Features

Summer Stars: Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds

Our Summer Stars series features a variety of groups making the rounds on the festival circuit. Today we visit with Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds. For more of our Summer Star pieces, click here. In addition, click here to check out the Relix festival guide .

“We’re kicked into full throttle pretty much the whole time,” says Arleigh Kincheloe of her band Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds’s live performances. “It’s a party. There’s lots of dancing—very high energy.” The 9-piece, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based band is a family affair with both Arleigh’s brother Jackson (harmonica) and cousin Bram (drums) as members. The group serves up their own revved-up take on funk and Memphis soul and have shared the stage with such heavy hitters as Levon Helm, The Rebirth Brass Band and Sharon Jones.

Their sophomore album, Pound of Dirt, released earlier this year, packs a mean punch full of soulful vocals, gritty guitars and blaring horns. “We had it in mind to capture that energy of us live [for Pound of Dirt ] because with nine people, it’s powerful,” says Arleigh. You can catch their “sweaty, dirty and in your face” live show this summer where they’ll be appearing at multiple festivals, such as Camp Jam in the Pines, Summer Camp, Mountain Jam and Telluride Jazz.

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Favorite summer pastime more people should try: I am an iced coffee freak and I really like milkshakes, so I like to get a coffee milkshakes. It’s like my favorite thing ever in the summer. Mister Softee giving me an iced coffee milkshake on the streets of New York is my favorite.

Best album for a summer night: My sisters and I would always listen to the original Buena Vista Social Club record when it was really hot outside while dancing around the kitchen and drinking margaritas.