We went to Central Market to see The Quebe Sisters Band. They were at the Westgate location, which really kind of sucks as a music venue (the North Lamar location is excellent for music, but not this one). The Quebes (pronounced "quay-bees") are 3 early-twenty-something sisters, all fiddle champions and great singers. Their style is very retro; combination of big band and Texas swing jazz (Western Swing), so imagine Bob Wills meets Andrew Sisters and Benny Goodman... and it's pure Texas. Check them out:
Adorable. Yes, they are. And sweet too. Their following right now is mostly right in line with the music they play, lots of older folks (and by "older", I mean "even older than me") and families. They drew a good crowd, including Texas fiddle legend Johnny Gimble, whose music career goes back to the 1940s, and was a member of Bob Wills' band.
The Quebes are very talented, but I really think they should start doing some original material. They could really take off then. As good as they are, they could still easily be pigeonholed as a novelty act now.
5 comments:
QSB is crazy fun in a honkytonk setting, but club gigs are infrequent, probably because they're still quite young.
They're wisely pacing themselves in a very methodical fashion, mastering each level (the fiddles, the harmonies, performances) before proceeding to the next.
I'd bet money their songwriting chops are gonna be killer. Considering how far they've progressed since first picking up the fiddle ten years ago, I don't think it will be a terribly long wait - maybe another year; two at the most.
In the meantime, they've certainly reinvigorated my appreciation of the classics. Both QSB CDs (the first, an instrumental; the second, "Timeless", with vocals) are expertly produced and perfect representations of their performances.
It'll be fun watching them grow as musicians and performers. They're natural stars.
You are so right MrSmith. They are mastering one thing at a time - the fiddle 10 years ago and singing much more recently.
I was thinking about how TV has changed over the years. They used to have those prime-time variety shows: Andy Williams, Ed Sullivan, Johnny Cash, lots more... back then they could have gone on one of those shows and been an overnight success.
That's true.
On the other hand, I'll bet there are no small number of artists for whom the overnight sensation phenomenon was more of a curse than a blessing, so to speak.
Funny you should mention it, though. I read a couple of months ago Junior Brown had recorded some pilot episodes of a music variety show and that The Quebe Sisters Band were guests. I have my doubts as to whether it'll see ever see the light of day on television, but hope springs eternal. And Junior Brown deserves a lot of respect for his efforts. I'd love to see the three shows that were recorded.
When I was growing up, my father, much to my embarrassment, watched Hee Haw, which drove me crazy. Rock & roll was still dangerous and hardly as ubiquitous as it would later become, so I didn't appreciate country music until years afterward. At the time, I certainly didn't want to be associated with Nixon-lovin', hippie-hatin', xenophobic Jesus freaks. I have a more compassionate, tolerant, nuanced view of that culture today, even though I have to grit my teeth to maintain perspective.
All these years later, oh, what I'd give to see the thousands of Hee Haw performances released on DVD. The collection of Buck Owens' songs alone would be nothing less than a treasure.
Nice blog you have here :)
I found some info on that TV show with Junior Brown here.
Yes, Buck Owens was great, wasn't he? I've got a Buck song on my player over there on the sidebar (scroll it down to Buckeroo). What a classic guitar piece.
What a great band, much promise! Thanks for introducing. I would lay bets on how long before Garrison Keillor gets ahold of them if he hasn't already.
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