Biography
Twin siblings Laurie and John Stirratt spent their childhood in 1970s New Orleans inside a household where both parents worked as musicians. Each later built an independent career in music, yet the pair waited until autumn 2004 before issuing a joint recording. After the family moved to Mississippi in the late 1980s, the siblings performed in John’s band the Hilltops, which folded in 1991. Laurie then joined forces with the group’s guitarist Cary Hudson to create Blue Mountain. The same year John put out a solo album credited to the Gimmecaps before reuniting with longtime acquaintances Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar inside Uncle Tupelo in 1993. Following Uncle Tupelo’s dissolution, John stayed with Jeff Tweedy to launch Wilco in 1994. Blue Mountain, having issued six albums across ten years of touring and related projects, called it quits in 2001. Laurie devoted the following twelve months to road work and studio sessions with Tyler Keith & the Preacher’s Kids. While remaining a central figure in the steadily rising profile of Wilco, John started the Autumn Defense with Pat Sansone in 1999; the duo delivered its first album in 2001 and a second in 2003. That same year Laurie left Mississippi for Chicago, finally allowing the twins to set aside geographic separation and conflicting tour dates so they could finish their long-planned debut collaboration, Arabella.
Albums