The Quebe Sisters

The Quebe Sisters are an American swing revival band based in Dallas, Texas, who perform a mix of progressive western swing, jazz-influenced swing, country, Texas-style fiddling, and western music. The band consists of sisters Grace, Sophia, and Hulda Quebe, all of whom play the fiddle and sing, with supporting musicians accompanying on guitar, upright bass, or other instruments.

Grace Quebe, Sophia Quebe, and Hulda Quebe (pronounced kway-bee) grew up in North Texas.^[1] After briefly studying classical violin, in 1998 the sisters switched to fiddle when they attended the North Texas State Fair in Denton, Texas. There they first heard Texas-style fiddling, and afterwards met Joey and Sherry McKenzie, national fiddle champions and founders of the Bob Wills Fiddle Festival & Contest in Greenville, Texas. Soon after, the sisters became students of the McKenzies,^[2] and the Quebe family moved to Burleson, Texas in Tarrant County.^[1] The sisters studied with the McKenzies for several years and Joey McKenzie became their arranger and a longtime member of their band.

One of the sisters' first paying gigs was in 2000, when Red Steagall heard and invited them to perform at The Red Steagall Cowboy Gathering and Western Swing Festival in the Fort Worth Stockyards, a festival to which they returned to perform for 13 years straight.

Entering fiddle contests, they had success early on, winning several state, regional, and national fiddle championships.^[3] In their respective age groups Sophia Quebe was Texas State champion in 1999 and 2000, Hulda Quebe was Texas State champion in 2000 and 2001, and Grace Quebe was Texas State champion in 2001. Then in 2002, at the National Oldtime Fiddler's Contest in Weiser, ID, oldest sister Grace took first place in the junior division with middle sister Sophia placing second and youngest sister Hulda winning the junior-junior title.^[2]

In 2003 they released their first album, Texas Fiddlers, backed by Joey McKenzie on rhythm guitar, Mark Abbott on bass, and others, including steel guitarist Tom Morrell. Recorded locally in Burleson, Texas, the all-instrumental album featured Texas-style fiddling and western swing tunes.

Also in 2003, after hearing them perform backstage at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas, Ricky Skaggs invited them onstage during his show, where they played the western swing standard "San Antonio Rose." Afterwards he invited them to perform on the Grand Ole Opry for the first time. Since then they have appeared on the Opry and at the Ryman Auditorium numerous times.

The sisters began touring outside their home region of Texas and Oklahoma in 2004, including performing at the National Folk Festival, then held in Bangor, Maine, a festival to which they returned in 2007.^[4]

Also in 2004 they were featured on episode 891 of Bob Phillips' Texas Country Reporteranthologytelevision series.^[5]

In early 2005 the sisters met Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel who was working on a musical about the life of Bob Wills called "A Ride with Bob."^[6] Benson invited them to be a part of the production, and their appearances included the shows in Austin, Texas celebrating Bob Wills’s 100th birthday, and a weekend in September 2006 at the Kennedy Center with President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush in attendance.^[7]

In 2007 The Quebe Sisters performed with Warren Buffett on ukulele singing "Red River Valley" at the Berkshire-Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, at the invitation of the Justin Brands western footwear company.^[8]

That year they also recorded their second album, Timeless, which was recorded at Cash Cabin Studio in Hendersonville, Tennessee, where Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash made their later recordings. Invited by the Cash family to record there, the sisters capitalized on the opportunity to make their vocal debut album arranged and produced by Joey McKenzie. Inspired by the vocal stylings of the Mills Brothers, Timeless featured the sisters' three-part harmony vocals and included songs from the Sons of the Pioneers, Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys, Spade Cooley, and Duke Ellington.

