Arabella

"'Arabella' distills their influences, boasting woody acoustics, soft-shoe shuffles and flights of melody."
- Uncut (4 stars)

Laurie and John Stirratt have lived a musical life, from their upbringing in a musical family to playing in numerous bands such as The Hilltops and Blue Mountain as well as more "mainstream" groups such as Uncle Tupelo and eventually, Wilco.

John's band The Hilltops combined a love of country music and '70s rock, releasing two albums in '89 and '90 and Laurie's band Blue Mountain were together from '91 to '01, releasing no less than six albums of more traditional American folk and country music, while Uncle Tupelo and Wilco are names we all recognize as re-shaping the music we now call alt-country.

Although their musical paths have crossed several times over the years, conflicting schedules and geography have prevented them from collaborating - in '02 though, they wrote some songs together and found the material promising. Soon after, Laurie moved to Chicago and she and John hunkered down in the winter of '03, focused on their sibling harmonies and their folk-pop sound and crafted 'Arabella', a moody blend of beautifully affecting songs about love, loss and hope.