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It's nice to be able to walk into a Starbucks, which is on almost every corner now, and order a strong cup of coffee to go in their paper cups (recyclable, of course - none of that styrofoam stuff ) of various sizes which I never get right.
"How tall is Grande again?" "Oh that's a Tall is it?" "No I'll just have a Short, and with a vanilla bean scone to go with it. Oh, a Short Pike." I don't care if Starbucks is a coffee shrine for coffee pseudo-connoisseur lefties, since whoever invented it knows how to make the coffee taste good.
The stores often have CDs playing music that is so very different from the hip-hop thumping at the Eaton Centre, or the wailing of the latest pop star that reached number one in some retail store. Starbucks goes for jazz, folk, or even hip country. And Brazilian jazz seems a favorite at the store I go to.
This afternoon, there was the plaintive melody of two women singing, and it sounded Irish to me. The coffee line was long, which was fine this time since I could listen some more. I asked the "barista" what the CD was. It was by a group called The Chieftains, an old Irish group from the 1960s (I was right), who produced this CD, Voice of Ages, in 2012 with numerous other artists, with whom they collaborated. She pointed out that the track I was listening to is with the Secret Sisters. The song is "Peggy Gordon."
The Secret Sisters are, according to Wikipedia:
...an American traditional country music duo, consisting of vocalists Laura and Lydia Rogers. The duo's music has been compared to artists like The Everly Brothers and Doc Watson.Lydia was set for an audition, but couldn't make it, and sent her sister instead. From there, the Secret Sisters act was formed.
...Laura and Lydia Rogers are real-life sisters from Muscle Shoals, Alabama. With a love for music coming from both sides of their family (their grandfather and his brothers forged a group called The Happy Valley Boys), they grew up with a zeal for country music and sang songs with their family by country music artists such as Don Williams. The girls first learned to harmonize through singing a cappella at their hometown church. Laura and Lydia never considered a singing career as a duo. Laura went to Middle Tennessee State University to pursue a career in business, while Lydia was considered the "real" singer of the family.
They sound like some obscure Scots-Irish duo from the Appalachians, but they are more cosmopolitan than that, although they did grow up singing in their church in Alabama. Still, it is good to know that traditional American music is alive and well, with all the bombardments that are out there to silence it.
Below is the video of "Peggy Gordon" with the Secret Sisters and the Chieftains: