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Renele earns spot on NPR Tiny Desk Concert Series
RENELE has earned A SPOT on the NPR TINY DESK CONCERT SERIES!

Thank you 'ALL THINGS CONSIDERED' and NPR !

Check it out, and WEAR BECAUSE YOU CARE!!!!! xoxo

https://tinydeskcontest.npr.org/2020/browse/?id=2952190

Daily Ripple • Music Review - `Interrupted ` by Renele (MEG Records) Music Review - Bobby Moore • Published on Friday, 02 August 2019
Twins Renee (guitar) and Michele (drums) DeSisto tell stories about women’s everyday lives as Americana duo Renele. For a taste of the sisters’ take on country-rock, check out Interrupted, a new six-song release crossing the blues-rock vision of Bonnie Raitt with the common-sense storytelling of The Judds.

Southern rock opener “Someone Else is Gonna Love You” proves this is no ramshackle band trying to catch a break. Instead, Renele sounds like a tight and focused unit on this stomper and two equally rocking songs with Miranda Lambert levels of sass: “If I Ain’t Broke, Don’t Try and Fix Me” and “Don’t Need to Take It Like a Man.”

Hard-hitting examples of the band’s country-rock roots make up just half of the album. There’s also the sunshiny country tune “He Loved Me with Those Eyes,” folky throwback “Would It Have Been So Bad,” and the slowed-down ballad “Why Come Home.” While the rock and blues-infused numbers put over the sisters as musicians, their lower tempo material magnifies those blood harmonies—That special bond between singing families heard on classic recordings of The Carter Family, The Everly Brothers, The Carpenters, and numerous others. It’s hard to describe beyond those sweeping terms, but there really is something special about family singing groups, whether you discover them on Saturday at a local bar or during a Sunday morning church service.

Renee’s husband Tom MacLear—a bandmate or songwriter for Rod Stewart, Concrete Blonde, and Annie Lennox—produced and performed on the album. Additional performers include Dave Pearlman (Fool’s Gold) Larry Zack (Jackson Browne), and Billy Watts (Carlene Carter). Supporting cast aside, this unquestionably is an album by women, for women.

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Daily Ripple • CD Review - `Interrupted` by Renele (MEG Records) • Music Review by Lee Zimmerman / Published on Friday, 19 July 2019
Renele -- Interrupted

Sisters Renee and Michele DiSisto capture the symmetry that only siblings can achieve, and so it’s little wonder that the handle they operate under, Renele, is, appropriately, a combination of their two first names. Both women play an essential role in the making of this new six-song EP, with Renee tackling lead vocals and Michele singing back-up and doing double duty on percussion. Producer Tom MacLear, an able artist in his own right, fills in much of the middle ground with guitars, dobro, occasional bass, mandolin and backing vocals as needed. Others add to the effort as well, among them Mark Indictor on fiddle, Billy Watts handling lead guitar, pedal steel player Dave Pearlman and drummer Larry Zack on various individual offerings.

The result is a strong set of songs in a decidedly country-rock mold, a rootsy sound that owes equal allegiance to folk, blues and, of course, the overall Americana umbrella, that identifies the larger sound which that combination ultimately entails. The comparisons to certain A-list artists are unavoidable, with Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crowe, and Susan Tedeschi coming immediately to mind. Granted, it retraces some well-surveyed terrain, but in so doing, it doesn’t diminish the craft and care with which it’s all applied.

Not surprisingly, these rugged narratives share the perspective of women who feel the need to take a stand, whether it’s confronting an unfaithful lover or merely providing an angry retort to a man determined to take advantage. “Adios to the money/C’est la vie to the bling/Cleaning house for a while/But not out of the scene,” Renee sings on the decidedly defiant “Don’t Need To Take It Like A Man.” Other songs take a similar stand, especially as echoed through the feisty attitude unabashedly expressed in “Someone Else Is Gonna Love You,” “He Loved Me With Those Eyes” and “If I Ain’t Broke (Don’t Try ‘N Fix Me).” Suffice it to say if today’s “Me Too” movement is ever looking for a soundtrack to accompany their dialogue, Interrupted may provide the apt anthems they can accrue for their cause.

