Top: Arleigh Kincheloe, the lead singer of Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds. Photo by Shervin Lainez.
Above: Video for "Another Ride," from Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds' new album, "Pound of Dirt." Frontwoman Arleigh Kincheloe says that the visuals for the video were inspired by the Margaretville Carnival.
In a Delaware County locale the size of Halcottsville (it counts its population in the dozens), Arleigh Kincheloe's voice was no secret. At 16, she was drafted to open for guitarist Leo Kottke at the West Kortright Centre, where fresh young local talent is often paired with the bigger names who come through.
“Somebody backed out, and one of the directors had heard me sing with my parents' band," Kincheloe says. "I got up there and sang a few songs. It'll be fun to be back with this whole big operation.”
The “whole big operation” would be Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds, which Jeff Miers described in a rave review in the Buffalo News last week:
“[A] seriously funky collective capable of bringing elements of deep soul, New Orleans funk, Stax/Memphis stylings and earthy R&B together . . . Kincheloe wove a sultry, sexy spell with her incredible blues-soaked lines and deep-in-the-groove dance moves.”
“Finding these young people on that little stage in Manhattan -- it was life-changing,” says the band's manager, Michael E. Morrison.
This Sunday, the Kincheloe kids (brother Jackson plays harmonica as one of the nine Dirty Birds) and their cousins and buds are coming home to the Catskills, playing the West Kortright Centre once again on Sunday night. The Watershed Post talked to Sister Sparrow about how her Halcottsville roots gave the Dirty Birds their wings.
Watershed Post: So you guys just played the Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee . . .
Arleigh Kincheloe: We played three shows on Saturday and Sunday, and what an awesome experience. We were on smaller, more intimate stages and there's a lot going on there at all times . . . people kinda wander by and discover you. After the first show, we noticed that some of the same people came back again and then even the third time. For people to make a point of catching all three shows in the middle of all that action, that was heartwarming.
WP: Your parents had a band?
AK: My dad's band is Blues Maneuver. My mom sang with them, doing rock covers and fun dance music at weddings and events. When I was nine they started letting me sing, which now strikes me as crazy brave. So yes, I got the bug and the being on stage from them early and strictly homegrown and I'm so grateful. I have the hugest respect for them and the way they raised us. Dad settled down and taught history, but music was his first love. He comes to our gigs and carries stuff, helps set up the drum kit. I try to get him to sit down. He should be the guest of honor. None of this would exist without him. My parents met because of music -- so it's literally what brought us all here -- and raised us on Americana roots rock -- The Band, Bonnie Raitt.
WP: You say on your website that you started songwriting on the road between the Catskills and New York?
AK: Yeah, I started writing when I was 18. I enrolled in college in Manhattan and there was something about finding the oomph to break away from my small town, and then realizing how much I loved it every time I went back that was inspiring. I wrote my first song while I was home on Thanksgiving break. My songwriting history is definitely burned into the pavement of Route 28.
WP: So you're playing with eight guys, including your cousin and your brother?
AK: Lucky we're all really close friends, because it's insane. We play 200 shows this year. Jackson, my brother, he's my inspiration and my courage.
WP: Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds reportedly turned every gig at the Rockwood Music Hall into a giant, sweaty dance party. I've always thought that must be a huge peak experience, moving all those people.
AK: Rockwood was our first steady gig. We played a slow night, the night before Thanksgiving at seven in the evening, but we managed to get some people out regardless. We got asked back for a regular gig, one in the morning on Fridays every week. Life felt a little less like a crap shoot and we could mess around and refine and tighten and really feel out who we wanted to be.Eventually they moved us into prime time. And yeah, people dancing, that's what you do it for. My folks were a completely different style and setting but on their level they had that kind of spontaneous eruption thing too. I think I have found what I'm supposed to do.
WP: People have been throwing around comparisons like Adele, Amy Winehouse, Janis...
AK: Surreal. People have said to me, “You're my New Janis! I love you!" And that's like, holy crap! If I'm channeling her or anyone else it's not deliberate, this is just me. It's amazing to put yourself out there raw and real and then be compared to an icon like that -- I'm stunned. I'm grateful.
WP: That's some video you have up there for the song "Another Ride."
AK: Don't you love how trippy the visuals are? That's all Jake Nelson, the director. But the whole carnival idea...“Another Ride” is about life, but the imagery is directly inspired by being a little kid at the Margaretville Fair.
Below: The whole band. Photo by Joe Tannis.
