Lisa and Roberta Morales who, as Sisters Morales, have forged a seamless and enduring fusion of folk, country, rock and Mexican/Hispanic musical styles, are going their separate musical ways. Their last Austin appearance will be at Artz Rib House on September 29th.

In their own way, Las Hermanas Morales were cutting-edge performers, taking advantage of the indigenous cross-cultural musical currents of South Texas and grafting them together with Mexican rancheras, Afro-Cuban melodies and other Latino influences, wrapping the whole in crystalline vocals.

If that sounds stuffy, well, blame it on we dyspeptic music critics with our dry and desiccated need to categorize everything. At its best, a Sisters Morales show was a swirling, soulful, rambunctious affair, shot through with moments of real tenderness and connection. Ditto for their albums, the fourth and latest of which is Talking to the River. A fifth, live, all-Spanish disc will be released shortly. For this listener's money, the best distillation of Lisa's and Roberta's chemistry is on their 1999 album, Somewhere Far Away From Here, and its all-Spanish follow-up, Para Gloria.

The Morales women are familiar figures to Austin-area listeners. Their performing credits include any number of local venues, as well as appearances at the Kerrville Folk Festival.

As Enrique Lopetegul, writing in the San Antonio Current about one of the Sisters' last hometown performances on Aug. 24, noted, "Sisters Morales have never been innovators, but they excel at straddling two different worlds.... They provide crystal-clear harmonies while singing in unison, edgy, country-flavored attitude on the English numbers pure pop tenderness in the slower tunes and radically different personas while singing in Spanish... it could not have been a better party."

The sisters will continue making music on their own. Lisa Morales released her first solo album, Beautiful Mistake, early this year and, according to the Current, Roberta is penning a children's book and planning her own solo debut. The sisters will continue making music, but the Sisters Morales will be missed.