Categories
GUEST EDITOR

From The Desk Of The Secret Sisters: Animal Rescue

Laura and Lydia Rogers came from a musical family but neither had seriously considered a career in music until Laura traveled to Nashville for an open audition, where she caught the ear of industry execs and producers. Asked to return for a follow-up, Laura brought Lydia along. Shortly thereafter, the Secret Sisters were on a plane to L.A. to record demos for their 2010 self-titled debut on Universal, produced by T Bone Burnett. Sophomore effort Put Your Needle Down followed in 2014. In the interim they toured with Bob Dylan and recorded with Jack White. Put Your Needle Down, a respectable album on the slick country-revival model, garnered uneven reviews. Then the Secret Sisters were dropped by their label, but they didn’t stop writing. The new You Don’t Own Me Anymore‘s cheeky title obliquely recalls the Secret Sisters’ major-label woes—as does much of the lyrical content—but the album (on New West) as a whole fits into a long tradition of country statements about survival past deep damage. Laura and Lydia will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week, Read our new feature on them.

Laura and Lydia: We are animal people (seriously, don’t even say the word “dog” around us unless you want to see pictures), and we believe in the cause of animal welfare, adopting and sterilizing of all companion animals. We’d like to tell you about two groups near and dear to our hearts, full of folks who work around the clock trying to improve the wellbeing of the pet population. Poverty’s Pets: Poverty’s Pets is a dog and cat rescue group based in Phoenix and run by Laura’s dear friend, Kate. Kate is a tireless defender of abused and neglected dogs and cats, and fights daily to ban the cruel practice of tethering dogs. She also organizes and hosts a free spay/neuter clinic in low-income areas near Phoenix, and each clinic sterilizes 80 companion animals on average! She is an advocate for mandatory spay/neuter laws, to help reduce the pet population and reduce the number of animals who end up in shelters. Kate relies on donations to help her accomplish all the good she does, and works tirelessly, finding dogs on the streets, getting them vetted and tuned up and carefully placing them with matched adopters. She has her hand on the back of every animal she adopts out, and has singlehandedly serviced folks in Phoenix who simply cannot afford to care for their pets. We think this organization is doing something special, and we’d love for you to know about them! HASRA: We are incredibly proud supporters of HASRA. Heart of Alabama Save Rescue Adopt is a non-profit, no-kill animal-rescue group based in our area. It is operated by Debbie Rappuhn and an incredible group of volunteers, whose hard work and sacrifice have eased the burden on our local animal shelters and dramatically reduced the euthanasia rate in our county. To date, HASRA has saved nearly 5,000 dogs, cats and other animals, and placed them into loving homes. They are funded by community donations, and the work they accomplish in rural Alabama is nothing short of incredible. Each animal who goes into their system is vaccinated, dewormed and sterilized before being adopted out. Many unwanted or abandoned animals are able to skip their time in the shelter and go straight to HASRA’s amazing facility, where they receive TLC and companionship, all helping to prepare them for life with a new family. We believe it is such an important cause, and we are grateful to be surrounded by such kindhearted humans.