SIBLING harmonies are like a secret instrument for a music act.

The natural, almost inseparable blend of vocal tones for the likes of the Bee Gees, the Everly Brothers and the Beach Boys, to the Jackson 5, Split Enz and The Corrs add a power that steps up any arrangement to the next level.

The harmonies of Ipswich sisters Ally Hodgson and Sarah Currie are what is starting to get the act noticed on the country music scene with the duo being named finalists in both the Gympie Music Muster Talent Search and the Brisbane Ekka Country Music Showdown, both to be held next month.

“It just kind of clicks,” Sarah said. “Ally and I, even though we are four years apart, we are very, very close, like we finish each other’s sentences.

“It shows even when we sing because we both breathe at the same time and end at the same time; we just know when each other’s going to finish.

“I suppose having that sibling thing, it is probably a sound that not everyone has. A lot of people say ‘how do you harmonise and how do you get that sound?’ It’s just who we are. It’s just Ally and myself singing and the one guitar. You would think it would be an empty sound but it always seems kind of full.

“Ally can harmonise with anyone. She is very good. I believe she makes everything sound better with her harmonies, but we just kind of blend.”

The sisters ventured out as country music duo Ally and Sarah last year after recording their debut EP Stronger in lockdown.

Sarah takes the lead with her powerful country-tinged vocals and Ally plays acoustic guitar and sings harmonies.

The sisters grew up in Ripley in the days when the growth suburb was a single lane road with acreage living and kangaroos roaming the land.

With the semi-rural lifestyle came a love for country music along with the greats.

“We grew up on Patsy Cline and Charley Pride. We listened to Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison. That’s all our kind of music,” Sarah said.

Their grandfather established Currie Motors in Ipswich and her mother’s side brought music into the family.

“Mum plays the piano by ear. My uncle used to be in a band and his son is our guitarist on our EP. Mum was in a band with her grandfather and her dad,” Sarah said.

“Ally and I grew up singing in Eisteddfods. We were classically trained. We used to sing at the Ipswich Eisteddfod, Silkstone Eisteddfod and then once we were old enough we started to sing in bars and pubs.”

They started out playing in a band called Ripley Road with their uncle and cousin, playing Creedence Clearwater Revival, Eagles and Beatles covers.

“It was always just like a get-together band. Where Mum and Dad live they’ve got a big shed. It was supposed to be Dad’s machinery shed but it became a party shed. So we used to have shed parties. Everyone used to turn up. We would have a barbeque set up and we would play music all night. Whoever was musical used to get up. We were the house band and we would play and sing.

“We used to do private gigs with the big band. When I was 18 we played at bars.

“Then we branched off to just ourselves. It was just easier being a duo. We only had to depend on each other. It’s hard to organise a six piece band for practices.”

The sisters had always written songs together but in recent years the song writing became a serious venture.

“We recorded in March - April 2020 when Covid broke out. Steve Robin was our producer and he mixed everything out at The Barn,” Sarah said.

“He’s got a big old barn out at Plainland and he’s got a studio all set up in there. My cousin Keith, who was on lead guitar on the album, we sat here on Zoom because we weren’t allowed in the studio to watch him when he was recording his thing. So it was very interesting with social distancing.”

Ally and Sarah performed at a limited crowd show at Spark last year at the Bradfield Bridge and Waghorn to West and have started getting back into regular live performances opening Pineapple Country at the Big Pineapple on the Sunshine Coast in October with Troy Cassar-Daley and Busby Marou, doing Christmas shows and playing at Spark Ipswich’s Luminate.