En 2009, The Quebe Sisters aparecieron en el episodio 26 de The Marty Stuart Show junto con The Opry Square Dancers, Connie Smith , Leroy Troy y The Tennessee Mafia Jug Band, y The Fabulous Superlatives. ^{[ 9 ]}

Ese año, los Quebes conocieron a las hermanas gemelas Penny y Katy Clark entre bastidores del Grand Ole Opry. Tras descubrir que también eran texanas, las chicas se hicieron amigas rápidamente y posteriormente realizaron una gira juntas en 2014 antes de que las Clark se marcharan para continuar con su propio grupo, The Purple Hulls. ^{[ 10 ]}

A lo largo de los años, la banda ha realizado extensas giras por Canadá , y en 2010 las hermanas realizaron una gira por Europa, presentándose en eventos como el Cambridge Folk Festival en Inglaterra ^{[ 11 ]} y el Festival Country Rendez-Vous en Craponne sur Arzon, Francia . ^{[ 12 ]}

El 20 de noviembre de 2010 fueron artistas invitados en A Prairie Home Companion en The Brown Theater en Houston, Texas . ^{[ 13 ]} Ese mismo año aparecieron en el episodio 571 de WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour . ^{[ 14 ]}

En 2012, The Quebe Sisters interpretaron el éxito debut de Connie Smith de 1964, "Once a Day", en la ceremonia de ingreso de Smith al Salón de la Fama de la Música Country . ^{[ 15 ]}

Ese mismo año, aparecieron en el programa Mountain Stage de NPR . ^{[ 16 ]}

En marzo de 2013, The Quebe Sisters realizaron una gira por Rusia , que incluyó una actuación en Spaso House , la Embajada de los Estados Unidos. ^{[ 17 ]}

El 30 de marzo de 2013, las Quebe Sisters actuaron con la Orquesta Sinfónica de Dallas en el Meyerson Symphony Center en Dallas, TX ^{[ 18 ]} y nuevamente el 29 de mayo de 2014 en Klyde Warren Park en el centro de Dallas . ^{[ 19 ]}

En 2014, las hermanas lanzaron su tercer álbum, Every Which-A-Way . Grabado en Allegro Sound Lab en Burleson, Texas, y producido por Joey McKenzie, mostró una mayor evolución del alcance de la banda en una variedad de estilos, alcanzando el puesto #38 en la lista de álbumes de jazz de Billboard el 1 de marzo. ^{[ 20 ]}

En 2015, The Quebe Sisters y Willie Nelson contribuyeron con un tema ("Along the Navajo Trail") al álbum "Still the King: Celebrating the Music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys", un álbum tributo producido por Asleep at the Wheel. Al año siguiente, las hermanas, junto con The Avett Brothers y Amos Lee , quienes también habían contribuido al álbum, aparecieron con Asleep at the Wheel en Austin City Limits en un tributo especial a Wills. ^{[ 21 ]}

El 18 de agosto de 2015, las hermanas actuaron en la ciudad de Nueva York con Sam Outlaw en un concierto de Roots of American Music/Americanafest NYC en el Lincoln Center . ^{[ 22 ]}

El 16 de septiembre de 2015, Amos Lee presentó a The Quebe Sisters como invitadas en el episodio 3 de la quinta temporada del programa de PBS Bluegrass Underground . ^{[ 23 ]}

El 11 de noviembre de 2015 se emitió el episodio 11 de la quinta temporada del programa de PBS Bluegrass Underground , que contó con la participación de The Quebe Sisters acompañadas por Penny Clark, Katy Clark y Drew Phelps. ^{[ 23 ]}

El 28 de noviembre de 2016, The Quebe Sisters fueron artistas invitadas de Kacey Musgraves en el especial navideño de la CMA. ^{[ 24 ]}

Las hermanas han actuado con Merle Haggard , George Strait , Willie Nelson , The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band , Ray Price , Connie Smith , Marty Stuart , Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder , Riders in the Sky , Amos Lee , Delbert McClinton , Band of Heathens , Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers , Asleep at the Wheel , Kacey Musgraves y Dailey & Vincent , entre otros. Han sido artistas destacadas en el Stagecoach Festival , Ernest Tubb Midnight Jamboree, Smithsonian Folklife Festival , MerleFest , el Philadelphia Folk Festival , Pickathon y el Cavendish Beach Music Festival .

Discografía de las Hermanas Quebec

• Violinistas de Texas (2003)
• Atemporal (2007)
• Cada camino (2014)
• Las hermanas de Quebec (2019)