PLEASE NOTE: ONLINE TICKET SALES HAVE ENDED, BUT THERE MAY BE A FEW TICKETS STILL AT THE DOOR. PLEASE CALL 914-693-1065 TO CHECK AVAILABILITY

Clear-eyed, literary lyrics and… gloriously eccentric vocal delivery. Ideal for harmony addicts and dreamers alike - Billboard Magazine

To the songwriter/musician who has neither burned, bailed nor sold out, there comes a time when he or she turns from writing about who they are in the current moment to writing about who they have always been. Sister Holler, the release from Nerissa and Katryna Nields, is a "roots album," but with a difference. Rather than simply reinterpret or re-record the music what brung 'em, the sisters from have to retooled, assimilated and flat out burgled the music they grew up with to create something new. The result is a delightful oxymoron of songs simultaneously familiar and surprising.

On Sister Holler, "Abington Sea Fair" is "Scarborough Fair" from a woman's point of view, with genders swapped. "This Train" is a populist anthem for today and kind of a commentary on polarization between Republicans and Democrats. On the song "Endless Day", Nerissa uses the progression from Johann Pachabel's "Canon in D". Indeed, part of the fun of Sister Holler is listening for the references.

Nerissa and Katryna Nields have been the darlings of the coffeehouse/festival scene since 1991, with tunes ranging from off-the-hook idiosyncratic to kicking to heartbreaking. "Our parents were total folkies," says Nerissa. "Their first date was a Pete Seeger concert and their second was a Harry Bellefonte concert. We used to go to a family camp in the Adirondacks every summer where people sat around a fire. That's where I learned how to finger pick."

Katryna recalls, One of my top five musical memories in my entire life was one night at camp when it was cold and the fire was blazing and everybody sang 'When the Saints Go Marching In.' Just a couple guitars or maybe a banjo and people swapping songs with everybody singing along. Woody Guthrie and Weavers songs, Odetta. 'Charlie on the MTA,' 'The Frozen Logger,' 'Goodnight Irene,' 'This Land is Your Land,' 'Wabash Cannonball.' Maybe a little Bob Dylan. I know people think those old songs are quaint, but when everybody is singing them, it becomes such powerful music. Music you eventually can’t even remember where you learned it, but it becomes part of your vocabulary – I love that."

Nerissa and Katryna have also become mothers in recent years, the presence of children in the house bringing with it a desire for greater musical directness. "Having children has brought us back to our roots in a powerful way. I'm much more drawn to the honesty of folk music, the simplicity of it. Writing songs for this record was like falling off a log. They were all so easy to write; like coming home," says Nerissa. With Katryna adding, " When we sing these 'Nerissa' songs in concerts, everybody sings along, even though it’s the first time they've heard them. They're songs that really invite the listener into the music making process." And when the listener is thus invited and engaged, something happens, and for a moment, the coffeehouse, the church basement, the folk festival is turned into an Adirondack summer camp campfire sing, and we are all reminded of who we’ve always been. That's no small thing.