The Waifs rock The Triple Door Sunday, April 13. They are Donna Simpson (left), Josh Cunningham and Vikki Thorn

I fell in love with The Waifs during my senior year of high school. In some weird "secret Santa" exchange during newspaper class, I received a burned copy of "Sink or Swim" from my class advisor. It was the only cool thing he gave me (not knowing what to give a 17-year-old girl, I got lots of candy), but little did he know that it was the perfect gift. I jammed out to that CD for a good few years until I lost it at the Gorge in an unfortunate turn of events (don't drink PBR and Maker's Mark in the same night. Just don't).

The Waifs are a highly intelligent bluegrass folk band – their lyrics are raw and extremely personal. The group consists of Australian singer-songwriter sisters Vikki Thorn and Donna Simpson, and Josh Cunningham, along with bassist Ben Franz and drummer David MacDonald. Each is an incredible musician in their own right – they play with a familial sense of comfort and skill that only comes from being like family for so long.

The group played their last show in Seattle at The Triple Door last night, after headlining it Thursday and Saturday. While The Triple Door is one of my all-time favorite venues (I'm still waiting to go on a hot date there), I would have loved to see them rock a place like Neumos. However, the drunken, dancing couple in the corner proved it – even over a ritzy steak, it's still important to get up and dance when the music calls for it.

The band is now on its way to Portland, promoting "sundirtwater," a much-anticipated album from the reclusive group. After hitting the third spot on the Australian billboard charts with "Up All Night" in 2003, The Waifs took a hiatus from the music scene – they claim they've always been relaxed about the music world and it was never a top priority to become a bestselling group.

"Music is something that we do in between times, rather than all the time. It really makes you appreciate what you have and what you do," Cunningham states in the band's web biography. "Our focus has shifted a lot in the last few years – not that we were ever hugely focused on our career as such; it was always just about playing music – but the band was always the biggest part of our lives."

Watching The Waifs last night, I found myself tapping my toes and eventually stomping my feet to the music. Their passion and artistic virtuosity does something to me – after growing up on Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash my whole life, The Waifs are refreshingly feminine – I would compare their sound to Lucinda Williams. It's modern country without the annoying twang or shallow lyrics – the kind of music you'd imagine listening to on the front porch over a cooler of beer.

That, in a nutshell, describes The Waifs for me. And while they didn't play anything from "Sink or Swim" (I kept trying to get them to play "The Haircut," my all-time favorite off that record), I got to hear their new music and instantly became obsessed with it.

"Sundirtwater" is hauntingly sad, yet empowering – this record was much more introspective and personal than "Sink or Swim" seemed to be. The band is growing up and their music is developing right alongside them. I ended up crying through Donna's solo "Sad Sailor Song," I'm still chewing on it today.