BRATTLEBORO — The Nields will be performing songs from their latest CD, titled XVII , in honor of their 17th CD release, which honors Pete Seeger, who served as their inspiration.
Sisters Nerissa and Katryna will be performing at the All Souls UU Church on 29 South St., in West Brattleboro om May 1, at 7:30 p.m.
The Nield sisters have generated a huge following in New England, especially in the Pioneer Valley, as performers, teachers, authors, and inspirational mentors.
XVII is the Nields' most personal and their most community-minded. Well into their third decade as a musical partners. At the very top of their game, the Nields turn to meditations on time, and turning points, their roots and community – both musical and personal – but they also express joy in the present, faith in the future, and a whole lot of hope and promise.
The Nields' albums are often an eclectic mix of ideas and music styles, but clear themes emerge. Love and China (2002) was about the fragility of love and relationships. The Full Catastrophe (2012) explored the messy experience of raising a family. XVII has the Nields looking out from midlife, focusing on themes of time, love and community.
The primary inspiration behind XVII was Nerissa and Katryna's hero, Pete Seeger, who died in January 2014. His love of sharing music and his passion for justice had been a part of their lives since before they were born (their parents fell in love at a Pete Seeger concert). His death affected both of them profoundly.
Seeger is clearly on the album in songs like “Joe Hill” and “Wasn't That a Time,” but the entire album is infused with his spirit. It's there in the Nields' delight in sharing music and in using it to build a community. And it's there in the title XVII : when compared to a career and life like that of Pete Seeger, they're not even out of their teens.
The Nield sisters grew up singing and making music with each other and with their Dad. In the late 1980s, Nerissa and Katryna met a graduate student named David Jones, who had always longed for a career in music. Playing acoustic guitar through an electric pedal board, he joined the sisters as they played open mics in the Washington, D.C., area. Later, he married Nerissa and took HER last name ("Just like the Ramones!,” he said).
They moved to New England, grew the band and released many CDs. The sisters comfortably perform with just the two of them, as they will in West Brattleboro, as they do with the whole band. The sisters have authored books and teach music lessons, known originally as HooteNanny, which grew to be the busiest music program in the Pioneer Valley.