When Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds recorded their sophomore record, Pound Of Dirt, frontwoman Arleigh Kincheloe learned something very important about herself as a singer. “I learned a lot about my voice and I learned how to accept who I am as a singer and what that means,” she told me back then. “I think I had different fantasies of what kind of singer I would grow up to be and getting in the studio and just being faced with like my personality or my unique quality, it was a really big challenge. I was like, this is what I sound like?” (laughs)
Since that 2012 release, the band has grown into a powerhouse live extravaganza, with stampeding horns, a raging harmonica, flaring guitars and Kincheloe belting her heart out on songs that border rock, folk, Jazz and funk. And on the heels of an upcoming new album, The Weather Below, and a highly praised SXSW performance, they are only going to get hotter.
By the sound of them, you wouldn’t think this band of merry musicians were actually the product of upstate New York. They have the horns of New Orleans, the Austin swing, the shit-kicking punch of Georgia. “I think it’s because of the rural area that I grew up in,” Kincheloe explained about her hometown in the Catskills and how it influenced who they became. “I went to the public school but I graduated with only twenty-three kids. So it’s like a tiny community. But I’ve always been attracted to southern rock so in terms of the music, I think that’s really part of my influence and part of what I love with music. My dad listened to it and my mom listened to it while I was growing up and that’s like a huge musical influence, that sort of southern quality.”
With The Weather Below, Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds find themselves spreading their wings and adding some new sounds to their already multi-genre DNA – that being a few songs that have what Kincheloe calls pop leanings; although with Kincheloe’s unique dynamic they sound more 1970’s pop soul than Britney/Katie smiley-faced pop. You just can’t take the funky shenanigans out of Kincheloe and she shines in window rattling, wall shaking glory on tunes like “Cold Blooded” and “Mama Knows” and “We Need A Love;” and with the instrumentation behind her just ball-busting on all four cylinders, this is a CD you need to pick up when it drops on May 19th. In the meantime, the band is on tour tearing up stages from Alaska to New York.
While Kincheloe was riding in a cab across town in New York City last week, Glide chatted with the singer about where she came from, how the band’s music has evolved, The Weather Below and what it means to be in Sister Sparrow at this moment in time.
Your single just dropped, so how indicative is “Mama Knows” to the sound and the feel of The Weather Below?
I think it’s very indicative. I think it was a really interesting choice for the first single because it gives you a little bit of everything. We do have some more pop-y stuff on this record and “Mama Knows” is sort of in the middle, I would say, sort of bridging the gap, but it’s still very much our sound. Plus for me, I was happy that we actually got some advice as to which single to put out by our team and the people that were working with us on the record and I was really surprised that they chose that song. But I was very happy because I think there is a really great message in it. And it makes my mom happy (laughs).
Why were you surprised they picked that song?
Well, I guess I just thought they would want to pick one of the more poppier sounding songs but I think they felt we should put something out that really was quintessentially us and not to polarize it one way or the other. I don’t know, I guess it’s hard being so close to a project, because you can’t get that perspective.
You said that you feel more confident about this record. Why does this album feel that way to you?
I feel like I put more of my creative voice into this as an individual than the last record. I think I’m finally at a place that I can really say what I want and I know what I want now to hear and I know what I want the sounds to evolve into. I think on previous recordings I was a little more shy and I think I was sort of relying on more of the people around me to direct and sort of push the sounds and the music and stuff. With this one, I really had a clear idea what I wanted to produce and I’m really grateful that I was able to voice that and articulate what I wanted. And I think that just comes with experience and growing up and it sounds kind of cliché but it’s true.
I think I may have found my voice, so to speak, on the production side. So as an individual and a songwriter, I just feel really, really, really pleased with how everything came out. A lot of the recordings really do voice the original idea and inspiration behind each song and that is really, to me, kind of magical, in that I was able to come full circle from the day when I wrote all these songs – some were older than others – but the original spark and original idea for this song really, I feel like, I was able to convey and sort of push to the forefront.
With having such a big band, how does it not become too many cooks in the kitchen when the songs are coming together in rehearsal or the studio where everybody’s voice is kind of there?
That also takes time and we all have to be really patient with each other and everybody’s ideas get heard and we make sure everybody gets their chance to voice what they feel. But at the end of the day, you need a leader and that is how it has evolved because I’ve been able to step up and be creatively a little bit more outspoken. In previous years with the band, it was more so a collaboration of all of us sort of throwing ideas together because, like I said, I didn’t find my voice then. I wanted to rely on the guys and it was great and I loved that as well, but I think I have matured and been really able to step up to a leadership position. I think, ultimately, you kind of need somebody driving the boat. We have a lot of voices and I definitely want them all to be heard but I think the only way that it works is if you have a vision for what you want to do and somebody to stand up for that.
