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: One of the joys of our music career is that we’ve been able to befriend musicians who were once only our heroes. When we were in our early teens, we both became diehard fans of Nickel Creek, because they were playing music that resonated with us, in a way that was fresh and youthful. Our wildest dreams came true in 2014, when we were invited to open their reunion tour all across the country! It was a beautiful experience, and from it we gained a dear friend: the immensely talented Sara Watkins. Her fiddling and harmonizing are crucial to the music Nickel Creek is known for, but you need to know about her solo work as well! Sara recently released an absolutely stunning record of original material, Young In All The Wrong Ways, and we are absolutely obsessed with the album. Her songwriting is clever and complex, heartbreaking and impassioned. Her talents are rivaled only by her spirit. She is such a kind heart, and we’re thankful to count her among our friends.
