The Haden Triplets—Petra, Rachel and Tanya—were born in New York and raised in Los
Angeles, and carry between them a list of credits that includes some of the most interesting rock,
jazz and experimental music to come along in the past 30 years: that dog., Weezer, Beck, Foo
Fighters, Green Day, Jimmy Eat World, Bill Frisell, Sunn O))), Mike Watt, Paul Motian,
Silversun Pickups and the Decemberists, to name just a handful.
But like their late father, the bassist Charlie Haden, who changed jazz’s trajectory alongside
Ornette Coleman beginning in the 1950s, the sisters also belong to the American heartland, and
to the winsome family harmony singing of the region’s folk and country music. On The Family
Songbook, the follow-up to their acclaimed 2014 self-titled debut, the Haden Triplets mine their
heritage more profoundly than ever before. That includes recording recently unearthed songs by
their grandfather, Carl E. Haden, a figure of novel-esque dimensions: friend to the Carter Family,
Porter Wagoner and other icons, and patriarch of the singing Haden Family, a fascinating
footnote in country-music history.