Together these talented Los Angeles-based women can harness their singing talents for anything. I adore Inara George’s band The Bird and the Bee and listened to The Living Sister’s debut release Love to Live often. It was a bit more alternative, melodic pop than their second release, Run for Cover, a standards collection. They’re still making gorgeous music just in a different vein. A bit more Nashville than Portland. Listeners will enter a time capsule with its Brill building/ 50s and 60s girl-group harmonies, cowgirl attitude and old-fashioned goodness. There’s an intermingling of folk, country and doo-wop. It works with the lilting vocals. The Living Sisters are: Inara George (The Bird and the Bee); Becky Stark (Lavender Diamond); Eleni Mandell ; and most recent addition Alex Lilly.

Becky Stark said: “If it sounds beautiful, that’s because it felt beautiful—because we were really listening to each other and experiencing the union of our voices. It’s a pretty simple principal that we are committed to as a musical endeavor. The Living Sisters are about a collective spirit and about our relationship to one another—the fun we have the friendship and love that we share. It just works.”

my picks:

the haunting, gorgeous Patsy Cline song “Sweet Dreams”

funky and fitting “Can You Get to That”

a capella rendition of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene”

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The Living Sisters
Run for Cover
Vanguard Records
release date: January 8th, 2013

purchase at Amazon: Run For Cover EP