Laura of The Secret Sisters, photo by Dee Ann
Two Alabama sisters were sitting in restaurant The Unie in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Just about to get ready for their live performance. Laura said it is their fifth time this year in Europe. Their performance at the Jools Holland show on the BBC, last year gave them great exposure and ever since they have been touring in both USA and Europe. Just the two of them, Laura, Lydia Rogers and one acoustic guitar. They like to keep it simple Laura said.
They just came back from a tour in Germany and Laura started to pick up some German words. Now she tries to pick up some Dutch words. She finds it interesting.
It was a sitting down concert with 117 seats, all sold out. The audience probably know the Secret Sisters from the Jools Holland show, and some of them thought they would play with a band, but there were only two mics on stage. When the girls came up, dressed in black pants, I heard someone whisper “Where are the dresses?” We know it’s all about the music and not their appearance, but somehow we love the dresses creating the vintage atmosphere along with the music. Anyway… I was curious how those two girls were going to entertain us for at least one hour. Between the songs… Laura, the elder sister with a good sense of humor, told us stories about being sisters, laughing and arguing while on tour and about their childhood influences. Like George Jones, Patsy Cline, Skeeter Davis, Hank Williams, etc… Lydia gave a modest smile towards her sister and the audience, every once in a while.
The Secret Sisters, photo by Dee Ann
Together, in the closest harmony you can get… they sang songs of Hank, Patsy, Skeeter but also the Everly Brothers, Jim Reeves. Also some of their own songs, like “Tomorrow will be kinder” written by Lydia, after a severe storm hit their home town, while being on tour.
While they played simple chords on one guitar (Lydia most of the time) their beautiful voices carried the whole show. Everyone was silent and very impressed by the sound of it. I was wondering who sang which part, because you could hardly tell. One hour and a half just went by in a heartbeat. The last song they sang acapella. That is very odd, because mostly shows end with fireworks, but they kept it as light as a feather with “Tonight you belong to me.”
Lydia of the The Secret Sisters, Photo by Dee Ann
I left the show very impressed. Keep everything simple and let their voices do what they’re good at. It worked!
After the show they took their time to talk to the fans and sign their cd’s. Have some pictures taken. Girls as sweet as their voices!
