Sisters Morales
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Sisters Morales

San Antonio, Texas, United States | SELF | AFTRA

San Antonio, Texas, United States | SELF | AFTRA
Band Americana Adult Contemporary

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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

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"Making Music Outside of the Box"

The biggest problem wth music today-aside from anything have to do with money- is that we tend to try to make it fit into a neat little boxes: alt-country,country, folk, pop, metal, R&B (whatever that means today),hip-hop,etc. We can make those boxes big enough to hold a lot of similar stuff,or we can make those boxes very small so that they hold only the most exclusive gifts.
In truth, good music sometimes does fit into one of those boxes; perhaps more often good music doesn't fit into any box at all because it crosses several borders.
With that in mind, let's look at Sisters Morales, the San Antonio -based sisters who used to live in Houston and grew up in Tucson and treasure the time they spent in Mexico. Sisters Morales is also a five-piece Band that's won awards for best country & western band, best folk, duo, best folk/acoustic group (which ignores the slammin electric strings provided by David Spencer).
They've shared stages with Rodney Crowell, Joe Ely, Merle Haggard, Walter Hyatt, Alan Jackson, Allison Kraus,Patty Loveless, Delbert McClinton, Leroy Parnell, Dale Watson, Kelly Willis, and many others. They've played the George Strait Music Festival, and for the movie premier of "Pure Country."
Naturally, in a world that seems to treasure boxes , their third CD, "Para Gloria", is in Spanish.
Which isn't a bit surprising because they mix English and Spanish as freely as they mix genres in their lively shows. Their first two CD's, 1997's Ain't No Perfect Diamond and 1999's Someplace Far Away from Here,both were primarily in English. They make "no borders" music where languages and cultures flow easily back and forth. It's music that moves ya.
What comes through clearly in this CD, if you don't speak much Spanish, is the passion in the music and vocals of the mostly familiar songs, which move from upbeat tempos to slow ballads. Most of these songs are, or should be familiar to people who listen to music in Texas. Nine of the songs are Mexican standards, one (El Talisman") comes from Spain, and
(Algo Tonto) was , in English, the airy love song known as "Something Stupid."
'We've been wanting to do a CD in Spanish for a long time,"said Roberta, the taller blonde sister Morales. "These are songs we grew up with, beautiful songs from the records our mother and father had, and songs they would sing around the house."
"We just both said it's time for this."said Lisa, the shorter, dark haired sister Morales. "For years we were asked to change our name and all that by people in the industry, but
now Latin music has become popular in the United States. The rest of the world has listened to Mexican and Spanish music for a long time."
The "NO-BORDERS" BOX, If there must be a box , fits because it allows the blend of cultures and influences.
Country Standard Time wrote that Sisters Morales combines Bonnie Raitt
and a Female Los Lobos (although three men round out the band)
"Those guys grew up with rock and Spanish music, and that's what we grew up with", Lisa said of Los Lobos.
"Mexican music is like country music. There is a relationship there. And then the boleros are like the soul music of Mexico, and the rancheras are the romantic music with a lot of emotion." "It's poetry" Roberta
said, And the emotion, the feeling is like the blues. You don't automatically hear the words you heart the emotion first because it touches the hearstrings."
The "no-borders" box is what keeps a lot of Sisters Morales music, and the music of a lot of other exceptional artists all the radio.
"It's time for(all of ) us to stop making those lines," Lisa said.
Radio needs to stop doing that."
The Sisters Grew Up In A musical
family, and as youngsters sang mariachis in Mexican restaurants. They each did their own thing for a while, until in 1989 Roberta joined Lisa in Houston.
Para Gloria, like he two primarily-English CD's that preceded it, comes closer, perhaps, but still doesn't capture the full impact of a live Sisters Morales show where the band tends to jam on songs when it gets into a groove, often led by guitar and steel-guitar wizard David Spencer, who is joined by percussionist Vicente Rodriguez and bassist Jeff Hamby. (Spencer is the one of Texas' finest players; one late night at Love & War in Texas, the three enthralled men sitting near Spencer all were guitar players in other bands.)
"That's a live thing " Lisa said. "You
get going, and we really enjoy playing, and once that song takes off you just let it take off.




- Buddy Magazine/by Tom Geddie


Discography

Talking to the River 2008-Luna/Dig Music
Para Gloria 2002-Luna
Someplace Far Away From Here-1999 Luna
Ain't No Perfect Diamond-1997

Photos

Bio

A veritable spectrum of sounds and styles can be heard in the music created by Lisa & Roberta Morales & their long-time multi-guitar co-hort David Spencer: Music rooted in the Southwestern spirit of Texas( where they live in San Antonio), Arizona(where they grew up) and Mexico(their family and cultural roots) by artists raised on everything from the Beatles to Buffalo Springfield, Johnny Cash,and Merle Haggard.