If you went to the Evanston Folk Festival this past September, you probably enjoyed Nashville-based folk singer Sierra Ferrell. Or perhaps you drank in the twangy guitar riffs of Chicago-native Robbie Fulks. Among the folk veterans and practiced banjo players, you might have been surprised to see two teenage sisters playing bluegrass. Unlike Ferrell, these sisters relished an easy commute: they merely walked out of the front door of their Evanston home.
I met Soraya and Luciya Sullivan on a grainy Zoom call, Luciya joining from her phone at home and Soraya from her dorm at the Berklee School of Music in Boston. Due to Luciya’s busy junior year schedule at ETHS and Soraya being at college, this spontaneous meeting on a Monday afternoon was the only time we were going to be able to talk. However, life for the Sullivan Sisters, as they have come to be known, has not always been this on-the-go.
Growing up in North Carolina, the young sisters found time to be immersed in the world of bluegrass singing and guitar picking. With encouragement from their parents, both musicians, Soraya took to the guitar and Luciya the banjo when they were just eight and six years old, respectively. The singing came in quick succession, with the sisters’ elementary school encouraging their vocal development. “The jamming culture, where everybody will just sit together and play songs, is a very friendly, welcoming and collaborative environment, which helped us as we were getting started,” Soraya recalls.
In time, both sisters started playing music for others. “There were some other sisters, close to our age, who played bluegrass. We saw them performing, and we were like, ‘We could do that too!’” Soraya recounts. She describes performing as coming naturally to her and being on stage as “her thing.” After successfully competing at bluegrass contests as a musical duo for two years, the sisters’ parents made a pivotal decision: They were moving to Evanston.
When the family sold their house in Winston-Salem, they would be leaving “jam-session central” and moving to the Midwest – a region with little historical connection to bluegrass music. One would expect the colder temperatures and stronger emphasis on blues music to deter them, but the sisters were determined to make it work. Finding bluegrass outlets in the Chicago area seemed to be the solution; “The Old Town School of Folk Music has been a big place for us,” Soraya says. “We were in their teen string band for a long time, and that was a lot of fun.”
The jam-session factor was not necessarily lost to the move either; at school, the sisters found community by joining the ETHS band. Soraya was in the jazz band as a vocalist, and Luciya currently participates in the intermediate symphonic band. Luciya takes building community one step further – incorporating elements of her North Carolinian upbringing into the school day. “I have a friend that plays guitar and sings, so we’ll have jam sessions during free periods in the school practice rooms.”
Indeed, the sisters agree that the move from North Carolina to Evanston has changed their career in unexpected but rewarding ways. “There’s not a huge bluegrass scene [in Chicago], but the existing scene is very tightly knit,” Soraya says. She remarks that “all the older, more experienced players have been very supportive of us – they really helped us grow as musicians and give us opportunities.” The Sullivans cite Henhouse Prowlers, a longtime Chicago-based bluegrass band, as being mentors supportive of their music.
After years of acquainting themselves with the Chicago bluegrass scene and performing as a band, Soraya and Luciya are sure that music is what they want to do with their lives. When applying to college last fall, Soraya put music at the forefront in choosing her school, which ended up being, fittingly, Berklee College of Music in Boston. Luciya, an ETHS junior, hopes to attend Berklee as well. “I can’t really picture doing anything other than banjo,” she relates. “So hopefully, in two years, we can have the band back together.”
Luciya remarks that the nearly 1000-mile distance is a new hardship for them. “The night before or the morning of [performances] is really all we get. We’ll be sitting in a hotel room running through our sets,” they laugh. “We don’t practice, but it works!” I wonder aloud if some of this natural chemistry comes from being sisters, and the Sullivans agree with me – “Family bands have the best harmonies – ‘blood harmony’ is a big thing,” Soraya muses.
When concert opportunities knock, the sisters answer the call, having to sacrifice their time in school. “ETHS was very lenient with us missing school. College, not so much,” Soraya admits. “I’ve spent a lot of time doing homework assignments on airplanes.” Luciya says that some ETHS teachers give needed homework extensions. “A lot of them are really encouraging and know about our music,” she says. “They understand that we have other obligations and passions.” For Luciya, the heavy course load, including AP classes, affects her availability most of all. “Catching up on schoolwork is the main issue with what we do,” she laments.
While the distance and availability for gigs are obstacles, the sisters build in performances during school breaks. Over the summer, they attend bluegrass competitions throughout the country, like Rockygrass in Colorado and Galax Old Fiddlers Convention in Virginia.
This past September, the sisters ushered in a new tradition in Evanston: the first ever Evanston Folk Festival. Taking place on the lakefront, the festival spanned two days and drew in crowds of thousands. On Saturday, Luciya and Soraya performed at Lagoon Stage, their perfect harmonies wafting out over Lake Michigan. According to Luciya, watching Sierra Ferrell’s set was an added bonus to her festival experience, as was buddying up to other prominent artists. Soraya hopes that the Evanston Folk Festival will inspire greater interest in the local folk and bluegrass scene. “There’s definitely lots of people in Evanston and the surrounding areas that love this kind of music and are interested in it, but there’s just not a ton of venues that do it yet,” she observes.
While being teenage musicians puts Soraya and Luciya on a different trajectory than many of their peers, both socially and professionally, the Sullivans agree that the upsides outweigh the downsides. Regularly mingling with more experienced and popular artists is one of the sisters’ favorite parts of the job. As the older players show them the ropes, they help the sisters come of age in an industry known for its ups and downs. When the Sullivan Sisters opened for the Kruger Brothers at Evanston SPACE in April, Luciya had a transformative experience backstage with one of her idols: banjo player Jens Kruger. “He spent 20 minutes giving me life advice,” Luciya remembers. “He was basically just saying ‘Don’t go on stage to play what other people want you to play. Just go on stage to play what you love playing,’ and that really spoke to me.” With the wisdom and inspiration from bluegrass icons, the sisters, in turn, pave the way for a new generation of bluegrass musicians. “We meet a lot of little girls at shows, and they always come up and want to talk to us,” Soraya beams.
Soraya and Luciya have big plans for the future, including releasing their first EP, consisting of four songs – two original songs written by Soraya and two covers. For Luciya, a collaboration with Bela Fleck, 15-time Grammy award winning banjoist, would be a dream come true; for Soraya, a collaboration with folk guitarist Molly Tuttle. And when asked about their dream venue, both girls responded in unison: “The Grand Ole Opry!” The sisters praise the famed Nashville venue. Indeed, the Sullivan Sisters – first heard at the lagoon and over Lake Michigan in Evanston – are now poised to bring their unique sisterly sound to other shores where audiences will surely sing their praises.
