Keeping folk in the family

Big things are expected of acoustic trio The Staves ahead of their debut album.

The appeal to their label of willowy sisters Jessica, Emily and Camilla is obvious, says Ed Power

WITH The Staves playing Electric Picnic at the weekend, their singer Jessica Staveley-Taylor is a little worried. “The thing about festivals is you aren’t playing to your own audience and that provides a challenge.” Staveley-Taylor says of the all-sister folk trio “in all honesty, it can be difficult. Because we’re a pretty quiet band, it is sometimes an issue for us. You have to work that bit harder to win people over.”

Her pessimism is surprising. The Staves — willowy sisters Jessica, Emily and Camilla, from Watford, outside London — have been warmly received wherever they’ve gone. Everybody is predicting big things for them.

The Staves have been championed by folkie Fionn Regan and influential producer Ethan Johns, and received a call from Tom Jones. “They wanted us to sing backing vocals on his album and we wondered if we should do it,” says Jessica. “We thought, ‘a Tom Jones record … hmmm’. Then, we found out that [Laura Marling/ Ryan Adams producer] Ethan Johns was doing it. That convinced us. And the record was really lovely. I don’t know if you’ve heard it. It is called Praise and Blame and is very rootsy. We’re delighted we did it.”

The sisters expected Jones to be larger-than-life, like something out of Vegas. Between takes they found it difficult to get a word out of him. He was soft-spoken, shy. “He’s very chilled out,” says Jessica, who had a brief career as a child actress (at 14, she was in the final series of the BBC’s Grange Hill). “He’s older nowadays and very quiet. He’s sweet and friendly. A gentleman. Definitely not the crazy character you expect. Of course, once he opened his mouth, he was incredible.”

Three guitar-strumming English roses with sweetly intertwining vocals, it’s no surprise The Staves have been lumped with Britain’s ubiquitous ‘nu-folk’ scene. Though from the distinctly non-bucolic environs of suburban England, they’re comfortable with the designation, provided nobody turns up at one of their shows expecting a folk performance. They wouldn’t want to let anyone down. If they are folk, then it is with a small ‘f’.

“We didn’t listen to any folk music growing up,” says Jessica. “Our parents were into The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Neil Young — all of that. We weren’t part of the folk scene at all. For whatever reason, we always get that label. It follows us around.”

Jessica shrugs. “I suppose it can be difficult to define different genres. We play acoustic music with harmonies. For some, maybe that automatically means ‘folk’. The thing is, we wouldn’t want to disappoint any actual folk lovers. We’re not a trad band, not at all. That is not where we are coming from,” she says.

The Staves started young. They grew up singing together. Their first gig was at a pub in Watford. At the urging of friends, they put on a show at their local. It was such a success, they organised several more. Without quite intending it, they woke up one morning to discover they had started a band together.

Eventually, the question presented itself: could they do this full-time? Their parents, presuming their daughters would go to university, were aghast at the thought of them throwing their education away for an uncertain future in the music industry.

The sisters weren’t entirely sure it was the right decision, either. Ultimately, they concluded that if they didn’t give it a shot they’d regret it the rest of their lives.

They haven’t looked back since.

Early on, there were predictable comparisons with nu-folk’s brightest lights, Laura Marling and Mumford and Sons. Jessica is not sure she can hear similarities. However, she won’t object if critics mention her band in the same breath as artists who have sold tens of thousands of records.

“Those acts have acoustic guitar at the centre of their sound,” she says. “So, yeah. We’re absolutely fine with that. You can’t control what people write about you. There’s no point objecting.”

It’s been a busy year.

Signed to Warner Music, The Staves are being carefully groomed for stardom. Ahead of the release of their debut album, Dead and Born and Grown, next month, they’ve toured relentlessly (including a gig at Mitchelstown Caves last month) and have released three well-received EPs.

It’s all part of a campaign to put them in the spotlight and keep them there.

Things got off to a whirlwind start when The Staves were invited to tour with The Civil Wars, the male-female duo best known for singing on the title track to the Hunger Games. That was followed by a much-blogged and tweeted-about slot at South By Southwest Musical Festival in Austin, Texas. Then came their really big break, opening for Bon Iver on his arena tour across the US. “When you’re touring a lot, you build a degree of momentum,” says Jessica. “It’s all very exciting, to go to all these places and receive such a warm reception. And we’ve put out some EPs, just to have our music out there before the LP.”

Their album was produced by Ethan Johns and his father, Glynn. Both are huge fans of The Staves’s home-spun sound and discovered the band separately.

“Ethan got in touch with us to sing with Tom Jones,” she says. “After that, he said he was interesting in working with us. Separately from that, Glyn came up to us after a gig and said, ‘you know, I don’t actually produce myself any more, but my son does — he’d love to work with you’. We laughed and said ‘guess what? He’s already been in touch’.”

Another early mentor was Bray Mercury Prize nominee, Fionn Regan, whom they met at a gig in Liverpool.

“We were on the same bill and got talking to him afterwards. We hit it off, and then, a few months later, he rang up and asked if we’d like to sing on his record 100 Acres of Sycamore. We said ‘yes’, obviously. We’re all huge fans of his. You make these connections as you go along, all these wonderful people who want to work with you and help you out,” Jessica says.

* The Staves play the Electric Picnic Cosby Stage, Stradbally, Laois, Sunday. The album Dead and Born and Grown is released next month.