The Nields are coming! The what? Nerissa and Katryna Nield are folk singing sisters who are coming to the Salmon Brook Music Series on Nov. 10. Nerissa wrote her first song at the age of 13, dragged Katryna out of her room to sing with her and vocal beauty was born.
During the late 1980s in the Washington D.C. area, they teamed up with guitarist David Jones and started playing at open mic venues. Jones later married Nerissa and took her last name.
The trio moved to New England and released their first recording. For their third recording they were joined on bass by friend Dave Chalfant. By 1994, they were a full-fledged five-piece acoustic rock explosion when Dave’s friend Dave Hower joined them on drums.
They were touring the country by now and thrilling enthusiastic crowds. After playing the Lilith Fair in 1998 without the boys, Nerissa and Katryna did some shows when just the two of them. They played the Newport Folk Festival and The Nields became a bona fide act of its own. Katryna and Dave Chalfant married in 1999 (he kept his name) and the group kept recording. By 2001, Katryna and Nerissa released their first record as a duo.
Now in their third decade as musical partners, The Nields have released their seventeenth album, titled simply XVII. The primary inspiration for this album was their hero Pete Seeger. They were raised on Pete’s music. (Their parents fell in love at a Pete Seeger concert!).
Come hear the sound that Billboard Magazine described as, “a gloriously eccentric vocal delivery… lots of backward glances and relationship foibles punctuate this collection, which is ideal for harmony addicts and dreamers alike.”
You can see and hear The Nields at the Salmon Brook Music Series, Nov. 10 at South Church, 242 Salmon Brook St (Rte. 10), Granby. Doors open 7 p.m.; show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance or $18 at the door. Call 860-916-5066 or go to salmonbrookmusicseries.org. Proceeds go to support the mission of South Church.