What was the so-called surprise song, the one that almost didn’t make it onto the record?
I would say that would be “Every Road.” That is probably THE most pop-y song that we have. It’s a song I co-wrote with a producer in LA and we don’t even play it live. It was a track that we had shelved, basically, and then we brought it back, the demo, and we listened to it in the studio and the producer we worked with, Ryan Hadlock, he really liked it and thought we should really give it a go. We were all sort of like, okay, how is this going to work? (laughs) But it ended up being a really interesting track. I think it’s really cool and it’s very different for us but it was really fun to do and it’s going to be interesting, cause like I said, we don’t really play it live so we should probably figure out how to do that (laughs). I don’t think it would be that hard. We know it, it’s just arranging it for a live show instead of a studio.
So how do you change yourself from doing what you do to doing something more pop? It must change the whole vibe.
Yeah, a little bit. I mean, in the studio there is a lot of studio magic that goes on to make it sound like that but to translate that into a live setting, there are things we can do but it will still sound different just because we don’t have a keyboard player, for example. We don’t have a percussionist. You know, it’s those sort of things we have to bridge the gap with the instrumentation that we do have. But that’s always the fun of it, the challenge of it, trying to step outside our own comfort zone and figure out how to nail something.
Which song changed the most from it’s original conception?
I would say the one that went through the most changes overall was probably “Prison Cells” and that one wound up sort of sounding like the original conception but we had about three or four different versions that it went through over the course of when I wrote it and when we recorded it. So there are live versions of it that you might hear or stumble upon on YouTube that are very, very different than the way that it sounds on the record. So that one to me is funny cause that one tried on a lot of different hats and it was interesting trying to find where it wanted to live. For me, it was really getting that essence of the first time I wrote it and I really wanted that back and it was sort of push and pull and a little frustrating finding the right groove for it. But then what we came up with in the studio, it ends up being one of my favorite tracks.
You said some of these songs were a little bit old. What’s the oldest one on the record?
It might be “Don’t Be Jealous.” That one is pretty old. It’s either that one or maybe “Borderline,” but I think “Don’t Be Jealous” came before that. That was one of the first songs that Sasha [Brown, guitar player] and I co-wrote together. So that one is really special to me cause we had never really worked as a songwriting pair together before that. That song is really a story about the band and about us and our travels on the road and stuff. It ends up kind of being our anthem, you know.
On “Cold Blooded,” you just go to town on it.
I started getting the idea for that one up at my dad’s house in the Catskills, which is where I find that I write the most music. Whenever I go up there I tend to sort of unload creatively, which is great. I feel safe up there. Like, my mind can be free up there and open. One of the funniest things is one of the lines in the second verse where I say, “Old soup just needs reheating” and that is a line that I sort of copped from our saxophone player Brian Graham. As the story goes, Brian and his dad were sitting at lunch one day at a restaurant and his dad turned to Brian and said, “Hey Brian, what do you think of that woman sitting over there?” Apparently, a couple tables over from them was a pretty attractive but older woman sitting there having lunch and Brian’s dad said, “What do you think, Brian?” And Brian says, “Well, she’s very pretty, Dad, but don’t you think she’s a little old for me?” And his dad just looks at him and says, “Brian, old soup just needs reheating.” (laughs) And he told us that story and obviously he was just joking but I just thought it was the funniest line ever. So that’s the secret behind that song.
When a song is forming, what comes first – the words or the melody?
It’s usually a melody. Oftentimes I’ll have a melody and I’ll sort of sit with it a long time before I can find the right words. For example, “Mama Knows.” I had written that melody a long time ago and the original idea was a little bit of a different vibe. Then I was just sort of thinking about the melody and I was hanging out with my sister and for some reason it just clicked: This song shouldn’t be another silly, fluffy song or something, it should mean something. I started thinking about my mom and I feel like I owe a lot to her and the reason why I do music. She’s a singer and I grew up watching her do it and stuff. So I just wanted to give her something in return and I was happy to sort of have that thought cause I think it’s important to recognize from where I’m from. But usually it’s a melodic thing and the words can come later. Sometimes I will get the idea for something kind of funny lyrically but most of the time it’s the melody.
Your parents had a band and you sang in that when you were real young. Being in that environment from such a young age, what was the best lesson that you learned from having that experience?
That’s a good question. I was like nine when I started singing with my parents and I think the best thing I took away from those years is the experience of actually being onstage and being comfortable. I think the reason why I liked it so much was seeing how happy it made other people and how happy it made me to be around it. And I realized that was what clearly life was all about (laughs). If you can make people happy with music, let alone yourself, that to me was the big thing.
