A welcome comeback from sisters

THE vagaries of the music world are well known, and many people within the business, artists usually, have been acquainted with what Kipling called the “twin impostors” of triumph and disappointment.

Two such musicians arrive at Sage Gateshead’s Hall 2 on Thursday night, Laura and Lydia Rogers – more widely known as the Secret Sisters.

The country-influenced duo come from the Alabama city of Muscle Shoals, a place more closely associated with soul music. The city is only marginally larger (in terms of population) than Hexham but has a huge reputation given the fact that the two principal studios in the city have played host to the likes of Bob Dylan and Aretha Franklin. The Rogers sisters, however, took a cue from the work of Hank Williams and The Everly Brothers and the latter provided a flawless harmonic template for the sisters.

Their first album, produced by the “dreamteam” of T Bone Burnett and Dave Cobb, appeared in 2010 and made the US and UK album charts.

So far, so perfect, you may think. After tours with (initially) Ray LaMontagne and Levon Helm (and later with Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and Willie Nelson) plus some major TV shows and all appeared to be set fair. The twist arrives with the perceived commercial failure (by the label) of their second album, Put Your Needle Down (2014). The girls were dropped by their record company and became embroiled in a law suit with a former manager and bankruptcy loomed menacingly.

Along came help in the shape of the formidably talented Grammy-nominated Seattle musician Brandi Carlile, who offered to have the Secret Sisters open some shows for her.

Carlile and her long-time musical collaborators/bandmates Phil and Tim Hanseroth