Sibling trio making waves across Atlantic

English sisters Emily, Camilla and Jessica Staveley-Taylor have seen their informal family singing project surge into a fast-rising music career as The Staves.

The UK group The Staves -- singing siblings Emily, Camilla and Jessica Staveley-Taylor -- did a lot with very little.

With just a self-released EP to their names, the Staves managed to become one of most buzzed-about bands in Britain: attracting the ear of superstar producers, the press and earning a major label deal in the process.

Since then, they've released a second EP, and the group's highly anticipated full length for Atlantic Records will come out later this year.

In the meantime, the band will make its official U.S. debut, part of a sold-out tour with country-folk headliners The Civil Wars, at the Germantown Performing Arts Centre on Tuesday.

The upcoming jaunt will provide a break from the recording of the Staves album. The trio have been holed up at British Grove Studios in West London (owned by Dire Straits' Mark Knopfler) working with the father-son producer tandem of Glyn and Ethan Johns.

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Glyn -- who's turned knobs for everyone from the Rolling Stones to The Who to Bob Dylan -- and son Ethan (whose credits include Ryan Adams and Ray LaMontagne) each discovered the Staves separately and were drawn to work with them.

"The record is still a work-in-progress at the moment. We're still writing songs. But it's gone really well," says middle sister Jessica Staveley-Taylor of the sessions. "It's been a really exciting and challenging project; and great working with Ethan and Glyn: We've learned so much from both of them."

The trio of twentysomething sisters began playing music in local pubs of their native Watford.

"It was all very causal and low key at the time," says Jessica. "Mostly, though, we were always off doing our own thing and independent from each other. It was only more recently that we decided to take it a bit more seriously and really go for it."

In a way, it seems inevitable that the Staveley-Taylors would have formed a family band, as music was the bedrock of their childhood.

"Mom and dad were really keen on music, more so than the average person, I suppose. They weren't professional but they played and sang all the time," says Jessica.

"It was part of life for us, really. We were surrounded by musicians as well. Looking back, it's almost obvious that we would've ended up doing what we're doing."

Part of that Staves' appeal is their genetic harmonies, and the ease with which their vocals intertwine.

"I don't want to sound like we don't do any work or anything," Jessica says, laughing, "but I do think it is quite natural. I suppose we're kind of lucky because we never really had to sit down and really work too hard on the vocals; they just blend.

"Someone said something interesting; they described it as blood harmonies, which is true. You can't learn that; it's natural with siblings."

Musically, despite their geographic rooting, the sisters' sound recalls the peaceful easy vibe of '70s Southern California -- a perfect fit, since Glyn Johns was the one responsible for capturing the harmony-laden sound of the Eagles, as producer of the band's early albums.

"It's quite strange, really, being from England that we got really into American music as kids," says Jessica. "But that is where we've tended to draw inspiration from."

The past year has seen the group swept up in a wave of UK press hype -- part of a renaissance of female signers like Adele and Laura Marling -- and what was an informal family affair has evolved into a full-scale career.

"The point where we went from just being sisters that sang together to a band came once the demand got greater," says Jessica. "We were asked to do more and more gigs. We became so busy that we didn't have to do any other jobs; started to make a bit of money from it. Just enough anyway. Suddenly, it was our full-time thing. It happened in quite an unorganized way for us."

The Staves' upcoming U.S. tour will be followed by a spate of appearances at the South by Southwest music conference in Austin in March, which is expected to provide a breakout platform for the band in America, in advance of the group's Atlantic debut.

Just as audiences have come to embrace The Civil Wars' organic, stripped-down approach, the Staves seem to be part of a growing hunger for what Jessica describes as "pure" music.

"There's certainly a feeling of that in the air. Of course, over in the States you've got such a great tradition of bluegrass and country and there's always a place for that. But, certainly, in the mainstream, there does seem to be a demand for more old-school style singer-songwriters. There is an element of things moving in cycles. People always come back to the guitar and the voice."

"It's probably a bit of a response to the heavily manufactured pop music that's everywhere," she says. "Whilst there's nothing wrong with that, I do think people are certainly looking for something different -- which is good for us."

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The Civil Wars, The Staves

Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. at the Germantown Performing Arts Centre, 1801 Exeter Road. The show is sold out.

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