Boots and Hearts Emerging Artist Showcase
The next of the Boots and Hearts Top 8 Emerging Artists that we are featuring are The Command Sisters out of Edmonton Alberta. The wicked harmonies, mastered musicianship, multi-instrumental talents and songwriting skills of Charlotte and Sarah Command garnered them their first publishing deal out of Nashville at the ages of 12 and 15.
“Think of Taylor Swift but there would be two of her and she would have a lot more soul, mixed with the kind of sibling harmonies that would make The Rankins question whether they are truly related, ask them to play pretty much any instrument under the sun and you have The Command Sisters.” – Chris Martin, CBC Radio
“Together, their bittersweet harmonies are like a prairie sunset on an August night — so gorgeous, you’ll want to stop what you’re doing just to soak it all in. Never heard of them? That’s about to change. The Command Sisters are turning ears in Nashville and could be the next big thing to come out of the Edmonton area.” – Sandra Sperounes, Edmonton Journal Music Editor
The Command Sisters
It doesn’t matter what review you read they all can be summed up in one word…TALENT. With a long list of accolades and accomplishments already under their belt at their young age one thing is for certain, the Command Sisters are destined for greatness.
Their most recent accomplishment was to be named one of 8 finalists for the 2014 Boots and Hearts Emerging Artists Showcase. They will be competing for the opportunity to open for Hunter Hayes at this summer’s Boots and Hearts Country Music Festival. The winner will also get a single release from Big Machine Label Group as well as a week in Nashville for industry training.
We sent all 8 finalists a list of questions so we could dig a little deeper into the artists that make the music and what inspires them individually. Here is our interview with Charlotte (C) and Sarah (S), the Command Sisters.
SC: Being selected as a finalist for Boots and Hearts Emerging Artist is a big deal. One of the 8 of you will perform in front of Hunter Hayes this summer. Describe the moment you found out you made it? Did you both find out at the same time or were you contacted individually?
C – I actually found out first because I had inadvertently used my personal email for the submission and Sarah was at school. We were beyond excited to place in the top 8 for a few reasons; 1. It means the world when someone believes in you and your music (not only as a performer but as a writer). Music has already taken us to some crazy places and this is just one more for us!! Super thrilled.
SC: Every artist I’ve spoken to has a story about how / when they decided to purse music as a career. Describe the moment that you knew that music was the path for you and what inspired each of you to take that path.
C -We’ve always done music but never thought of it as anything to be taken seriously until I was 15. I asked my mom to see if we could get some shows in Nashville. So, we signed up for twitter and heard about and got a show at Nashville Hootenanny (which gave us our first publishing deal). Then we applied for the Blue Bird Cafe and the person responsible for selecting the artists actually called and asked if we could do a one hour show of ALL ORIGINAL music!! We sure weren’t going to say no. That is when we realized that maybe what we do and love is something that other people want to be a part of.
The Command Sisters
SC: In music today there are a lot of artists working on projects with other artists, for example Luke Bryan and Florida Georgia Line or Tim Hicks and Black Jack Billy. If you could write with or perform with any artist on the scene today (from any genre) who would it be?
C- I would LOVE to perform with Miranda and Sarah would want to wind out with Brad Paisley.
SC: As aspiring Music stars performing in front of large crowds is pretty much par for the course, what’s the largest crowd you’ve ever performed in front of and what do you do to calm your nerves ahead of the show?
C – The largest crowd we’ve played in front of is about 2,500. (Unless you count the finale at the Edmonton Folk Fest where there was 25,000) The bigger the better!!
SC: In any career there comes a moment, sometimes moments, where you know you’re doing something right. As an entertainer you make a decision to follow that path, can you describe a moment in your career, so far, that made you feel that you are on the right path?
