Western Swing Band the Quebe Sisters Taking "Undetermined Hiatus"

Once upon a time, deep in the heart of Texas, siblings Hulda, Sophia and Grace Quebe all decided to pick up the violin and take lessons together at the behest of their mother, who wanted the girls to simply try something new.

Little did they know that they would go on to form the Quebe Sisters, a trio chock-full of triple fiddles and three-part harmonies that redefined Western swing music over the past two-plus decades with four full-length albums and worldwide tours.

“It’s been a really wild ride,” Hulda says. “Not everyone gets to say they grew up playing fiddle in a Western swing band with their siblings. It’s just been the most unique life experience, for sure.”

Naturally, the Quebe Sisters is a “family affair,” as the three “always had each other,” she adds, but what makes the familial violinists truly extraordinary is their take on the homegrown subgenre popularized by Lone Star musician Bob Wills, the “King of Western Swing,” who is credited with creating and popularizing the eclectic country style in the 1930s and ’40s.

“It’s not your typical household genre,” Hulda admits, “but the whole point of the style is that it’s a huge melting pot.”

A post-World War II concoction, Western swing initially included elements of jazz and world music that soldiers picked up during their travels abroad and brought back home. While Wills and his band, the Texas Playboys, were already around and regularly gigging in the 1930s, it took some time for audiences to truly take to the music, but by the 1950s, Western swing had cemented itself as more than a passing fad.

The Quebe Sisters continue the tradition of mixing many musical ingredients with country and Western, because “you can do whatever you want in this genre,” Hulda says. The “progressive” or “neo-traditional” tags that have become attached to the group’s sound just mean that the trio draws from more contemporary influences, such as Willie Nelson or the Beatles. The Quebe Sisters even collaborated with Nelson and Grammy-winning Western swing band Asleep at the Wheel on a rendition of “Navajo Trail” for a 2015 tribute album to Wills, Still the King.

“For us, we wanted it to be a show of music that has a lot of ebb and flow,” Hulda explains of their approach. “We switch it up by bringing in different genres — which in a way is not unique to the style, because that’s what the whole point of the style is. We just kept that tradition going, but in our own way.”

See for yourself on Sunday, August 27, at Newell Farm & Amphitheatre in Berthoud. Local acts Dakota Blonde and Reckless Abandon are also on the bill. And it’s going to be the last opportunity to see the Quebe Sisters for a while.

The current “Bye, For Now” tour runs through October, but after that the sisters are going to enjoy some “much-needed R&R and time off the road,” Sophia shares.

“For now, we are taking an undetermined hiatus. This isn’t retirement for us, just a nice break,” she adds.

Hulda, the youngest of the three, was still a teenager when the Quebe Sisters first graduated from regional fiddle competitions and composing instrumentals to booking paid gigs as a legit band. “We didn’t get jobs at Whataburger or the mall — we played gigs. That’s how we started making money when we were younger,” she says, adding that those early shows eventually led to more touring, including playing the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.

“We just kept it going ever since," Hulda says. "It’s been a wonderful ride.”

The “grind of the Quebe Sisters has always been there,” she continues, so “it’s kind of wild to think that at the beginning of next year we’re not going to be doing Quebe Sisters, but that’s going to be fun. We’re a very close family, so I think that’s going to make doing family stuff even more special.”

While the Quebes may not be hitting stages together as often moving forward, that doesn’t mean the sisters will be locking up their instruments and forgoing playing music with one another.

“We’re family, we’re sisters, we’re always going to live near each other, so the opportunity to play together is always there,” Hulda says. “We’re still playing; even our walls are covered with instruments. … It’s always been something that none of us have been able to walk away from.”

Burnout isn’t necessarily dictating the breather, either, but more like, 'Let’s get some new things in here where we can really think about stuff,'” she explains.

“I think for us, this is the most we’ve ever loved music and have been inspired to play,” Hulda continues, noting that the pandemic pause showed her that downtime can be a positive for the creative process. “I realized that when you take a break, a lot of good things can come from that. You can come back with a lot of energy, excitement and new ideas. Your whole perspective shifts. That’s why we made this decision.”

The Quebe Sisters, 4 p.m. Sunday, August 27, Newell Farm & Amphitheatre, 236 East State Highway 56. Tickets are $25-$49.