Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds have played Bonnaroo, the Jazz & Heritage Festival in New Orleans, and appeared on NPR Tiny Desk. On Saturday night, they’re playing Woodstock. For Arleigh Kincheloe, the band’s founder and lead voice, Woodstock isn’t a detour. She grew up in the Catskill Mountains. This show is a homecoming.
About the Show
The Brooklyn-based seven-piece Kincheloe co-founded with her brother Jackson in 2008 traces directly to those mountains. Arleigh began performing at age 9 in her parents’ band, and she and Jackson eventually relocated to New York City to build Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds into what critics recognized as a singular force: a working soul collective with horns, harmonica, and a front woman The Washington Post called “a soul queen.” NPR called them “one of the biggest voices in rock music.”
The band has released five studio albums, including Pound of Dirt, The Weather Below, and Gold, plus the live album Fowl Play, and runs close to 150 shows a year. Their total performance count surpasses 700, spanning stages from Bonnaroo to Mountain Jam to the Austin City Limits festival. Their national TV debut came on the Today show; an NPR Tiny Desk performance is in the catalog alongside Firefly, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Bottle Rock, and the Jazz & Heritage Festival. They describe their sound as an “explosive brand of modern soul” — a fair description of music rooted in gritty blues, funk, and garage rock.
“Our music is loud, fun, and it’s supposed to make you feel good,” Kincheloe has said. “That’s the goal.” Playing a 150-seat room in the mountains she grew up in, that goal carries some weight.
Venue & Logistics
Colony Woodstock calls itself “The Smartest Rendezvous in the Catskills,” and the history backs the confidence. The Colony Hotel originally opened in 1929 as the tallest building in Woodstock, a stop for visitors traveling to Overlook Mountain where guests caught big band performances in the great room. A renovation brought the building back in 2017 as a live music venue: modern sound system, standing-room floor, balcony views that keep the stage close. Doors open at 6 p.m. at 22 Rock City Road in Woodstock, in the Hudson Valley.
Tickets
Tickets run $35–$40. The show begins at 7 p.m. Buy tickets