The Auditory

Check out this awesome band, Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside.  Their debut album “Dirty Radio” is being released on Partisan Records on June 24th!

Sallie Ford has the most unique sound that I’ve heard in a while—her rockabilly-inspired, soulful vocals make her sound both recognizable and intriguing.  The band’s music has an old-timey charm to it that isn’t heard much in the music world much today.  It’s nice to see an independent band that’s straying away from the atmospheric, electronically manipulated material that’s so popular in the independent scene right now.  And while I appreciate a good folk/bluegrass indie band, it’s also nice to see a band who doesn’t fit into that extremely popular, “hip” category.

The music on Sallie Ford’s debut album is a more accessible type of independent music, as it beckons back to early rock, most notably and obviously to The King.  Sallie’s voice also brings jazz artists to mind, especially Billie Holiday; like Billie, Sallie’s voice has both a beautiful fluidity to it, while also maintaining a harsher gritty quality.

During the period when rockabilly was at his height, there weren’t many women who became popular for being part of the genre.  Rockabilly was generally reserved for a male voice.  Today, I was trying to think of women to compare Sallie to in the rockabilly world, and there wasn’t a single woman who immediately came to mind.  Research into the subject only confirmed that women were present in the rockabilly world, but were not as popular as the men.  This doesn’t surprise me, as the genre was at its height in the 1950’s, which wasn’t the best time for women.

The first time I heard Sallie’s music, it struck me immediately that she was something special.  We’re all so used to hearing your typical singer/songwriter women—your Ingrid Michaelsons, Sara Bareilles(es?)—but how often does someone like Sallie Ford come onto the scene?  Not very.  It seems like women with her raw vocal power are as rare as they were in the 1950’s.  I love Sallie because she doesn’t conform to the singer/songwriter cliche.  She makes her music her own way, and that’s a beautiful thing to see!

-Leah Creary