Rising Appalachia brings front porch fiddle music to Petaluma

There's a moment in a band's career when years of hard work and innovation culminate in an album that stands as a pinnacle achievement, such as Lucinda Williams' “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road” or Indigo Girls' “Rites of Passage.”

Rising Appalachia, a band led by two sisters from Atlanta with angelic voices, has succeeded in reaching a defining landmark with their new album, “Wider Circles.” The band, which includes percussionist Biko Casini and guitarist David Brown, performs Monday, Nov. 28 at Petaluma's Mystic Theater.

In “Wider Circles,” the women's voices soar, the backing instruments set the perfect tone, and the richly textured songs range from folk standards to activist anthems, from old mountain traditionals to New Orleans soul.

It's a “crafted album with nuanced lyrics that took 11 years of touring and five previous albums to get to,” said Leah Song (she adopted the last name), the older sister.

“It feels like we gave that album time to arrive in fullness, and we really didn't push it or rush it into being. It has a subtlety and a delicacy that I think can only come from trial and error,” she added.

While advocating “slow music” in a fast-moving world, Rising Appalachia offers songs that are nurturing, inspiring and often political, without being sappy or overly dogmatic.

Following are highlights from an email interview this month with the two sisters who front the band, Leah Song, 35, and Chloe Smith, 31.

Q. How do your shows go beyond your albums?

Chloe: We handcraft each evening of music for the audience, the times we are in, the mood of the tour, and of course the expression of the songs themselves. Performance has always been a two-way street for Rising Appalachia. We get as much from our audience as we give.

Leah: We hope to get rowdy and play raucous fiddle-banjo duets and then throw in a ballad, a '90s R&B cover, a political piece, a bit of storytelling from the road, and, if we're lucky, get the audience into a dance-off somewhere in there.

Q. How would you describe your music?

Leah: World-funk-soul. We are creating music that at its foundation is folk music (front porch music, storytelling, acoustic instruments, fiddle, banjo, guitar). But then we have elements of soul music (sexy love songs, rhythm and bass, slow dance music).

Chloe: Crunk-folk meets Deep South sister soul meets resistance music meets dance party for the people. (“Crunk” is Southern slang for rowdy.)

Q. What do you see as the purpose of your music, and do you see it as a vehicle for social change?

Leah: We are engaged on the ground and our fuel is the people who show up every night at concerts. So our platform is that of a bugle call. We can carry messages far and wide, and share stories, new ideas, problems and social issues nightly with a new set of eyes and ears. (Our goal is) to provide the dance party, and to get people inspired and activated to go out into their world and make a difference.

Q. You've traveled widely, lived in Appalachia and spent seven years in New Orleans. How has that influenced your music?

Chloe: I believe that travel is the perfect antidote to taking yourself too seriously.

Leah: Chloe and I moved down to New Orleans at the height of the rebuilding and upheaval left from Hurricane Katrina. We were completely enamored by the spirit and the culture still alive and breathing all across the Crescent City.

We were playing daily on the streets with a full-time busking schedule -- studying the songs, fiddle tunes, and Second Line traditions -- and also putting our time into so many of the rebuilding efforts.

We relocated to Appalachia a bit by accident. As children we were immersed into Appalachian folk traditions through our mother, who has been an avid student of the Appalachian fiddle.

She dragged us to fiddle camps and folk revival gatherings and old-timer front porches all through our childhood. … The musical traditions of the mountains have always been in our foundation.

Q. There's so much going on in your music yet you say it's simple, why?

Leah: We have limited effects; nothing is coming out of a computer. Compared to a front porch, old-time jam it is quite complex and nuanced, but compared to almost every single thing you hear on the radio these days, it's still a pretty stripped-down sound.

It's also about a commitment we are proud of, that the music you hear is all happening live. If the power went out at a concert, we could still play our whole show.

Q. As sisters, how do you deal with the inevitable sibling conflicts?

Chloe: We go on lots of walks. And there tends to be a good amount of humor in the tour bus most of the time, which helps clear the air.

Once you have been touring for years and years, you sort of learn what not to bring up and how to avoid conflict when possible. Conflict of course does arise, so banging on a drum or singing your ass off each night is pretty real medicine to get the energy out.

Q. What do you hope that those who attend your shows come away with?

Chloe: A good feeling inside your chest like a full meal inside your belly. A deep, rich, harmonic, musical and communal experience.

Q. Any last thoughts on what you accomplished with your latest album “Wider Circles”?

Leah: We wanted to make an album that would tell a lot of stories, but leave room for people to find their own discoveries in the musical layers. I think it is our swan (finest) album. I hope to keep touring it for a good while to come.

Videos: http://www.risingappalachia.com/video