The Catskill Mountains hid rock ‘n’ roll’s best kept secret for almost 18 years. Then in 2008, singer and songwriter Arleigh Kincheloe said goodbye to her hometown hideaway and moved to New York City to start Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds. In the years since, the group has performed more than 600 shows, released two full-length albums and an EP produced by Randy Jackson (American Idol), and enchanted tastemakers ranging from The Wall Street Journal and LA Times to Glamour, USA Today, and The New Yorker.
They have shared the stage with such heavyweights as Gov’t Mule, Dr. John, Trombone Shorty, The Avett Brothers, Counting Crows, and Galactic, and have turned audiences into believers through appearances on the festival circuit at Bonnaroo, Firefly, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Voodoo Music Experience and many more.
In May, the band unleashed their most rambunctious, raucous, and righteous recording to date in the form of The Weather Below, which features the band’s roster of her brother, Jackson Kincheloe (harmonica), Sasha Brown (guitar), Josh Myers (bass), Phil Rodriguez (trumpet), and Brian Graham (saxophones), and Dan Boyden (drums). “It’s loud, fun, and it’s supposed to make you feel good,” she declares. “That’s the goal.”
Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds accomplish that goal tenfold with a saucy sonic brew of rock, blues, gospel, and soul. In order to perfect that signature amalgam, the band retreated to the iconic Bear Creek Studio (James Brown, Eric Clapton), just outside Seattle, WA. Locked in the studio for three weeks, they worked closely with producer Ryan Hadlock (The Lumineers, Vance Joy) and cooked up ten irresistible anthems.
Ultimately, Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds stand poised to shake up rock ‘n’ roll all around the world. “This all stems back to why I loved performing and singing to begin with,” Arleigh leaves off. “I want to make crowds happy and see them smile and dance. Singing brings me so much joy. I hope our music does the same for everyone.”
