SINGING SISTERS stay true to their Christian roots in secular music.


The first time you hear The Secret Sisters, you’re likely to think you’ve heard them before.

The haunting melodies of Alabama natives Laura and Lydia Rogers call to mind old hymns such as “Poor Wayfaring Stranger.” Their tight sibling harmonies evoke memories of the Everly Brothers. And the vocal twangs and acoustic guitar recall the sounds of bluegrass and old country.

The sound of the Rogers sisters — who grew up at the North Carolina Church of Christ in Killen, just south of the Tennessee border — is as refreshing and nostalgic as a chilled glass bottle of Coke.

In their music, “you hear the history of rural American music from the 1920s and a reverence for every musical genre this country has produced,” said T. Bone Burnett, a Grammy winner and executive producer of the sisters’ self-titled debut album.

So what’s their secret?

“We’d never performed together” before auditioning for Burnett, says Lydia. “We would sing in church or in the living room with our daddy.”

Now the two young singers — Lydia is 23 and Laura is 26 — have been launched into the thick of the music industry, a trip as unexpected as it has been overwhelming.