On Saturday, June 8, the KCBS hosts its 3rd annual Celebrating Women in Blues showcase, in which we spotlight some of the excellent women making blues music today. Women in Blues is one of our signature annual events and we’re very proud of the partnership we’ve built with BB’s Lawnside BBQ to make this happen.
Sister Lucille
Interview with Sister Lucille’s Kimberly Dill by Debra Rooney
It has been nearly 3 years since the Blues Society has talked with the Sister Lucille Band and I was fortunate enough to catch up with Kimberly Dill, have a lovely lunch and see what the band has been up to.
DR: First let’s start off talking about your latest CD ‘Tell The World’. I think it is fabulous and listen to it in my car constantly! What is your favorite song on the CD?
Kimberly: Well, I have a lot of favorites for different reasons, but the one I am most proud of is ‘My Name is Lucille’ one I wrote myself in tribute to BB King and his guitar Lucille. It’s a love story between BB and his love of Lucille. Most people don’t know the story behind the rescue of that guitar. A club where he was performing caught on fire (actually started by a woman named Lucille) BB ran back into the blaze to grab the guitar and from that point on she was named Lucille. This was the start of the love affair between BB King and his guitar Lucille.
My other favorite has to be ‘Montezuma Red’. In WW2 the military took over all the manufacturing of everything in the US to make war equipment. They stopped producing makeup and the guys fighting the war wanted to see their women looking ravishing again so they made one line of lipstick in red. If you listen to the song you’ll hear that Hitler liked his women weak so this Montezuma Red Lipstick helped lift the soldiers spirits as it was given to women of the war first. Empower those women! I didn’t want the song to be about Hitler and my producer Reba Russell gave me the hook that I needed to pull in my audience.
DR: Your band is evolving as you now write most all the songs and Jamie, your lead guitar puts the music to it, is that right? And who are the band members in Sister Lucille?
Kimberly: Yes that is the direction we are going. Jamie, my husband for 30 years, told me I was the face of the Sister Lucille Band, so you need to write the songs and we will provide the blues music to accompany the songs. I said fantastic, I have 600 songs waiting to get out for the world to hear! The band is made up of myself, Jamie Holdren on lead guitars and vocals, Reed Smith Herron on bass, Kevin Lyons on drums and Reba Russell has helped with background vocals and producing. A great bunch of musicians.
DR: Your Tell The World CD is up for some awards, correct?
Kimberly: That’s right we were nominated for a Josie Award at the Grand Ole Opry for the song of the year and and video of the year. We didn’t win but being nominated in my estimation is great validation for the band. We do have other awards shows we are in the running for, so we are hoping for the best. We were on Billboard with this record which has always been a dream of mine. The song “Why Not You” was number 1 contemporary blues song in the nation for a couple weeks!
DR: You have been singing almost as long as you have been talking! Can you tell us a little about how you began?
Kimberly: My dad and mom were in a band together and then I came along. I have been singing since I was 3 years old. My dad, Terry Simmons started out with us in Sister Lucille and when we won the International Blues Competition (IBC) at Cartoon’s, a local venue in Springfield, Mo. that year and we said, ‘Hey we are going to Memphis, we better get serious!’ On our second appearance at the Memphis Blue’s Challenge we came in second place and that night my father told us we were going to do bigger things and he retired. Bittersweet but he was there at our beginning. We are working on another CD that we hope to have out by early 2025.
DR: Who are some of the biggest influences in your singing career?
Kimberly: There are some men that helped empower me(like Jamie, my wonderful husband!) but singers who inspired me were Loretta Lynn, Crystal Gale, and Patsy Cline. Then country went the way of pop music and I became a blues singer. Blues mentors are Etta James, (one of DR’s favorites!) and Lou Ann Barton and now Reba Russell. Reba was as big to me as Janis Joplin was and we are so very close today. I didn’t realize you could listen to Reba at most any Blues venue in Memphis! To me she was a superstar! The first time I met Reba I was basically speechless and nearly hyperventilating! She said “Hi honey, I heard you came to hear my show?” I managed to get out “I didn’t know I came to hear your show!” Let me tell you what a spiritual emotional filled gig that was, where I was crying the whole time enjoying listening to Reba! She put down her guitar and came to my table, sat down and said, “sweetie, you look like you’ve been to church!” What a powerful experience that was for me. Who dreams of having your idol to help you write, produce both of your albums and sing a song that she wrote on one of your CDs? It was truly magical for me and the rest of the band. I am following in Reba’s footsteps as she has helped empower me to do what I do! For our next album I am writing another empowering song for women. There are young women who don’t realize that even in the 80’s you had to have a man cosign for you to get a bank loan! Women have come a long way in the last few years making it on their own… And of course there is my mom! She is my number one fan and so proud of me and our band!
DR: Other than being a fabulous singer do you play any musical instruments?
Kimberly: Unfortunately no. I would love to play guitar, but I am left handed and my uncle did string me up a left handed guitar but I was too big of a wussy and it hurt my fingers and I gave it up. If someone had given me an electric guitar it would have been a different story, because they don’t hurt your fingers like an acoustic guitar does. I do regret not learning keys as I can’t tell what I am singing in! But Jamie and the band have helped me so much with chords and keys that we seem to do a fairly good job at it.
DR: Yes I think you are doing a wonderful job with your music! Can you tell me if you have a dream venue to play at or a bucket list so to speak? (at this point Kimberly got so excited I thought she was going to explode!…)
Kimberly: YES, Buddy Guys Legends Club in Chicago! I want to play all the big theaters in the US as I love playing to large crowds of Blues fans. Also Florida has a big Blues following and they love to hear us. We had a phenomenal show at Camping at the Blues in Brookeville, Florida (central Florida) this year and it took my breath away! We also played at the Earth Day Fest here in Springfield right before Ozark Mountain Daredevils! Another wonderful event where the crowd really hadn’t heard us before. We tore em up that night!
DR: Well as we wrap up this intriguing interview where do you see Sister Lucille in 5 years?
Kimberly: Getting a BMA (Blues Music Association) nomination, of course a Grammy nomination and doing well enough so my boys can quit their day jobs!
DR: Those are some lofty goals of which I wish you the best in achieving them. Thank you so much for sharing your time with me and especially for your awesome donation to the Blues Society ‘Jingle The Blues Away’ set for December 2.
Kimberly: You are very welcome. It was a pleasure!
(Note: This interview was done in November 2023 and during December 2023 is when the Blues Fundraiser was. Sister Lucille also performed a benefit show at The Riff on December 15 , so the Blues world had some input on helping the needy for the holiday season of 2023. Thank you all! — Debra Rooney)
The KCBS is grateful to Kimberly Dill, Debra Rooney, and Mary Certain for making this interview possible.