The Cherokee Maidens & Sycamore Swing will perform at Walker’s Jazz Lounge on Sunday, March 1.
That the show is already sold out is perhaps testament to the popularity of the Western swing outfit even after a seven-year hiatus. The group recently performed another sold-out gig at the same venue and took to the road for a short but well-received tour. (Sunday’s show will also see them joined by former Maiden Jennifer Melcher.)
The vocal trio of Robin Macy, Monica Taylor and Lauren White have garnered attention for its signature singing sound, which honors the musical tradition from which they emerged while adding to said tradition and advancing the music.
Macy and White, along with guitarist Kentucky White (Lauren’s brother, Robin’s husband), recently discussed the band’s return and the deep musical and personal roots they all share.
The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.
You’ve just ended a seven-year hiatus. Was there a magic moment where you looked at each other and said, “OK, it’s time”?
Kentucky White: We always loved doing it but it was a logistics thing. It was one of those things where everybody said, “OK, we’re circling these dates. We’re going to make something happen. Lock ‘em out.” Everybody committed and then a tour came together. Everybody loves doing it. So why not?
Robin Macy: It’s a big entourage, a big tribe from Greenville, South Carolina, Louisville, Kentucky, Tulsa, Perkins, Oklahoma, and here. Gotta lasso the crowd all in.
Lauren White: When we got together the first time it was so joyful an experience that whenever it came up, [I’d say], “Let’s do this. I need some joy in my life!”
I’ve heard so many musicians say that when they’ve had time away from the other people in their band and they get back in a room, the chemistry is still there. It’s like picking up where you left off.
KW: We had a small rehearsal the other night. [Then we had] a full band rehearsal. From the first note it was like, “Oh yeah, this is that feeling.” It was immediate. Everybody brought their best selves and it was like, “Why haven’t we been doing this more often?”
LW: It’s an unspoken language, playing music with those extraordinarily talented musicians. The vocals that the girls do together just comes back. Each of us have done our own solo thing over the past seven years but coming back together you realize that we blend together to make such a beautiful, compelling sound as a team.
RM: We call Lauren our Dixie Darling. She’s Kenny’s sister. We always say that she’s the talented member of the family.
LW: I’m your sister from another mister.
RM: She really brought a whole new icing to the cake when she jumped in and helped us out 10 years ago. We crafted a whole record around her and a whole other band. It’s the best I’ve ever played in. Hands down.
Was there a song or group songs that you especially missed while you weren’t together.
LW: I will say that as we’ve been working up this material the original songs like “Pastures of Plenty” came back to me and then some classic songs like “Prairie Home Lullaby,” are so moving to me that I didn’t realize how much I missed them, especially in this time period. They bring a tear to my eye. I get a little verklempt. I’ve missed the emotions of this music.
RM: You probably know about the McKinney Sisters from Caldwell, Kansas. That was sort of the impetus for bringing the female vocals trio to the Bob Wills. Bob Wills, after he left the Light Crust Doughboys in I think the ‘30s, started The Texas Playboys and the came Duke Ellington and he turned his orchestra into a string band and started adding these chick singers. That was really impetus for The Cherokee Maidens. What were some of those early McKinney Sisters compositions. They’d sit sort of primly on the side of the stage with their ankles crossed, wait for the nod. Eventually Evelyn [McKinney] and Billy Jack Wills, Bob’s brother, were expelled from the band because they fell in love and were married.
KW and LW: [Laughs.]
That’s one of the rules of being in a band, isn’t it? Like, don’t start another band from the band you’re in and …
KW: You’re not supposed to date the chick singer. But this whole band is made up of family members.
RM: I kind of think that’s why it works. Husbands and wives, fathers and sons.
LW: Brother and sister and sister and her fiancée.
KW: We can’t break up!
One of the things I appreciate about live performances is the feeling I get when I’m part of an engaged audience. It’s really special and I wonder if you as performers sense when you’re really connecting with an audience?
LW: There’s a rapport that gets built with the audience and I think I said [in a social media post] that at an intimate venue I can feel your energy. That’s going to feed me and give me energy to perform this music for you and by that you’re going to become a part of it. I think it’s the same when Robin sings. You can tell the energy she gets from the crowd and she gives it back to them through her performance.
KW: Western swing in general is meant to be party music, good-time music. I think that people who come to the show are predisposed to have a good time. Our only mission is just to give them that. That makes it easy. And because we enjoy playing anyway, it kind of turns into a good lovefest, whether they’re sitting primly and clapping after every song or if they’re dancing in front of the band. You get both experiences, sometimes in the same venue. Yeah, it is a good time.
LW: I think our fiesta dresses bring the fiesta.
KW: I’m sure that’s it!
[Laughs.] That is monumentally important. You’ve got to have the right clothes.
KW: [Laughs.] Pearl snaps for a guy, that’s super important. Cowboy hat. Neckerchief. That’s really the only wardrobe requirements for the guys.
LW: There’s 16 individual cowboy boots on that stage. Sixteen cowboy boots! That’s a lot.
KW: I’ll say.
