Anyone who’s written a song knows the process doesn’t always end with lyrics, melody and harmony. Arranging a composition — refining and developing its musical parts, grooves and vibes — to maximize the tune’s seductiveness is essential. Doing this in collaboration with others can lead to creative boondoggles and bruised egos.
Sister Sparrow, a.k.a. Arleigh Kincheloe
So, imagine doing it with six musical co-conspirators, as Sister Sparrow — a.k.a. Arleigh Kincheloe — does when she brings her songs to the Dirty Birds, the artist’s brass-fueled backing group that includes her brother Jackson on harmonica, guitarist Mark Marshall, bassist Josh Meyers, drummer Dan Boyden, trumpet player Phil Rodriguez and saxophonist Brian Graham. It seems a miracle that anything gets done.
Yet, somehow the group manages to fit all the elements into a cohesive and exciting mix without clashing or obscuring one another. GP caught up with the Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds to discover how the flock achieve synchronization.
Seven creative people is a lot to wrangle. How do you do it?
Sister Sparrow: I don’t think there are any rules to it. I typically write the songs and bring them to the band and we arrange the songs together. Everybody chimes in with what they like and what they don’t like, so it’s kind of trial and error until we reach common ground. We’re all passionate about this music, so we’ll fight for our ideas, and the debates help us see what is really best for the song.
Phil: We’re pretty democratic, to the point where it can sometimes take a year before we realize an arrangement is not quite working with a song.
What identifies an arrangement as “not working?”
Sister Sparrow: It’s usually that something will irk me during a performance. Then