Starry Nights rocks Sisters High auditorium

Hanna-McEuen turned the Sisters High School auditorium into a roadhouse on Saturday night, April 22, with a Starry Nights set that leaned heavily on the pulsing bass of Teddy Jack, the steady beat of drummer Jesse Siebenberg and the twanging Telecasters and sharp harmonies of Jonathan McEuen and Jaime Hanna.

The duo opened for their dads’ band, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, last year and earned such acclaim that Starry Nights Concert Series organizers asked them to come back as headliners this year.

The Saturday night performance showed that the young aces put the intervening year to good use, turning in a tight, rocking set that showcased a fresh sound that combines elements of country music, folk and rock wrapped around harmony vocals that reveal the precision and feeling that come from two young men who have played together since their childhood.

Hanna, suffering from a disk problem in his neck, almost didn’t make the show, but his playing gave no hint that he was in pain. He thanked the Sisters community for treating the band so well, with complimentary food and services offered all over town.

“It felt like I was stealing,” he said.

Amanda Sarles and Shannon Hanson from Sisters High School joined the band for a soaring performance of “Ocean.”

Jonathan McEuen offered up an unscheduled moment, accompanying eighth-grader Beth Haldermann on a song they worked up on a Thursday visit by McEuen to the Sisters Middle School Americana Project class. Haldermann had penned the lyrics but was stuck on the arrangement; McEuen supplied the chords and turned the work into a clinic on construction of a song.

The Saturday night performance earned a strong ovation from the full house.

Songwriter Leslie Satcher opened the show with a solo acoustic set. She talked about as much as she sang, putting the crowd in stitches with anecdotes and descriptions of songs, delivered in a wry style with a distinctive Dallas, Texas twang.

Satcher has had tremendous success as a songwriter in recent years and has a current chart-climbing single performed by Gretchen Wilson and Merle Haggard titled “Politically Uncorrect.”

Satcher closed her set with a performance of her song “San Antone” featuring students from Sisters Elementary School. They were: Isabel Richter, Adam Novotny, Nathan Kaping, Megan Englich-Mills, Crystal Rifschneider and Naomi Eckstine.

Satcher has visited Sisters several times and marvels at the interest of the children of the community in the arts.

“You are so fortunate to have kids who embrace that, who aren’t running around trying to stir up trouble,” she said. “Your kids are running to create something beautiful and I commend you for that. It’s a tribute to your community.”

The Starry Nights artists have played an important part in creating that culture in Sisters, both by working with and inspiring students and through the funds raised by their concert appearances.

The artists donate their time and talents, allowing the Starry Nights organization to raise substantial funds for the Sisters Schools Foundation. To date, the program has raised well over $500,000 for school programs.