The Quebe Sisters to bring Western swing to Bayou Theater for Valentine’s Day

January 26, 2018 | UHCL Staff

The Quebe Sisters to bring Western swing to Bayou Theater for Valentine’s Day

When it comes to playing music they love, The Quebe Sisters aren’t fiddlin’ around. The Dallas-based Quebes—Grace, Sophia and Hulda—are bringing their lifelong love of Texas style, Western swing fiddle tunes to the Bayou Theater at University of Houston-Clear Lake for a special Valentine’s Day performance on Wednesday, Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m.

“We actually call ourselves ‘Americana’ fiddle musicians, because it’s a newer term that is more all-encompassing of the music we play,” explained Sophia Quebe. “It’s a loose term for traditional music of all types. We play different styles of music with different instruments—jazz, folk, country, swing—it’s hard to label ourselves.”

Quebe added that their music is acoustic—that is, they do not use electrified instruments. “We play acoustically even if the song was once recorded electrically. Western swing was one of the first genres of music to incorporate electric instruments like the electric guitar or fiddle, and that’s been a huge influence on us, but we play on the acoustic side,” she said.

The three Quebe sisters got the bug to learn the fiddle when they were children growing up in Burleson, Texas. “We attended a fiddle contest, and we’d never heard that music before,” she said. “We got connected to people who taught fiddle and the rest is history.” The Quebe sisters began learning, going to contests, and studying together. “Since we all played the same instrument, it was natural for us to want to play together,” she said. “Then we thought: ‘what will we do, play around the house or start playing for money?’”

 In the early days, Quebe said, they played more separately, but their focus changed quickly. “We went from thinking this is just a fun thing for us to do, to deciding to make this our livelihood. I don’t know why some siblings play instruments but don’t form a group. We did—I’m not sure the secret, but it’s what we love to do.”

All three sisters sing different parts of harmony, but they all sing leads. “Our set is always evolving,” she said. “But if you’ve never seen us before, you’re going to hear some tight harmonies on the vocals and the fiddles, and a mixture of older tunes and original tunes. We’ve got a bass, an acoustic guitar and three fiddles—it’s a unique instrumentation setup and our audience will have a unique experience.”

For more information about the Bayou Theater, or to buy tickets online, visit www.uhcl.edu/bayou-theater/ 

 

 

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