland, California, the T Sisters are making a name for themselves as one of the West Coast's foremost indie-Americana acts poised to break out in 2016. A follow-up to their 2014 debut release, Kindred Lines (produced by celebrated bluegrass artist Laurie Lewis), the T Sisters' new self-titled sophomore studio album was just released on Friday, October 14, 2016. T Sisters features 10 songs that, while inspired by the American folk tradition, also embody a fresh and contemporary sound with inflections of pop, R&B/soul and country. The T Sisters are available for interviews upon request.
Led by sisters Erika, Rachel and Chloe Tietjen, the T Sisters first came to national recognition with a performance on A Prairie Home Companion and a nationally broadcasted rendition of the national anthem at a San Francisco Giants game. The T Sisters' awe-inspiring harmonies have impressed many prominent artists, leading to onstage collaborations with the likes of Amos Lee, Jim Lauderdale, and The Wood Brothers, as well as supporting vocal performances for three years in a row at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival (San Francisco, CA). Quickly garnering the attention of top tastemakers, the debut single "The Road" from T Sisters is already receiving early airplay on Sirius/XM, and the second album single "Come Back Down" has aired on the venerable San Francisco radio station KFOG.
Working in tandem with lauded engineer Cian Riordan (Nickel Creek, Grace Potter), the T Sisters have taken the reigns as executive producers for the first time, shining a light on not only the sisters' compelling songwriting but also their production savviness. Backed by their touring band of Steve Height (acoustic bass), Andrew Allen Fahlander (mandolin, guitar) and Marlon Aldana (drums), the T Sisters live-tracked all of the instrumentation at John Vanderslice's Tiny Telephone Studios (San Francisco, CA) and recorded the vocals at Barefoot Recording Studios (Los Angeles, CA). Special guests on T Sisters include Jan Purat (violin), Taylor Brown (lap steel), Gianni Staiano (wurlitzer, organ, grand piano), Anton Patzner (string arrangement, conduction) and Lewis Patzer (cello).
The 9 original compositions and one cover song comprising T Sisters cast a portrait of life experiences replete with love, struggle, and self-discovery. The album's opener, "Come Back Down," is inspired by "a great love, the kind that buoys you up and leaves you feeling as though you can never return to the way you lived before that love came along," says Erika. Drawing from the doo-wop influences of the late '50s, "Shadoop," in sultry vocal tones, chronicles a romance arising from an unexpected encounter. Ramping up with an energetic bluegrass feel, "Fight Song" acknowledges the importance of the struggle for change even in the face of adversity, and was scribed following Al Gore's keynote speech at the Folk Alliance International Conference where the T Sisters performed in 2014.
With intermittent theatrical piano stylings and tight 3-part chorus harmonies, "Sticks and Stones" oscillates between a vindictive love story and an earnest plea for reconciliation; the musical tone mimics these extreme shifts and achieves a dynamic as volatile as the narrator herself. "So It Goes," one of two a cappella songs on T Sisters, is inspired by Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, and is a mystical contemplation of the non-linear facets of time and the nature of creation and destruction.
"The Road," the first single from T Sisters, is an anthem to the musical vagabond lifestyle the T Sisters live and love. "Since we quit our day jobs in 2013, we've spent a lot of time on the road. Living a nomadic life is both thrilling and challenging. We miss our families and loved ones, our pets, our homes and friends, and yet we continue on in our itinerant fashion, spreading music across the country, meeting wonderful folks and experiencing a host of bizarre and fulfilling moments."
The only non-original song on the album, "Make It Rain," is a haunting, soulful ballad written by contemporary Northern Irish songwriter Foy Vance. Though Vance's composition refers to rain in a metaphorical sense, the T Sisters were drawn to the intense cry for rain due to the longstanding California drought. T Sisters describe how "we've been calling to the rains on behalf of our dry state all along our travels." On a sassier note, "Thief" is an exploration of the illicit sides of love, the tension between giving into and holding off desire, and the pleasure of acquiescing to an inevitable force. "Sonnet #4" was inspired by the eponymous poem from Rainer Maria Rilke's Sonnets to Orpheus, and expresses "the relief of unburdening ourselves of the preoccupations, whether romantic or metaphysical, that prevent us from experiencing our lives more fully," says Chloe. The album closes with a second a capella number, "I Have A Hammer." While the song references Pete Seeger's progressive anthem, "If I Had A Hammer," it focuses on ambivalence rather than protest, and how, ironically, having a hammer in the context of complex modern life often leads to inaction instead of action.
T Sisters embark on a headlining tour throughout the Western states in October and November 2016 in support of T Sisters, and are set to perform in East Coast markets during the first quarter of 2017. On October 14, T Sisters celebrate the national release of their latest recording at The Chapel in San Francisco, CA. For more information regarding T Sisters, please visit: tsisters.com
T Sisters
T Sisters
Three-headed Sounds
Release Date: October 14, 2016
Track Listing:
1. Come Back Down
2. Shadoop
3. Fight Song
4. Sticks And Stones
5. So It Goes
6. The Road
7. Make It Rain
8. Thief
9. Sonnet #4
10. I Have A Hammer
T SISTERS FALL 2016 UPCOMING TOUR DATES
November 10, 2016 --Avogadro's Number -- Fort Collins, CO
November 11, 2016 -- Gold Hill Inn -- Boulder, CO
November 12, 2016 -- The Walnut Room -- Denver, CO
November 13, 2016 -- Steve's Guitars -- Carbondale, CO
November 26, 2016 -- The Mystic Theatre -- Petaluma, CA
