Being from Canada, The Sadies are happy to come down south for the winter not just for hopes of warmer weather, but for all that Texas has to offer. “I love Texas and it’s so fun for our band to play down south,” says bassist and co-founder of the band Sean Dean.
The Sadies will return to Houston on Tuesday, February 3 at Shoeshine Charley’s Big Top Lounge with Galveston’s Gabe Wooten opening the show.
Since forming in the mid ‘90s, The Sadies have been one of the hardest working bands constantly touring as their own unit and intertwining tours and countless projects with other artists.
The Sadies have backed up artists like Neko Case, Andre Williams, John Doe, Kurt Vile and fellow Canadians and music legends Neil Young and Garth Hudson from The Band to name a few, but the list could go on and on.
“I’m lucky enough to be old enough and have played so many clubs,” says Dean. “It’s just like one big strange trip but honestly the fact that I’m getting on in years and longer in the tooth, I feel so honored to be able to travel, play music and connect with people through music. It’s like I’m in the army of love.”
Dean recalls when they first visited Texas backing Neko Case and how the boys got starry eyed over Texas culture. “We were just immersed in the rock and roll mythology of being in Texas and just being with all the bands at SXSW, the food, the people and the style. We just ate it up. We loved it and we took so much of that with us throughout the years.”
The Sadies began as a two piece with Dean and Dallas Good on vocals and guitar. They went on to add Dallas’s brother Travis Good on guitar and fiddle as well as Mike Belitsky on drums.
Dallas and Travis grew up surrounded by music with their father Bruce Good and uncles Brian and Larry Good being The Good Brothers, a country and bluegrass band that was prominent in the late ‘60s and ‘70s. Their mother Margaret Good was also a singer in the band.
“I always knew the Good Brothers because they were this long haired hippie, shit kicking country band and it was kinda scary because it was the late ‘70s and we were punk rock kids,” describes Dean adding the imminent feeling that these tough looking hippies would and could kick their young asses at any time.
“Travis and Dallas had to grow up in a country household, a shit kicking country household with long hair, pot smoking, pedal steels, fiddles and bluegrass and they’re just like, we’re into the Ramones man, The Sex Pistols and the Dammed,” says Dean describing how the young brothers rebelled against all they were surrounded by.
Despite their initial lack of draw to the music their family was known for, their lineage gave them access to instruments, equipment and knowledge of the music industry along with a rich treasure trove of stories from the road from their relatives.
Dean describes how Bruce Good would tell them stories of The Festival Express, a historic concert tour across Canada by train featuring The Grateful Dead, Buddy Guy, The Band and many more.
Dean chuckles as he recalls the story of Joplin, being from Texas and unaccustomed to the cold, taking the Good Brothers along with her to buy out all the fur coats at the local department store to stay warm and fashionable.
“It’s just so thrilling to get these stories,” says Dean. “The oral transmission of the birth of rock and roll really. It’s so infectious and it makes you feel so much better about your life and life in general.”
Though the younger Good boys began as punk rockers, the Sadies eventually absorbed the influences of their elders and found a way to create their own sound which melted rock and roll, traditional country, psychedelic rock and punk rock, sounds that can easily overlap with their intensity, speed and soulfulness.
Throughout their career the Sadies have had a rare ability to avoid being labeled alternative country and simply be themselves, releasing albums at their own pace with intertwining schedules and projects with other artists taking on that person’s catalog while adding their own twist to the sound.
Dean describes the shock from Andre William’s team when he wanted them as his band but Williams saw them for what they were, punk rockers with a little twang. They recorded with Williams and traveled Europe together, an unforgettable experience for them all. Dean recalls a night in Amsterdam where The Queens of The Stone Age, on the cusp of fame, insisted Williams and his band play after them despite being the openers.
Even now, the band continues to defy odds. In 2022 Dallas Good unexpectedly and tragically passed away leaving the band with essentially no leader and a huge gap in the family dynamics and harmonies they are known for.
The band went on to release their final album recorded with Dallas, Colder Streams, to critical acclaim months after his passing.
“We’ve been trying to do the songs without Dallas and it’s been tough but we try to develop ourselves,” says Dean somberly. “I’ll be frank with you, we’re just trying to figure out who we are without Dallas because Dallas was our leader. He was really a strong member of the band.”
Dean describes Good as control oriented in the band, a trait that at the time wasn’t as lovely as it seems now to Dean and his bandmates. “Now I realize that he had this time on this planet and he had a lot of information, songs and art that he wanted to get across and now we are without him and we have to figure out who we are and develop our sound.”
The band has many promising projects lined up and things that no doubt, Dallas would love to be a part of and will be in spirit, including joining John Doe for some dates this year.
“We are going to be doing a lot of projects with singers and songwriters now and we take Dallas’s leadership and guidance with us and it’s kind of a beautiful thing. It’s a bittersweet thing but it’s life and it’s a beautiful thing. We take him with us and he lives through us.”
Last year the Sadies teamed up with The Good Brothers to pay tribute to Dallas with their release of “Now That You’re Gone” a sad and lovely testament to the whole he left behind in their hearts.
For now, Dean says that though the band is trying to find their way forward collaborating with others and writing new songs, they don’t feel pressure from their label or the industry to make a record just for the sake of it, but then again, they never have.
“We don’t give a shit about that,” says Dean. “We’re just going to develop our sound comfortably, and we are fortunate enough that we can do that. It wasn’t a get rich quick scheme,” he laughs adding, “We’re just going to continue to do what’s comfortable and what’s fun.”
The Sadies will perform on Tuesday, February 3 at Shoeshine Charley’s Big Top Lounge, 3714 Main. For more information, call 713-529-9899 or visit ContinentalClub.com/Houston. $20.
This article appears in Private: Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2026.