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Daily Ripple Music Review - `Interrupted` by Renele Music Review by Jim Hynes • Published on Friday, 19 July 2019 03:01
Renele is a different kind of duo project in this year of Americana duos. This is not a husband and wife or male and female team. Renele is a twin sister Americana project from Renee and Michele DiSisto. In fact, weighing in at only six songs, we should technically consider this and EP. Nonetheless, we know that hard work and preparation went into these half dozen songs, four of them written by the sisters with two from experienced music veteran and Renee’s husband, Tom MacLear ( Rod Stewart, Annie Lennox, Ry Cooder) who produced, recorded and played many of the instruments.

Renee sings lead and plays acoustic guitar while Michele plays drums and provides backing vocals. MacLear plays numerous instruments while Billy Watts (Lucinda Williams, Carlene Carter)) adds lead guitar, Dave Pearlman (Fools Gold) mans the pedal steel and Larry Zack (drums) and Mark Indictor (fiddle) also contribute. That forms an impressive roster for a project that apparently took a little over six months to complete, likely due to scheduling studio time with these in-demand players.

All of the songs pulsate with ringing electric and piercing slide guitars and the disc seems to really call out for a weeping country ballad which is sadly missing. Nonetheless, the strongest track is the one that most resembles a ballad, as it least begins that way, is “Why Come Home.” Not surprisingly it has released as a single with “He Loved Me With Those Eyes” as the other single. The lyrics to the former prove that the twins have the country approach well in hand – “Mama, I’m not getting/Married today/He done drunk his life away/What’s a girl to do/I gone packed up my truck/I could see those dogs /Staring at me in my rearview…” As Steve Goodman and John Prine wrote in “She Never Called Me by My Name,” it has the requisite references to drinking, trucks, failed love, dogs, ….just about everything but a train.

Renele is clearly not out to blaze new ground. Instead, they offer eminently listenable, punchy, upbeat stuff. Next, we hope to see a full-length album that demonstrates a bit more versatility but this grand entrance is just fine for starters.



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CD Review • Renele • Interrupted • (MEG Records / Nashville)
With the release of their debut album, Interrupted, the band Renele has unleashed six songs of powerful original material that showcase the country/rock/Americana leanings of its members, twin sisters Renee DiSisto (guitar, lead vocals) and Michele DiSisto (percussion, vocals), as well as their songwriting talent and musical chops. This is sonic empowerment delivered with unbridled attitude, authenticity and passion. In fact, Interrupted, is the kind of record to listen to when you want to feel inspired, are in need of some encouragement or are looking for someone who will commiserate with you.

The album kicks off with “Someone Else is Gonna Love You”, a rousing song that speaks to the listener with a gutsy reminder that, when it comes to relationships, don’t ever settle for less and “stop holding on to the idiots on parade” because there are plenty of other fish in the sea. On the album’s single “Why Come Home”, a fiddle-driven introduction softly cries before the sobering opening line laments the demise of a relationship at the hands of the bottle, “Mama, I’m not gettin’ married today, he done drank our life away, what’s a girl to do?”

Throughout Interrupted, the musical prowess of seasoned singer/songwriter and slide guitar player Tom MacLear (Ry Cooder, Rod Steward, Annie Lennox) can be heard, especially on songs like, “Don’t Need to Take it Like a Man” and “If I Ain’t Broke”, both of which he also wrote. All the other material was written by the sisters and showcase Renee DiSisto’s smokey vocals - sometimes a little bit Shelby Lynn, sometimes Susan Tedeshi but uniquely all Renee – and Renele. Turn all devices to do not disturb mode and enjoy - this album deserves an uninterrupted listen.

--Roxanne Rubell (Independent Music Critic)