Giving Country Music and Family Recipes a Twist of Their Own
By Amy C. Balfour

Charleston musician Jessica Daisi Igoe had one goal after learning she had celiac disease: recreating her favorite family recipes using gluten-free ingredients.

Like others with celiac disease, Igoe is severely allergic to gluten, which is found in wheat, barley, and rye. Gluten-free products were not common when she was diagnosed about 10 years ago, and Igoe worried that she would never again enjoy the taste of her favorite childhood comfort foods. Of special concern were the mouth-watering dishes that graced the table at family reunions.

“My first priority, I remember, was our cobbler. My mom made it. My grandmother made it,” she explained. But it wasn’t just the family history or the taste that made the cobbler an obsession. There was also the challenge of recreating its unique characteristics: a sugary, lightly browned outer crust with a doughy topping. “Think fluffy, thick, and moist,” she said. “When first going gluten-free, my issue with making it was having it RISE and also still having that amazing crust on it.” 

But if she could learn to create the cobbler, Igoe knew there was hope for her taste buds yet. 

Fortunately, she eventually mastered her challenge, and, after a dedicated journey of trial-and-error cooking, she can now recreate her favorite dishes. “Most people think you’ve got to nail the taste, but for me,” she explained, “you’ve got to nail the texture, too.” 

Igoe, who is a music therapist at the Medical University of South Carolina, performs regularly with her younger sister, the singer-songwriter Jordan Igoe. The sisters grew up in a very musical family, with musicians and music scholars on most branches of the family tree. Jam sessions are still a fun part of any family gathering. 

Jordan Igoe also has fond memories of old family recipes. Her father was an avid fisherman who was always out on the ocean in search of fresh seafood. “Always oysters and shrimp. Taking us flounder gigging,” she remembered. Old Southern recipes were passed down by their Charleston-bred grandmother and an assortment of family cookbooks.

When she doesn't feel like cooking, you’ll find the younger Igoe sampling local seafood dishes at Art’s Bar and Grill or enjoying the house-made soups at Five Loaves Cafe. “They have one that’s made with local crab meat with tarragon, and it’s just insane,” she said. Both spots are in Mount Pleasant.

For delicious, gluten-free dishes, Jessica Igoe heads to Maya del Sol Kitchen. She’s a longtime fan of the owner and chef Raul Sanchez—and his fantastic gluten-free tamales. She also recommends Slice Company Pizza in West Ashley. “They have the best gluten-free pizza I’ve ever tasted in my life, and I have tried them all,” she affirmed, adding that their handmade crust “holds up the next day if you don't eat the whole pizza that night.”

Both sisters sing and play several instruments. You’ll usually find Jordan playing piano and guitar, while Jessica favors the keyboard and guitar. When they play together, as either the Igoe Sisters or as Jordan Igoe & Friends, Jordan usually takes lead vocals on original songs, with her sister on backup and playing percussion. 

Jordan’s catchy and powerful songs can be found on her album, How to Love, and her most recent project, the EP titled Sober and Sorry. She plans to head back into the studio soon to complete a project that was interrupted by the pandemic.

And their sound? Well, you might say it’s indie or maybe folk, with a bit of rock thrown in — the Igoe sisters manage to blur a lot of musical genres in all the right ways. “There’s always this flavor of an old country sound too. Old country whiskey stank,” laughed Jessica Igoe. “We have fun with it.”

Catch the Igoe Sisters having fun on Thursday nights at the Tattooed Moose downtown.