Hanging with My Sisters

Women and their musical voices are integral in the music industry and these ladies represent not only the independent music scene but women who persevere in the business and have stories to tell!

It is an inspiring documentary that shows the best of the lived experiences and transforms them into music with form and depth. Also the girls were amazing in every live performance there was; you can not ask for more in one storytell, thanks for this great job!

Hanging with My Sisters was phenomenal. To contribute to the complexes of being an independent musician, they hit the nail on the head. I'm personally proud of Kristen and Susan, as well as learning about the wonderful musicians in Kama and Joanne. They are paving the way in the SoCal indie community for other female musicians to follow. Editing and sound was fantastic, as I'm a classical musician, video producer & engineer. Congratulations to these driven, diligent and talented women.

I found this movie on Amazon. My friend was looking for new documentaries to watch, where we found the Hanging With My Sisters musicians. As someone over 60, I am a nurse practitioner in various medical distinctions. I have a lot to write here. I have never heard anything like Addiction. I often treat patients who have addictions. I am blown away by this young lady Kristen. I've been in the medical field whole adult life and this song hit home for me. Her power in her lyrics for the young man she lost truly made me cry. My friend was blown away as well. She also really liked Kama's story. I can tell that Kristen is a very special young lady. Also, the women played beautifully in the film, but I had to share about Addiction. I hope that you do a premiere in Denver, CO as I would like to meet you all in person. Kristen, I don't know you but I thank you for letting the world know that this is an epidemic that is not sung about in this way. May this film be super successful. Congratulations!

"I'm here with an acoustic guitar and a microphone...[it's] a new experience for me," Susan Surftone confesses to an intimate crowd gathered at Kulaks Woodshed (North Hollywood) for one of the talk / performance sessions filmed there for Hanging With My Sisters.

Going unplugged was new to Surftone because-as her hame suggests-she's a rockabilly / surf / blues guitarist who's been churning out upbeat instrumental music for over thirty years. But a recent move from Oregon to L.A. made her realize that most small clubs and coffeehouses there cater to singer / songwriters nowadays. Not bands.

"I'm a guitarist who sings. I'm not a vocalist, really!"

So she purchased an acoustic guitar, brushed up her chops, and took vocal lessons to help ease her way into singing along with her guitar on a 2016 digital single...and a pair of originals / covers albums (2nd to None in 2018, Dicey After Dark in 2019). Her newest EP-To The Crossroads and Back-is already in the can. But Surftone decided to go public with some of the fresh material earlier this year by hosting a showcase featuring herself and three "indie Grammy" Recording Academy "sisters" whose work might not receive the attention it deserves because they're older (post-40s) artists-not household names-whom naysayers in the biz might consider past their "best beyond" dates.

Vocalist Kristen Speller puts it succinctly: "I'm not a teenager, not a dancer, not a pop star. This is about longevity!"

The resulting concert / documentary film Hanging With My Sisters (now available for streaming on Amazon Prime) finds financier / producer Surftone and Speller regaling a small Kulaks audience and-along with New Wave flautist friend Joanne Lozarro and jazz / pop pal Kama Ruby-verbally sharing their journeys for the benefit of fans.

Each woman performs one of her own numbers (Susan gets two), then discusses her upbringing and musical influences...which range wildly (and refreshingly) from Buck Owens to George Harrison and Carlos Nakai). What emerges are unique, fascinating, inspirational stories of the sort not typically heard from more the successful working musicians on radio and television: There are tales of heartache, divorce, discrimination and stereotyping, escape from domestic abuse, and triumph over substance abuse.

Ulster County (New York) native Lozarro tells how public school funding allowed her take up the flute in grade school. Her parents paid handsomely for instrument rentals, but the lessons were covered. Later in life, she became a music educator whose area of expertise widened to include indigenous woodwinds and exotic reeds from around the globe. Her dreamy performance piece-"Lava Walker" (played with Surftone and percussionist Chucky Lowrey)-was inspired by a daring trot over hot volcanic coals.

"I decided I hadn't really enjoyed my vacation until I'd signed a liability release waiver!" jokes the flute player.

Speller explains how her musical uncles and father (Leo Perry and The Statesmen) informed her move later in life to relocate from Taunton, Massachusetts to L.A. to follow her musical dreams. Her cousins in the pop / soul group Tavares (of Saturday Night Fever fame) also encouraged the breathy singer / dulcimer player to cut a pair of albums with her producer-husband that acknowledged her Cape Verde ancestry...and her own phoenix-like rebirth. Her song "Addiction" is dedicated to an acquaintance who succumbed to heroin, but the tune delivers a healthy don't judge message to all of us: Drugs are but one of many equal opportunity offenders that make us all addicted in one way or another.

"This is about love," Speller sings.

Ruby discusses her upbringing in Bakersfield, California (she was born in Olympia, Washington) and the impact of her grandparents' eclectic vinyl library. "They had Patsy Cline, Marty Robbins, Tom Jones, Liberace..." she remembers. Later, Ruby reveals that she is a distant relative of Western swing music pioneer Bob Wills, whose spirit emboldened her shift from jazz to Americana and pop. Ruby's "Badlands of Bakersfield" (with Jane Getz on piano and Bob Tucker on guitar) paints a colorful picture of the oilfields, dustbowls, saloons, and mechanical bulls she and her family encountered in and around San Juaquin. Surftone recollects wanting to be Elvis Presley in an era in which most girls wanted to be with Elvis (or with boys like him). She credits her benevolent guitar teacher with guiding her through "Walk Don't Run" by The Ventures (after she'd conquered her Mel Bay book lessons).

Surftone graduated from law school and worked as an FBI agent in her mid-20s, but the sudden death of John Lennon made her realize that now is always the best time to do whatever it is you want to do in life.

"If you don't try, you'll lose yourself," she says. "And you can't go back."

With surf rock experiencing a mid-'90s renaissance , Susan founded her own band and signed to a German label. She enjoyed 10-15 years of modest success fronting a girl guitar group until going solo in 2011 with Shore. That album's warm reception encouraged her to keep strumming and picking away-as on the songs she performs here ("Little Bit Lied To" and "Get You Out of My Dreams").

The Sisters' comfy concert (taped in October 2018 and February 2019) works well in the living-room like Woodshed setting, whose close environs, décor, and ambience really lets the audience (and home viewers) connect with the ladies and their life lessons.

The film is brief (just over an hour) compared with other epochal rockumentaries and concert films, making it a smart choice for those looking for a quick, quiet (but uplifting) post-dinner / pre-bedtime entertainment.