While it would be deliciously ironic if the Crawler could say a little birdie tipped him to Sister Sparrow, the truth is, it was his six-foot-two rugby-playing buddy Dan.
Apparently, Rugby Dan had first caught the band at the Moe-down festival, where the patented amalgam of horn-basted soul, funk and rock made them the buzz du jour around the Sani-Cans that weekend.
Cut to earlier this month: we find the Crawler and Rugby Dan soaking in the much-ballyhooed Sparrow sound in the flesh at the Main Pub in Manchester, Conn. Granted, they didn’t steal the show this particular evening, as they were the only act on the bill. But from the omnipresent head-bobs, foot-taps, post-solo bursts of applause and trips to the dance floor by audience members Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds certainly seemed to have everyone eating out of the palms of their hands once again.
Leading the Sparrow attack is Arleigh Kincheloe, a veritable vocal siren who, despite her diminutive stature, is equally adept at evoking images of Amy Winehouse, Christina Aguilera or Janis Joplin as the need arises.
Her onstage “wingman” is none other than brother /Dirty Bird Jackson Kincheloe, an accomplished harmonica player. The sibling revelry is rounded out by airtight horns and a crack rhythm section led by cousin Bram Kincheloe on the kit. And it doesn’t take more than just a few bars from any of the dozen tracks on the band’s debut disc (particularly standout tracks “Freight Train” and “Boom Boom”) or even a raucous cover of The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues”—which they performed that evening—to realize that the Patridge family this ain’t.
“Upstate New York is funkier than you might expect, huh?” Arleigh says of the observation during a pre-performance interview with the Crawler. “I’m sure it has something to do with the musical family I was born into [mom was reportedly a country singer in a Patsy Cline vein, dad, a rock ‘n’ roll drummer]. But, yeah, the Kincheloes know how to get down, and I developed a taste for horns while singing with my parents as a kid. When I was putting the Birds together, that was definitely a priority, but the musical style has evolved—of course—as we continue to grow as filthy members of this flock.”
Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds have landed a highly coveted spot at Strange Creek 2011 on Sunday, May 29, part of a weekend-long bill that also contains jam band staples Max Creek, Strangefolk, New Riders of the Purple Sage, the Ryan Montbleau Band, The McLovins, The Alchemystics, and many more. For full schedule, ticket options and more, kindly point your browser to the online home of the entity responsible for the entire shindig, The Wormtown Trading Company (wormtown.com).
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In other news, many is the Beauty and the Beat fan who is going to The Go-Gos‘ 30th anniversary party, in honor of the landmark record that gave us “Our Lips Are Sealed,” “We Got The Beat” and more, this Tuesday, May 31 at the Calvin Theater (iheg.com). While the Crawler expects to be one of them, he’ll also be going promptly at 8 p.m. to catch up with his longtime friend Julie Rader of Blackheart Records and the opening act she is currently working with, The Dollyrots. As their hit single declares, they are “Awesome,” after all.
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Last up, who are you not to have a ticket to Roger Daltrey‘s upcoming top-to-bottom performance of Tommy (plus other classic hits)? Hopefully just someone who hasn’t heard the news yet. But that’s an easy fix.
The rock icon has tapped Hartford’s XL Center as one of the select venues for the just-announced six-week tour. That show occurs on Saturday, Sept. 24 and tickets—including special VIP options—are now available at aeglive.com.
Send correspondence to: Nightcrawler, PO Box 427, Somers, CT 06071; fax to (860) 394-4262 or email: Garycarra@aol.com.
