The Secret Sisters

A Muscle Shoals, Alabama-based country-folk duo featuring the talents of siblings Lydia (Rogers) Slagle and Laura Rogers, the Secret Sisters emerged in 2010 with a sound that combines effortless harmonies, sharp songwriting, and a shared love of country music’s rich history. The duo updated their old-timey sound with girl group-infused garage-folk on 2014′s Put Your Needle Down, and issued a pair of Grammy-nominated LPs produced by Brandi Carlile, You Don't Own Me Anymore (2017) and Saturn Return (2020), that incorporated elements of both styles. Without leaving mid-century touchpoints behind, they had their most contemporary-sounding album yet with the Mind, Man, Medicine (2024), a self-assured set informed by experiences like motherhood and adjusting to a pandemic. It included “All the Ways,” a duet with Ray LaMontagne. The sisters spent their formative years honing their talents wherever they could, eventually catching the ear of legendary producer/songwriter T-Bone Burnett. He was so impressed that he created a label (Beladroit) for the sole purpose of releasing the Rogers’ eponymous debut. Recorded with a team of iconic Nashville session players on period 1950s equipment, Secret Sisters arrived in October 2010. The duo also released a single on Jack White’s Third Man Records, which featured My Morning Jacket’s Carl Broemel on pedal steel and White on guitar. Burnett returned to produce the sisters’ second album, 2014′s Put Your Needle Down, updating the sound by a decade or so with folky garage rock and girl group touches. It marked a move to New West Records. In 2017, the sisters issued their acclaimed third LP, the Brandi Carlile-produced You Don't Own Me Anymore, a marvel of quiet grandeur and steely Southern pragmatism. It earned them their first Grammy Award nomination, in the category Best Folk Album. Carlile returned to the producer’s chair for the pair’s fourth effort, early 2020′s Saturn Return, which resulted in another Grammy nomination. By the time of its release, Slagle and Rogers had both become first-time mothers. In mid-2021, the Secret Sisters sneaked out a four-song EP titled Quicksand consisting of two originals and two covers (Fiona Apple’s “Heavy Balloon” and the Strokes’ “Someday”). Meanwhile, the wisdom, compassion, and self-reliance gained through experiencing parenthood and coping with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic strongly influenced the songs they were writing for their next album. Working this time with producers John Paul White (the Civil Wars) and Ben Tanner (Alabama Shakes), 2024′s Mind, Man, Medicine was both their most self-assured as well as modern-sounding album yet while still reflecting familiar influences. Ray LaMontagne sat in on the bluesy single “All the Ways.” ~ James Christopher Monger & Marcy Donelson