Sister Sadie
All-women bluegrass band built from seasoned Nashville players — hard-driving picking and stacked harmony that leans country when it wants to.
Sister Sadie began as a one-off gathering of Nashville musicians at the city's Station Inn, with fiddler Deanie Richardson, mandolinist Tina Adair, banjo player Gena Britt, bassist Beth Lawrence and singer-guitarist Dale Ann Bradley on the bill. The band's name comes from Tony Rice's song "Little Sadie," and from how the five friends felt about each other. Good shows kept coming, and taking on more dates turned the one-night booking into a working band.
Before Sister Sadie, each member already had a career: Richardson had toured as a fiddler with Bob Seger, the Chieftains, Vince Gill and Patty Loveless; Adair had fronted her family band, the Adairs, for two decades; Britt was a founding member of the Daughters of Bluegrass; and Bradley had already won five IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year awards and entered the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame.
Sister Sadie's sound is hard-driving traditional bluegrass, built from fiddle, banjo, mandolin and guitar under stacked harmony, but it pulls freely from country and contemporary songwriting too. The band has released four studio albums: Sister Sadie (2016), Sister Sadie II (2018), No Fear (2024) and All Will Be Will (2025), two of which brought Grammy nominations for Best Bluegrass Album.
The group has been named International Bluegrass Music Association Vocal Group of the Year three years running, in 2019, 2020 and 2021, and became the first all-female act to win IBMA Entertainer of the Year, in 2020. Richardson has twice won the IBMA's Fiddle Player of the Year award, and Jaelee Roberts took Female Vocalist of the Year in 2024.
Membership has shifted since the band's founding: the current lineup pairs Richardson and Britt with newer members Jaelee Roberts, Dani Flowers, Rainy Miatke and Katie Blomarz-Kimball, continuing the band's mix of seasoned players and fresh voices.
Sister Sadie at a glance
What kind of music does Sister Sadie play?
Sister Sadie is tagged country.
What festivals has Sister Sadie played before?
Sister Sadie has played MerleFest 2026.
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