But I kind of realized that, in recent years, that was really what it was for me as a kid. Like, why as a really small child did I feel like this was the end all be all? I think that really is it, because people reacted to the music and they reacted to me; and obviously I was a sight to see, this itty-bitty nine year old belting it out onstage with her parents (laughs). My dad always talked about being on the road and how hard it was but how awesome it was. So I grew up sort of knowing that it was possible and also being prepared for how hard it was going to be but knowing it would be worth it all. I definitely felt that I already had the seedlings to go on the road at an early age.
Are your first memories of music your parents singing and playing rather than the radio?
Oh yes, I think it was probably them but they also played music like 24/7 in the house. If there wasn’t music playing, it felt wrong. I didn’t even realize how different I was until I’d go over to my friends’ houses and be like, “Why isn’t there music playing?” And they’d be like, “What do you mean?” We’d be watching TV and I’d be like, “Shouldn’t we be listening to music?” It’s funny but they made me who I am.
What were they listening to?
All sorts of stuff. Usually in the mornings it’d be Classical music and then my mom would always listen to like Emmylou Harris or Bonnie Raitt while she cooked dinner. My dad listened to a lot of Little Feat and Steely Dan and The Band and Tom Petty, that kind of stuff, some Gram Parsons and Willie Nelson, you know, good ole stuff. And that is still my favorite kind of music.
Do you remember what you were singing when they had you up there?
Yeah, the first song that I really sang was called “Love At The Five & Dime” by Nanci Griffith. Then the second one that I would sing, and this is the one that I became sort of known for singing, was a song called “Fire” by Bruce Springsteen. They did it kind of like the Pointer Sisters did it. Then eventually they let me sing a couple of other things like “Respect,” “At Last,” classics like that.
When did you know you wanted to put a band together?
That took time. I didn’t start writing songs till I was eighteen, after I got my heart broken (laughs). I started teaching myself how to play piano and it took a few years and Jackson [her brother who plays harmonica in the band] was still learning how to play harmonica at that time. He had picked it up and kind of ran with it and he and I would sit and play and we’d have parties and we would be the musical entertainment and that sort of thing. But when I was about twenty years old, maybe nineteen, we moved to the city to get the band together. It took about a year before we had our feet on the ground enough to even meet people or even have the courage to do it, you know.
Did you always know you wanted to have horns?
Yeah, I knew I wanted a huge sound behind me and I was just sort of hell-bent on that. It’s just so much fun. Every time I would see a band with horns I would just like die it was so good.
Who was the first real rock star you ever met?
You know, it was Levon Helm when I was a little girl. I was probably ten or something, maybe younger, and my dad was of course so thrilled and so freaking excited that he was there. I remember he was so sweet. He gave my older sister a Coca-Cola in a glass bottle and I will never forget that cause he was like, “Want a Coke?” (laughs) And we’d never seen Coke in a glass bottle before. That was kind of one of his things. He loved Coca-Cola. And he is like my favorite drummer of all time so that was really kind of amazing.
What was the craziest thing you have ever done onstage?
(laughs) I don’t know. Sometimes I just go kind of crazy vocally and screaming and stuff but I wish I could say I had done something real wild like backflips or something.
Have you ever gotten so lost in a song, like when the band is just jamming and then you open your eyes and suddenly you forget where you were at in the song?
Oh absolutely that happens (laughs). Sometimes you get these brain farts and the lyrics just go flying right out of your brain and you just sort of have to mumble through it till you get some kind of clue to where you start up again.
Since you mentioned brain farts, what is the worst thing about being on a tour bus with a bunch of smelly guys?
(laughs) That might be it right there. It gets pretty rank but it could be worse. But I would say it’s not all bad. I’m so used to it now and I almost prefer being in the van than I would being on a plane. We have a lot of flying gigs this year and I’m not really looking forward to it cause I get so used to the van with my own space. But the boys can get a little smelly and noisy but oftentimes I just put some earplugs in and go to sleep.
What are your next few months looking like?
We’re real busy. We’re going to Alaska for a few shows. Once festival season kicks up, we’ll be out all over the country, doing some festivals here and there. It gets real busy and honestly, after SXSW, my brain is a little bit fried so I couldn’t even tell you where and when but I think we’re pretty much solidly on from May to October.
SXSW was such a great experience for you. It must feel really good to be at this point in your career with all this good stuff happening.
Absolutely, it’s been a long road and a lot of work but it seems to be, slowly but surely, every little bit feels great and for me it’s a matter of keeping my feet on the ground and making sure that I am focused every day and show by show because it can get really overwhelming. And we tend to be the kind of band that says yes to everything so that’s why we’re so busy (laughs). So I have to make sure I’m taking care of myself, physically. I just had a vocal cord scare and I had to go on some vocal rest. So it’s been a little bit challenging over the last couple of months, knowing that we’re going into this really crazy season, and I want to make sure physically that I am like ready and able to really kick it in the butt and do it well. That’s my focus right now and trying not to get overwhelmed.
Live photographs by Leslie Michele Derrough
