Sisters In Harmony

The Henry Girls’ influences range from Crosby, Stills and Nash, the Dixie Chicks and The Be Good Tanyas to Joni Mitchell, Carole King and Tom Waits and a host of other Stateside songsmiths. But, as Joleen Henry explains, that’s only a part of the story.

“We always struggle when trying to describe what kind of music we play, especially in America,” she says. “Some people think we sound more American while others think we’re more Irish. Nothing we do is a conscious effort to be one way or another. It seems to happen naturally. We’re all into different types of music. We all love American singer-songwriters, which is our main influence. I suppose it’s the instrumentation that makes us sound Irish. The songs are definitely more American.”
Given their use of close harmonies, it’s not surprising they’ve been likened to The McGarrigle Sisters, The Andrews Sisters and The Everly Brothers. “We were always surrounded by harmonies,” Joleen enthuses. “Our mum led the church choir and we played and sang at the chapel on Sundays. There was always plenty of music about the house and we had three other sisters who also played. We got music lessons in school, mainly traditional. I think it was Lorna who picked up the accordion first. But everyone played an instrument.”
The three decided to gig together professionally over a decade ago. “Karen and Lorna went to live in Australia for a year-and-a-half and they started playing around the pubs over there, receiving a good reaction. When they came back around 2001 we got it together formally. It took about a year and then we made our first album, Between Us.”
Their recorded repertoire includes originals and covers, encompassing standards such as ‘Tennesse Waltz’ and ‘Dimming of The Day’. In a slight change of direction, December Moon includes a fabulous version of Elvis Costello’s ‘Watching The Detectives’, which re-invents the song as a rootsy Americana tune. “We loved the original and decided to cover it,” Joleen explains. “We haven’t heard yet what Elvis Costello himself thinks. We know he has a copy because we sent him one.”
The Henry Sisters have toured widely in Europe and the US, winning audiences and acclaim for their unique take on American music. They’ve performed at prestigious events such as Milwaukee Irish Festival and venues such as The Old Town School of Folk in Chicago and Mountain Stage Radio live Broadcast in West Virginia. They’ve also appeared at festivals in the UK such as Glasgow’s Celtic Connections. They completed an Irish tour earlier this year and will be at several Irish festivals over the summer, including Galway Arts Festival. In August, they head back to the US for a number of dates, including Milwaukee Irish Festival.
“We love touring and performing live,” Joleen enthuses. “We play loads of informal sessions too when we get a chance and give workshops if we’re asked.”
Given their choice of instruments they travel relatively lightly and don’t make many demands of venues, as Joleen explains. “We always ask for a piano and a keyboard and there’s always one waiting for us. We have some lovely instruments of our own which are quite valuable and unique. We take good care of them on the road. My harp was made in Craughwell, Galway by Paddy Kafferky. Lorna’s accordion is a Belltrami made in Italy. The Mandolin is a vintage. I’m not sure what model. Karen’s fiddle was made by Rab Cherry who lives outside Dublin.
“With the harp there’s generally not much maintenance on the road. You rarely ever break strings and it doesn’t go out of tune except when flying. The airplane is awful for it and you have to tune it down a tone or two. I use electronic tuners which help. We have our own PA system. We’ve used it only once in the last year as the PAs are generally very good in venues these days.”
For some dates at home they supplement the sound with extra musicians.
“It’ll be a much bigger sound in Galway than we normally have. We’ll have drums, bass, dobro and three brass players. It should be something special. We’re looking forward to it.”