The Secret Sisters’ Father’s Day Tribute Video For “Carry Me” Premieres At Paste Magazine

BRANDI CARLILE-PRODUCED NEW ALBUM
YOU DON’T OWN ME ANYMORE OUT NOW VIA NEW WEST RECORDS

EXTENSIVE U.S. TOUR CONTINUES JUNE 22

The Secret Sisters have released a new video for “Carry Me” from their critically acclaimed album You Don’t Own Me Anymore, which is available now via New West Records. Directed by Mark Slagle, the video premiered Friday (6/16) at Paste Magazine and serves as a tribute to Laura and Lydia Rogers’ father Ricky Rogers (of the progressive bluegrass band Iron Horse) ahead of Father’s Day this Sunday. It features home video of the sisters with their father as well as clips of some of their friends’ families, which includes John Paul White (of The Civil Wars) and his children, combined with studio footage of album co-producers Brandi Carlile and Tim and Phil Hanseroth. Of the song and video, The Secret Sisters offered to Paste, “It’s easy, as a woman, to write a song about the men who’ve broken your spirit. It’s a different task entirely, to sit down and write a song about the first man to hold you, the first man to proclaim that you are beautiful, the first man to express his lifelong love for you, the first man you learn to love in return. But that kind of man holds such value in this world, even more value than the ones who don’t handle us with care. ‘Carry Me’ is about the love of a good father, and the patient, tender, forgiving nature of that bond. Such a love should be celebrated, on this national holiday and on every regular day. Thank you, to every good man who has made the choice to be a present and purposeful father. Your worth is immeasurable and you make this cruel world better by the way you love those who look up to you. We see you.” Watch the video HERE.

The Secret Sisters’ first new record in over three years, You Don’t Own Me Anymore released last week to rave reviews with American Songwriter praising, “You Don’t Own Me Anymore is a strong, welcome return and a reminder of just how powerful and moving the merging of two stunning voices can be,” and AllMusic adding, “However rooted in the past they may sound, the Secret Sisters ultimately connect on such an intimate level that they render any measure of time extraneous.” The album premiered in full at Rolling Stone Country alongside a feature with the sisters and Carlile, which can be seen HERE. “They’re complete fucking unicorns and I couldn’t stay away,” Carlile says. “I remember the first time I ever heard them sing and I literally could not believe that it was happening in real life. They were and continue to be two of the most stunning singers in the world.” Previously, Vice’s music dedicated site Noisey premiered the video for the album’s title track and called new album “Gorgeous”, “…wholly authoritative in conveying the authenticity that the Secret Sisters have been trying to harness since day one,” and also stated, “God help anyone who tries to stand in their way.” The Tyler Jones-directed, Mark Slagle-produced video can be seen HERE. Garden & Gun premiered the album track “Mississippi” last week as well, stating, “You Don’t Own Me Anymore showcases the Secret Sisters at the top of their craft.” The murder ballad was written from the antagonist’s point of view and is a companion to their song “luka,” a fan favorite from their last album, 2014’s acclaimed Put Your Needle Down. The album standout can be heard HERE. Paste Magazine previously premiered the video for the first single “He’s Fine,” which depicts the sisters recording the album with Carlile at Bear Creek Studio in Woodinville, WA (See it HERE) while NPR Music premiered the video for album opener “Tennessee River Runs Low,” calling the record “a set of songs both reflective of tradition and deeply personal.” The video can be seen HERE and features the acclaimed Alabama artist Butch Anthony and was shot on his 80-acre family compound where he hosts the “Doo Nanny,” an annual art/folk micro festival. The Secret Sisters also recently appeared on CBS This Morning Saturday for a stunning, three-song performance which can be seen HERE.

An open audition in Nashville in 2009 lead The Secret Sisters to a major label deal and a critically acclaimed debut album produced by T Bone Burnett and Dave Cobb. Followed by a tour with Levon Helm and Ray LaMontagne, the sisters found themselves sharing stages with Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and Paul Simon, appearing on numerous late night television shows, issuing a single produced by Jack White and released by his Third Man Records, as well as releasing a second album with Burnett at the helm. But the tides turned quickly and after the release of their sophomore effort Put Your Needle Down in 2014, the girls were dropped from their label and found themselves with barely enough money to stay on the road and keep making music. They retreated to their homes in Northern Alabama where they started embracing what could be a future without music. “It was a nightmare that every day seemed to worsen,” says Laura. “We went through things we literally never thought we would come out of.” Adds Lydia, “it had just gotten so bad, the only option was to file bankruptcy.” To make ends meet, Laura took a job cleaning houses and the girls performed the occasional concert when they could. It was then that Brandi Carlile – someone whom The Secret Sisters have admired for years – offered to produce their next record. Soon after, a PledgeMusic campaign was launched which raised 50% of their goal in just 48 hours (and exceeded it in just over a month) with nearly 1,500 fans coming forward to personally help them rebuild.

Even once Carlile gave The Secret Sisters some renewed hope, things weren’t instantly easy: what they went through left wounds that needed to heal before they could pour themselves into songwriting. But when they did, Laura and Lydia found themselves in a more creative and honest space than ever, with their experiences flowing and morphing into collective tales of triumph, rage and the indefatigable human spirit. The resulting songs of You Don’t Own Me Anymore are about life when everything you think defines you is stripped away. These are journeys as poetic as they are confessional, always anchored by the timeless, crystalline ring of Laura and Lydia’s voices in sweet unison. “Brandi, Phil, and Tim had never produced a record for anybody but themselves,” says Laura about their experience in the studio. “We are all artists, and we could include our opinions. I felt like everyone was an equal force in the room. It is often lost on producers that you actually have to go perform your song on a stage – it’s easy to get so caught up on the production that you don’t discuss how this all will translate – but Brandi innately understood that.”

The end product finds the sisters taking their music to new places, with soulful, gospel grooves and stirring vocal performances that never seek perfection over power. It’s a document of hardship and redemption, of pushing forward when it would be so much easier to drown in grief. And it’s a story about how passion and pure artistry can be the strongest sort of salvation. “The only way we could have completely healed was to have written an entire record,” says Laura. “I think we were just in the wrong parts of the machine,” says her sister. “We feel like we have learned where not to be, and where to go.”