685 14th Street
Oakland, California 94612

The Stairwell Sisters: Evie Ladin, Stephanie Prausnitz. Lisa Berman, Martha Hawthorne, and Sue Sandlin are career women, organizers, activists and mamas; making ends meet working and living in San Francisco. They also happen to crank out acoustic, old-time music with a punk-rock intensity. Somehow, between raising children, working and releasing records, they've taken their band to some rather well-regarded places - appearing on A Prairie Home Companion, festival stages from Lincoln Center (NYC) and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (SF) to Celtic Connections (UK), and many points in between.

The Stairwell Sisters come from varied musical backgrounds, some from acoustic traditions, others through amped-up rock and roll. Sue Sandlin says hearing Flatt and Scruggs brought her back to the country music her family loved, "It was akin to the hair raising excitement I felt the first time I heard The Clash as a teenager." The Sisters are all about bringing that excitement to the stage. Lauded for infectious shows that combine buckdancing with balladry and sass, these women unfailingly play their instruments hell-bent to drive the music.

Lisa explains the communal lure of the genre. "You can be anywhere, among friends or strangers, and jump right in - the living room, the kitchen, the woods, even a demonstration. No electrical outlets needed. It's an ever-changing music, grounded in a strong tradition."

Evie, who grew up clogging and playing banjo in the unlikely locale of suburban New Jersey, elaborates why old-time music is timeless. "People have always sung of their struggles, with work, love, the forces of nature. Coal mining songs, union songs, not too much has changed when you consider the common person. Either way, it's about enduring and working for a decent life."

Cost for advance tickets: $14 for adults, $10 for kids under 16. (Cost at the door: $18 for adults, $15 for kids under 16.).

Official Website: http://www.utunescoffeehouse.org/

Added by FullCalendar on January 30, 2009

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