Music Provides Sisters Different Scale Of Values

Irene Dunphy frowns at the sound coming from her keyboard.

Something’s wrong, but it’s not the clatter in the background. Her ear is so fine-tuned to her music that she doesn’t notice the laundry clanking in the dryer. Or the kids running on the stairs.

Family life doesn’t distract this mother of nine or her guitar-playing sister, Joan Shepard, who has four children.

Irene and Joan launch into “Stand by Me.” Their untrained altos blend in a pleasing harmony they’ve worked weeks to achieve. But the keyboard still sounds wrong and that frustrates them. Their performance standards became more strict after they went professional a few years ago.

“I’m so fussy, I drive Irene crazy,” Joan admits. She’s the older, more serious sister. She probably wouldn’t have stepped into the spotlight in her 40s without Irene’s carefree prodding.

But once the sisters launched their act, Sweet Pepper, they never looked back. Music uncovered something in their souls that years of laundry and sack lunches had buried.

“I’m more than just a housewife,” Irene says with a little pout. “I can do something special. I make music.”

They grew up in the Bronx practicing an hour a day, slaves to a ticking egg-timer. Their father didn’t play an instrument, but he insisted his four children learn.

“We both had Italian teachers and they both had skinny little mustaches,” Irene says, giggling as her sister realizes she’s absolutely right.

Joan and Irene played for the sing-alongs at family gatherings. “Bye Bye Blackbird,” “Peg O’ My Heart” - the girls knew all the favorites of their parents’ generation.

When Joan hit high school in the mid-1960s, the guitar was a popular beast. She formed a band, the Magnatones, named after a brand of speaker, and played lead guitar for school dances.

Music slipped in importance as the sisters married, started families and divorced. Neither wanted to raise children in New York so they followed their brother to Hayden Lake in 1979.

Irene remarried and settled west of Rathdrum, a city girl content in the woods with her growing family. Joan moved to Spokane, remarried and worked in a law office.

Their parents followed a year later and towed along the spinet on which Irene had learned. But Irene was too busy to play and sold it a few years later when her family needed the money. It broke her heart.

“I sold it to my other sister so it was at least still in the family,” she says.

Neither sister found time for music for more than 10 years. Then, in 1993, Irene couldn’t stand it anymore.

“I missed music,” she says. “So I bought an amplifier without telling Joan and gave it to her.”

Irene impulsively decided the sisters could market their musical talents. She convinced Joan they could work mostly at home near their families. Joan missed playing enough that Irene’s idea was enticing. The Sister Sound was born.

Irene bought a small keyboard and speaker. They practiced in a shop on her property where she could tend to her children. Their first gig was at a grange hall Halloween party. They earned $25.

The money didn’t cover all the needs they discovered at that job. They wanted better equipment. They realized they needed to sing, that background music was boring. They needed microphones and drums.

“We’ve begged, borrowed and done everything but steal,” Joan says.

Singing intimidated them, but they pushed past their shyness and found their voices mixed like coffee and cream. Their sound was warm, smooth and inviting.

Free shows at senior center luncheons evolved into paying gigs at private parties, malls, country clubs. Their repertoire grew to 60 contemporary, country and old-favorite songs.

Their older kids hauled equipment, happy to fill the roadie role. Their husbands’ tolerance of their hobby turned to enthusiasm as the applause grew louder.

There were a few glitches along the road. Some people assumed The Sister Sound was a duo of nuns. Joan quickly changed the act’s name to Sweet Pepper - sweet and a little spicy.

Then Irene had another baby, which meant performances punctuated by feedings. The sisters want more work now - a job a week - but have no complaints. They’ve found a way to combine their two loves: music and family.

“With a big family, I sometimes get in a rut,” Irene says. Her fingers dance a warm-up exercise on the keyboard while Joan straps on her guitar. “This lifts me up and I go home and I spread that.

“I love playing music. It’s my outlet. After a good performance, I feel great for a week.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo