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One of the most accomplished bands to emerge from the North American indie and roots rock scene,
the Sadies are an eclectic group led by brothers
Dallas Good and
Travis Good, who've crafted a distinctive sound, absorbing influences from traditional country, surf music, and garage rock, and blending them into something unique with their estimable instrumental skills. Hailing from Toronto,
Dallas and
Travis came from a musical family; their father
Bruce Good and uncles
Brian Good and
Larry Good were members of the Canadian country-rock band
the Good Brothers, while their mother
Margaret was a vocalist and music educator.
Dallas and
Travis played with
the Good Brothers for a spell before forming
the Sadies in 1994 with
Sean Dean and Mike Belitsky, and made their debut album in 1998,
Precious Moments, which was recorded by indie icon
Steve Albini and featured guest vocals from a then little-known
Neko Case. The
Sadies dropped two very different albums in 1999 -- a second studio effort,
Pure Diamond Gold, and a collaboration with renegade R&B singer and songwriter
Andre Williams titled Red Dirt. The group's third full-length,
Tremendous Efforts, followed in early 2001, teaming them with
Albini for the second time. A year later,
Stories Often Told marked their first album without
Albini, with
Greg Keelor of
Blue Rodeo in the producer's chair.
The
Sadies stepped forward to produce themselves on 2003's
Favourite Colours;
Robyn Hitchcock made a guest appearance, contributing vocals and lyrics on one track. That same year,
the Sadies teamed with
Jon Langford of
the Mekons for the collaborative album Mayors of the Moon, and the band also toured with
Neko Case as her backing ensemble; the tour was documented by a live album, 2004's
The Tigers Have Spoken. In 2006
the Sadies released their own live album,
In Concert, Vol. 1, recorded during a two-night stand at Lee's Palace in Toronto and featuring a wealth of guest stars, from
Garth Hudson of
the Band to
Jon Spencer of
the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. A studio album followed a few months later,
Tales of the Rat Fink, which consisted of cues the group had written for a documentary about landmark auto customizer Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. The
Sadies released another studio album,
New Seasons, in 2007, and in 2009 they joined forces with
John Doe of
X to cut a set of classic country tunes,
Country Club.
The powerful and atmospheric
Darker Circles followed in 2010, and was nominated for the Polaris Music Prize, and in 2012,
Garth Hudson invited
the Sadies to take part in the sessions for
Chest Fever: A Canadian Celebration of the Band, in which they were joined by
Hudson and
Neil Young to record a version of the
Bob Dylan classic "This Wheel's on Fire."
Young was impressed enough that he invited
the Sadies to open the show for a tour of Canada with
Crazy Horse. In 2012, a second album with
Andre Williams was released,
Night & Day, recorded over a period of several years as
Williams struggled with health problems. In 2013,
the Sadies looked back to their past with The Good Family Album, a collaboration with the then-current edition of
the Good Brothers, while also blazing new trails with
Internal Sounds, an ambitious set featuring guest vocals from iconic folksinger
Buffy Sainte-Marie. The
Sadies released yet another collaborative effort in 2014, a long-simmering project with Gord Downie of
the Tragically Hip titled Gord Downie, the Sadies, and the Conquering Sun. At the end of 2015, the four-piece retreated to Dallas and
Travis' parents' basement in Toronto to record their tenth album. The resulting
Northern Passages appeared at the beginning of 2017. Guitarist
Dallas Good died on February 17, 2022 at the age of 48; in a statement on social media,
the Sadies said he died of natural causes. ~ Mark Deming