C – the music path is a crazy bumpy journey but every time we turn around we are encouraged to keep going when something else amazing happens (that first (of 3) hour long shows at the Blue Bird, being asked as ambassadors to meet Prince William/Kate at a private event in 2011), being chosen to perform at Sundance the past 3 years, being selected as winners for part of the John Lennon Songwriting contest to being chosen to perform at Cavendish this summer and now this amazing experience with BOOTS & HEARTS.
SC: What’s your all-time favorite movie?
C – Inception
S – Can’t pick one
SC: Your ideal brain food?
Spaghetti
Coffee
C – Pasta!!!
S – Coffee!! (That counts) :-) {no argument here, I live on it myself}
SC: Favourite Restaurant (anywhere in the world)?
S – Bubba Gump’s
SC: Favourite TV show (all-time)?
C – Sherlock Holmes
S – Fresh Prince 
SC: If you could see any artist in concert, who would you see (living or dead)?
C – Michael Jackson
S – Johnny Cash
SC: iPhone, Android or Blackberry?
iPhones!!
SC: Can you talk about a fan encounter that completely took you by surprise?
C – This awesome little guy named ‘Cody’ that would come to all our local shows with homemade posters and t-shirts with our pictures on them 
SC: Everyone who has ever had siblings knows about sibling rivalry and yet sibling musical groups aren’t all that uncommon, some work (The Band Perry) and some fail miserably (OASIS). What qualities do you feel you each have that allows you to stick together without strangling each other when things get tough?
C – We do argue sometimes but we ALWAYS support each other and the music ALWAYS come first. We also respect each other’s strengths and weaknesses and rely on that quite a bit.
SC: Name a fictional character most like you?
Dory
C – I don’t know about me but Sarah is like ‘Dory’ on Finding Nemo (she forgets a LOT).
SC: In “The Command Sisters, Story of Our Lives” – The Movie, who would you pick to play each of you?
Jennifer Lawrence
Lucy Hale
C – For me prob Jennifer Lawrence and for Sarah maybe Lucy Hale
SC: Star Trek or Star Wars?
Neither. We haven’t seen them.
SC: Stress management: hit man, spa vacation or Prozac?
VACATION!!
SC: What is the best advice you’ve been given?
C – ‘Don’t have a back-up plan’
peanut-butter-and-jelly
S – peanut butter and jelly cures everything!! {I had to have a PB&J after reading this just so you know lol}
SC: The music business is one of the most charitable businesses in the world, is there a specific charity that’s close to your heart that you support or would like to see more support for?
We have volunteered our time singing at the Stollery Children’s Hospital on the pediatric cancer/heart ward for the past three years. We’ve partnered with the RCMP and made an anti-bullying video using our song ‘Something To Live For‘ that is being shown to schools across Canada (we also speak/perform at schools and teacher’s conventions). We are also working with Kid’s Help Phone (all proceeds from Something to Live For are donated to them) and we donate our time to perform at their fundraising/awareness events. Because we started singing for our local seniors when we were little, whenever they want us to come and perform we always do as our time permits.
SC: In the final few days of voting tell us why country music fans should vote for The Command Sisters?
Because we are gonna rock out Bowmanville!! Seriously, we are just grateful for everyone’s support so far and can’t wait to share our music with y’all {on a side note we think you guys are cool because your initials are SC like ours 
}
We’d like to thank Sarah and Charlotte for taking the time to answer our questions. We wish you the best of luck with the Boots and Hearts Showcase and look forward to formally meeting you this summer. There’s no question you both are well on your way to a long and successful career, lets be sure to touch base after you win your first Grammy :-).
If you would like to know more about the Command Sisters, purchase their music or event find out where you can catch them live be sure to visit their website www.thecommandsisters.com. If you want to help them get a prime performing slot for the Boots and Hearts Emerging Artist competition on August 2 be sure to vote for them www.bootsandhearts.com/showcase/
Their latest video is called “White Dress”, it’s off of their second album simply titled ‘The Command Sisters‘. Their 3rd album is expected later this year!
