Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds, whose upcoming album, Fight, drops October 1. The eight-piece funk/soul band calls Brooklyn home, but frontwoman Arleigh Kincheloe and her blues harmonica-wielding brother Jackson Kincheloe hail from rural Delaware County.
At Stone Tavern Farm in Roxbury, a gloriously lovely venue that normally specializes in weddings, they’ve been prepping for a very special weekend indeed -- the union of timeless scenery and big, hot sounds that will be the first-ever RoxFest, happening this Sunday, August 25.
If you haven’t heard Delaware County’s own Sister Sparrow (a.k.a. Arleigh Kincheloe) and her collaborators the Dirty Birds, here’s your chance. The band has gathered rave after rave from national media for their “driving rock and soul sound” (Wall Street Journal) and “smoldering intensity” (New Yorker). Arleigh and her Dirty Bird brother Jackson have come a long way from performing at the T-Bar Saloon; the Dirty Birds sold out New York's Bowery Ballroom earlier this year. It's good to have them back in town.
Then there’s the locally-beloved Blues Maneuver, romping from the 1940s to tomorrow and back, seven fired-up musicians who make up one of the premiere event bands in the Catskills. The Blues Maneuver crew -- which includes Arleigh and Jackson's father, John Kincheloe -- is noted for impeccable musicianship that blends tight, sweet harmony with soaring brass. Joining the groove will be New York City's Coyote Love, a bluesy "funkrockin’ explosion" whose members’ resumes include performing with Steel Pulse and The Who’s Tommy.
Opening for RoxFest will be Hello, Seattle, five Oneonta-based younguns who won the Andes Battle of the Bands earlier this summer. Hello, Seattle pride themselves on a fresh, unique and genre-bending infiltration of your mind. You’ll be humming their hooks; their first full album comes out this fall, and you’ll be able to say “Hey, I heard those guys at RoxFest.”
Roxfest. Sunday, August 25, 1pm (gates open at noon). Stone Tavern Farm, 2080 Upper Meeker Hollow Road, Roxbury. Ticket options include a VIP package that includes a private gourmet dinner and afterparty with the bands for $120.00, or regular lawn seating for $30 in advance or $35 at the gate. Proceeds will benefit the Greater Roxbury Learning Initiative Corporation. For more information, directions, and tickets, visit the RoxFest website.
