Iain McQuill Introduces The Sisterhood 2

Many will be aware of The Sisterhood, the project Sarah Jane Morris and Tony Rémy unveiled in 2024, in which ten of the most notable female singer-songwriters of the Twentieth Century were the subjects of a unique song cycle. Morris and Rémy were already aware that ten was insufficient – others had to be included.

The momentum of writing and creating did not falter, and by the time of its earliest performance The Sisterhood had become twelve, with ink-undried songs for Patti Smith and the then so recently and so tragically departed Sinéad O’Connor being added to the ten originals. Since then, another nine have been written. Peggy Seeger, Etta James, Joan Baez, Dolly Parton, Bonnie Raitt, Joan Armatrading, Janis Ian, Tracy Chapman and Amy Winehouse have become part of the project, brought together in a second volume of unsurpassed quality.

Morris says that there are three qualifying factors for a singer to be included in the sisterhood. First, all must be artists of excellence and originality. Next, they must be writers as well as interpreters. Lastly, almost all have understood that talent and success give them voices to communicate on subjects of conscience. They have accepted the responsibility which goes with opportunity, to act as witnesses, spokeswomen and champions for those whose voices are unheard. All possess courage and lead by example.

The album opens with Longing To Be Free (for Peggy Seeger), a powerful feminist anthem and biographical narrative of the events, relationships and causes of a legendary life in musical activism. Seeger’s political insight, that the cause of womankind should be given voice in song, was an inspiration for The Sisterhood. Sinéad O’Connor, Oh Mother My Mother is both Celtic elegy and Ovidian dream, in which Sinéad and her mother are reunited as birds beside an imaginary lake and attempt non-temporal reconciliation. For Tracy Chapman, I Can Hear Jesus Weeping, melodically enchanting, expresses a bitter reproach for the abandonment of those most in need of protection: ‘Pity us and pity those who cannot hear the children cry’. Love Wit & Stardust (for Dolly Parton) pays tribute to the woman who, perhaps more effectively than any other, communicates universal human values of inclusion, generosity and moral clarity to everyone, ‘from Heaven to the Grand Old Opry’. Joan Baez’s song, Always Both and Never, describes the paradox that militant non-violence risks deadly reprisal; this song recalls the heroism and sacrifice that co-existed with the hedonism of the Sixties. Sweet Mama Raitt (for Bonnie Raitt) is adorned with a perfectly fashioned vocal tribute: ‘Your songs make me feel like I’ve been talking with you’ – and pays special regard to Raitt’s extraordinary song about organ donation. The song for Joan Armatrading, Let Only Love Remain is a musical tour-de-force which displays subtle understanding of Armatrading’s art, while wrapping the enigma of her fiercely guarded privacy. Also Known as Etta James (for Etta James) is a dark, pulsing number full of the atmosphere of danger which characterised the life of an uncompromising black artist in the America of her time. The song for Patti Smith, Crazy Angel, is a beautifully sustained piece of performance poetry which owes quite a lot to Patti herself, but which is sharply expressive of intention. Patti’s art, in Morris’s hand, becomes a mirror of Smith’s own magnificence. For Amy Winehouse, The Edge is Where the Magic is Found is a jazz ballad in which Amy herself would have delighted, and which focuses on the young singer’s brilliance, touching lightly on the tragedy of her fall. Janis Ian’s story, The Dignity of Love, artfully proclaiming human love in all its diversity, plays the album out with a gloriously sustained finale lasting over nine minutes, leaving the listener aching for more.

Sarah Jane Morris and guitar-player, co-writer and co-producer Tony Rémy are artists at the peak of their abilities, and each one adds to the other’s lustre. Morris is aware of the power and quality of her vocal instrument, undiminished as she commands the stage through her fifth decade as an internationally acclaimed singer. Her dramatic training enables her to deliver extended, super-demanding lyrics with flawless intelligibility. And Rémy is much more than the foil for her vocal star-turn. This album is an extraordinary musical achievement, a collaboration between singer and instrumentalist of spell-binding range and quality. Morris and Rémy have been friends and colleagues since the nineteen eighties. They know each other so well, a mutual recognition of superlative standards and world-class practice, that their work proceeds with smooth understanding and absolute trust. Tony has long been regarded as one of the leading and most versatile guitarists anywhere in the world; he once replaced Clapton in Jack Bruce’s band, is a master of Soul, Jazz, Funk and African Blues and is a composer of invention and originality. His role in The Sisterhood as co-writer and co-producer is the other half of a magical equation – the voice the words, the guitar, the shared expertise, the endless knowledge of what is needed, and where to go for the answer to that need – Morris and Rémy have it all, and The Sisterhood 2 is their latest masterwork.

According to Sarah Jane, The Sisterhood is all about the passing of the torch from sister to sister. As we listen to these wonderful songs, we are quickly convinced of Sarah Jane as a bearer of that torch, and that this project is the definitive evidence of her rightful place among the very best.

Iain McQuill December 2025