July 8, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
Keeping the embers glowing!
Continuing a tradition started several years ago honoring an individual performer or group each year for helping keep the embers of bluegrass music glowing for future generations, the Smithville Fiddlers Jamboree Saturday evening presented the 2024 “Blue Blaze Award” to Sister Sadie right after this talented and popular all-female band put on an exciting mini concert which left the crowd wanting more.
Originally formed as a pickup band in December of 2012, Sister Sadie has reached heights beyond any of their dreams. In 2019, they won their first IBMA award as a band, Vocal Group of the Year. They debuted on the Grand Ole Opry. Their album “Sister Sadie II” was nominated for a GRAMMY. And it’s only picked up steam since then. 2020 brought with it another wave of IBMA Awards including Fiddle Player, Vocal Group & Entertainer of the Year. In 2021, The same year, the band took home a third consecutive IBMA Vocal Group of the Year award, and new member Jaelee Roberts was awarded the IBMA Momentum Vocalist of the Year award.
Now, entering their second decade as a band, the spark that they felt all those years ago burns brighter than ever before.
Sister Sadie is comprised of original members Deanie Richardson (fiddle), Gena Britt (banjo & vocals) and newcomers Jaelee Roberts (guitar & vocals), Dani Flowers (guitar & vocals), and Maddie Dalton (acoustic bass & vocals).
This dynamic bluegrass supergroup joins a long list of Smithville Fiddlers Jamboree “Blue Blaze” Award winners which reads like a who’s who with names like Dailey & Vincent, Sierra Hull, Danny Roberts of the Grascals, the Tennessee Mafia Jug Band, Ronnie Reno, and Michael Cleveland among others.
Sister Sadie band member Deanie Richardson competed at the Fiddler’s Jamboree as a child and was one of the first winners in the Jamboree’s National Championship for Country Musician Beginners in the 1980s.