In March I had the pleasure of seeing
Trisis at Chippewa Fall's Heyde Center. Trisis is a trio of sisters
who sing the songs of their grandparents and great-grandparents.
Focusing on the 1920s, '30s and 40s they are retro-postmodernist.
I heard about them from David Gee of
Deepwater Reunion, a popular blues band. He “discovered” Trisis
and took them under his wing. He first saw them years ago when doing
a benefit for The House Of The Dove, a hospice center in Marshfield,
Wisconsin. David was the MC of the show at the Heyde Center and he
said, “The amount of work they do is phenomenal. They are the
hardest working people I've ever met in my life.” They have been
singing publicly for about two and a half years and have done over
200 shows. Why is this remarkable? Let me introduce you to these
young women.
Their names are Jessica, Jackie and
Jasmine and they are 17-, 14- and 10-years-old. They are accompanied
by their father on the guitar and that, combined with their
voices-as-instrument, is more than sufficient. They entered the stage
in black and beige polka-dotted, below-the-knees dresses with ruffled
bodices, pearls and black button-up sweaters. They had bows in their
hair. The two older girls curled their hair while Jasmine—the
youngest— French braided hers. The combination of youth and their
clothing might conjure the word “cute,” but it wasn't. It was
“right.” Their first song was a rousing version of “Choo-Choo
Ch'boogie” a song first recorded in 1946.
Next was “Sugartime,” a tune
recorded in the '50s. They took a break as Jessica explained how they
came to be singing these songs. She said her grandmother introduced
them to vinyl and her first thought was, “You can get music out of
these big black discs?” She explained that she soon fell in love
with both vinyl and the music. They then launched into Ruth Etting's
“March Winds and April Showers,” during which Jessica did a solo
in a true 1930s style voice and I flashed back to my youth, watching
old black-and-white musicals.
I have to admit that when I heard about
Trisis I expected soaring soprano harmonies—kind of Peter, Paul and
Mary-like—but these gals' voices are deep and rich, embodying their
chosen musical era. They are also tightly choreographed, with
synchronized hand and body movements that reflect the lyrics.
Other songs that evening included Patsy
Cline's “I Fall To Pieces” sung by Jackie and Jessica, “After
You've Gone” (1918), “Am I Blue” (1929), Elvis' “Can't Help
Falling In Love With You,” “Java Jive” (1941), Hank Williams'
“Your Cheating Heart,” “It's A Sin To Tell A Lie” (1936),
“Fever,” The Andrews Sisters' “Rum and Coca-Cola” (1945)
['our grandmother made us sing this one'] “Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy”
(1941), and “White Cliffs Of Dover.”
They also sang songs written by their
father, David: “Since You're No Longer Here,” “When I'm Not
With You” written for their mother, Khristy ('my heart begins to
scheming/without rhyme or reason'), a train song I really liked but
didn't get the name of ('tour the nation/fascination/ride the
train'), a song in French—with the help of Google Translate—titled
“Cage En Fare,” and “Good Time Charlie.” David's songwriting
is pitch-perfect, perfectly matches his daughters' sensibilities and
fits right in with the mood.
Some of my favorite moments was when
10-year-old Jasmine sang Patsy Cline's “Blue.” She was amazing.
Jackie did a fabulous job with country-boogie song, “Cow-Cow
Boogie” (1942) and I lovedlovedloved the way Jessica cupped her
hands to her mouth reproducing the sound of a trumpet. The three
sisters sang “Hey Good Looking” charmingly and were unabashedly
camp.
They wrapped up the night with
“Sincerely” (1954), “Hit The Road Jack” (1960) and finally,
invited David Gee as Louis Armstrong back onto the stage for the
finale, “Wonderful World.”
These gals are young. These gals are talented. And they're
passionate—there's no question they love what they do. And they're
lucky to have parents who understand how important it is to let
children chase their passions. It's my understanding that David and Khristy are not typical “stage parents,” they support and
encourage but do not live vicariously off their daughters nor are
they making their daughters live their own, unfulfilled dreams. David
Gee confided that he has to encourage them to take breaks—they just
want to sing all the time. I talked to Jessica, Jackie and Jasmine
briefly after the concert. They told me they find their music on
Pandora or use suggestions given them by their grandmother and when I
asked them what they want others to know about them Jessica said,
“We're regular girls who want to bring joy to other people.” If
the show at the Heyde Center is any indication, that's exactly what
Trisis is doing. And they're doing it darn well.
You can find out more about these
amazing young sisters, see some Youtube clips and purchase their CDs here:
Find them. Listen
to them. Catch them live. Support them. You'll be pleased you did.
