Harmonizing at home changes life of sisters in the Staves
Many nights growing up, some combination of the Staveley-Taylor sisters huddled on the staircase to listen when their parents invited friends over and took out guitars to sing Bob Dylan or Crosby, Stills and Nash songs.
They were supposed to be in bed.
Let that be a lesson, parents. Kids are always absorbing things, and you never know if it will change their lives.
Today, Emily, Jessica and Camilla Staveley-Taylor perform together in their own band, the Staves, characterized by the celestial harmonies of three sisters who grew up blending their voices.
“There was always music on in the house,” said 31-year-old Camilla, the youngest of the trio. “Our parents were very musical. They could sing and harmonize and we soaked that in. I don’t really remember a time when we didn’t sing together.”
The sisters’ first gig, when Camilla was only 14, came at the Horn pub in their native Watford, a town in Hertfordshire, England. Family and friends heard them cover songs by Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, the Beatles and Norah Jones.
“I think everyone we had ever met came down,” said Jessica, 34. “We had done our most successful show and it was the first time in our lives. We thought, ‘This is great, we can pretty much take over the world now.’”
About a decade ago, their educations complete, the sisters decided to take a stab at a career in music.
Most popular at home in England, the Staves released their third album, “Good Woman,” last month after a long and rough layoff. It’s lyrically and sonically bolder than the more stately folk sound typified by the aching beauty of “No Me, No You, No More” on a 2015 album produced by Justin Vernon, aka Bon Iver.
Part of what they were trying to capture on “Good Woman” was the way their band gives the Staves a fuller, more muscular sound than is often heard in their recordings.