Got a tip? Send it our way
Share your music news — big or small — with the Austin360.com team by sending us an e-mail.
Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2008 > March > 15 > Entry
SXSW review: Quebe Sisters
I don’t know about anyone else, but nothing quite perks up my Saturday night like watching three pretty women with fiddles play Western Swing and cowboy music. Lucky me, the Quebe sisters were on hand to fill the bill at Jovita’s.
The Quebes (rhymes with “babies”) hail from Burleson, which is also, for what it’s worth, home of Kelly Clarkson, the first “American Idol” champion. Burleson is a bland bedroom community south of Fort Worth, but for my money it’s close enough to West Texas to infuse the Quebes with plenty of Panhandle soul.
Between the three young women — Grace, the oldest, Sophia the youngest and middle sister Hulda — they have enough state and national fiddle championship medals and trophies to stock a good-sized pawnshop.
There was something mesmerizing about watching the trio (abetted by rhythm guitarist Joey McKenzie and bassist Drew Phelps) swing into a tune like “Right Or Wrong” or “Air Mail Special,” their fiddle bows sawing in triplicate, silvery solos bouncing from one sister to another. And when they harmonized, a’la the Andrews Sisters on, say, “Along the Navajo Trail” or “It’s A Sin To Tell A Lie,” well, the decades fell away. You halfway expected to see GIs queuing up for coffee and donuts over in the corner from the USO volunteers.
It was the kind of homespun gig where one of the band members could crack that their new release was a million seller (“We’ve got a million of ‘em in the cellar”) and there were genuine laughs instead of groans or embarrassed silence.
The Quebe Sisters probably aren’t the Next Big Thing (but then that’s probably what they said about the Dixie Chicks), but they don’t exhibit any pressing need to inhabit that role. Which leaves lots of room for heartfelt music and a twirl on the dancefloor on a Saturday night.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: SXSW
Comments
Click here to report comment abuse.