Parkington family album
Parkington Sisters the picture of togetherness as they plan their first CD
WELLFLEET — Stepping into the rambling family home of the Parkington sisters is like venturing into some modern, Alice-in-Wonderland adventure — only in this version, after going down the rabbit hole, it is not the Cheshire Cat that comes to greet you, but five strikingly pretty sisters who sing and play music together. This may come as close to a modern fairy tale as you will get.
They might protest this. "We've always sang and we've always played music together in one shape or form," says Sarah Dawn Parkington, a wavy-haired brunette and at 27, the second oldest sister. "But getting everyone together? This is life, this is reality."
Despite a 12-year gap between the youngest and oldest — Lydia Danae is 17, Ariel Wing 29 — they are remarkably close.
Seated and draped over various pieces of furniture, hands cupped around mismatched, handmade crockery mugs full of steaming ginger tea, all five sisters try to explain their musical origins. Plenty of laughter ensues:
Blond and brown-eyed Ariel, pointing to Sarah and Rose (age 20 and sporting the kind of glasses-clad, short-bobbed intellectual attractiveness sought by female poets and free-spirited hipsters the world over), explains: "It started out being just the two of them, playing in the streets of Provincetown."
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Rose interjects: "We had so much fun we tried to pull the other sisters in. Like, come on, guys!" Ariel, Lydia, and 23-year-old Nora soon joined in, roving the sidewalks as part-time minstrels (armed with a menagerie of musical instruments including violins, guitars and a cello).
Even as their success grew — their first cohesive, onstage group performance was at Wellfleet Public Library in summer 2007 — the bonds of sisterhood ranked above artistic differences and logistical nightmares.
"We're all equal, we're all sisters, nobody's the lead," says soft-spoken Lydia. Unlike her more animated siblings, she has the serene features normally seen gracing the covers of Jane Austen novels. "And we all write music."
The sisters are together on the Cape this summer, as they are most summers. But they do occasionally venture far from the family nest, and each other.
Ariel just completed a master's degree program in chamber music in Tampa, Fla. Three years ago, Sarah spent a year performing on the streets of Spain and France. Twenty years ago, the kind of five-way, long-distance collaboration they undertook would have required hundreds of licked stamps, weeks of waiting and a hardy U.S. Postal Service (or, if you are a believer in fairy tales, a messenger pigeon). They used e-mail.
Still, diplomacy can be difficult with five original composers in the group.
Songwriting begins as a solitary endeavor; after a sister writes the lyrics and sketches out a structure, the song in its embryonic stage is performed, critiqued and arranged by the group. Final say belongs to the original writer.
Describing their music as "acoustic, indie, folk with classical roots," Ariel explains the obstacles of working with family: "It's not perfect. There's a certain level of professionalism when you work with other people — certain things you would never say to them — that are said because you are related."
They learned negotiation and music at an early age. The sisters are five of seven siblings — brothers Damian, 32, a lobsterman, and Jascha, 31, a researcher, also play music — all of whom grew up under the influences of music-loving parents.
Both parents, they say, are extremely talented musicians. Their dad plays several instruments; their mom "has a soulful voice that makes people cry," Sarah says. Attending symphony concerts and listening to avant-garde classical music were standard family activities.
"Mom listened to cello music when I was in the belly because she wanted a cellist in the family," Lydia jokes. "Here I thought I wanted to play it, but it was all subconscious in my head."
The Parkington sisters are performing this summer all over the Northeast, including a show Wednesday at Payomet Performing Arts Center in North Truro. They hope to earn enough money through their performances and through part-time jobs to "hire a top-notch studio" for the CD they plan to record in the fall.
In the cluttered, overpopulated world of music, the Parkington sisters have the collective magic — part chemistry, part alchemy, entirely mysterious — that is a prerequisite, but certainly not a guarantee, for bands to succeed.
As "five independent women" they have "five different dreams," Ariel says, but when they get onstage, the Parkington Sisters are driven by "shared memories and something else."
And that something else?
"Intuition," Nora offers.
"Trust," Ariel suggests.
"Whatever it is, it's a beautiful thing," Sarah adds. "We're sisters first. Band second."
Five heads nod in agreement.
If You Go: What: The Parkington Sisters. When: 8 p.m. Wednesday. Where: Payomet Performing Arts Center, 29 Old Dewline Road, North Truro. Tickets: $20 advance, $23 at door. Reservations: 508-487-5400 or www.payomet.org.
The Andrews Sisters - A household name in the 1940s, the singing trio entertained Allied troops regularly during WWII. The McGuire Sisters - Singing trio during the '50s and '60s with hit songs such as "Sincerely" and "Sugartime." The Lennon Sisters - A foursome that harmonized on "The Lawrence Welk Show" in the 1950s and '60s and "The Andy Williams Show" in the '70s. The Roches - Three Irish-American sisters who began performing during the 1970s in Greenwich Village The Pointer Sisters - A quartet turned trio that had its greatest success in the '80s with such songs as "I'm So Excited" and "Neutron Dance." Sister Sledge - "We are family, I got all my sisters with me," this quartet sang in its biggest hit, from 1979. Olsen twins - Fraternal twins who shared the role of Michelle Tanner on the TV show "Full House." Hilary and Haylie Duff - Although both are singers and actresses, younger sister Hilary gained fame early as the star of the TV and movie franchise "Lizzie McGuire."