Lydia and Laura Rogers grew up in Muscle Shoals, harmonizing in church and singing along to The Everly Brothers. With a background like that, a recording career almost seems inevitable, and the sisters’ self-titled debut seals that impression from the first notes of the lovely opener, “Tennessee Me,” a self-penned number that fits in nicely on an album dominated by covers of classic country (“Why Baby Why”), pop (“Something Stupid,” an oddity made famous by Frank and Nancy Sinatra), and folk music (“Do You Love An Apple”).
The Secret Sisters—recorded on vintage equipment by Nashville veteran Dave Cobb, and featuring a band of Nashville stalwarts like Hargus “Pig” Robbins—came out of nowhere this fall, its high profile no doubt helped by famous champions like T-Bone Burnett and Jack White. (White also released a Secret Sisters single on Third Man Records.) It isn’t hard to imagine fans taking the lead from here. In other hands, the Rogers’ stylistic choices and throwback recording methods—to say nothing of a seemingly bottomless closet of vintage dresses—could seem annoyingly quirky or self-conscious. Instead, it just sounds timeless.