I'd never heard of Sisters Morales until the nice folks at the El Paso Symphony Orchestra told me they'd booked them to headline the EPSO's fourth annual Garden Party. It's a fundraiser for the symphony, which had staged the first three at people's homes.
By moving it this year to the El Paso Country Club's front lawn, the symphony hoped to attract a little bit bigger crowd and, of course, a little bit more money.
The attraction for me was the featured entertainment. They'd sent me a copy of their new album, "Talking to the River," so I could listen to it before writing up the interview I did for the Aug. 23 Living section to advance the concert. I've been listening to it pretty much ever since.
The sisters — Lisa and Roberta — have conjured up a meaty musical chili that combines rock's power, folk music's penchant for storytelling, country's lilt and the swing of traditional Mexican (and other Latin) music. It's pretty tasty stuff, fleshed out by David Spencer's inventive guitar work and the dulcet voices of the two sisters, whose natural harmonies just shimmer.
But you never know if an act is any good until you hear them live. The setup wasn't exactly ideal for a concert. And this wasn't a concert in the traditional sense. The stage was located on the lawn, facing the country club entrance. Nearly two dozen tables ringed the lawn on the opposite side of the entrance road, with bar service set up at either end and a silent auction, with sculpture, jewelry, tickets and other enticements on the west end.
The sisters, backed by Spencer, a bassist and a drummer, played a lot of stuff off the new album and what I heard sounded as good or better in concert than it does on that impressive record. There are so many sturdy, standout tracks on the album that I'm sure it's gonna wind up on my favorite albums of the year list in a few months.
What struck me about the performance was how much more impressive Lisa's and Roberta's voices are in person. There's power, to be sure, but also a precision of emotion that can't be contained in concert like it can in a studio.
I left the Vikki Carr concert, a benefit for the Southwest Association of Hispanic American Physicians' scholarship fund, about 15 minutes before it ended so I could take in most of Sisters Morales' last hour at the country club. I didn't watch every minute of it, but caught most of it. I can only hope that as great as it was for the symphony to bring the San Antonio sibs here for the first time, it would be even better to hear them do their thing in a proper concert setting. Or at least a club.
The event, by the way, drew about 250 people and the money-raised figure floating around was about $25,000, though that's unofficial.
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