William Sievers (the name is sometimes spelled "Seivers") was born in Elza, Tennessee (now part of Oak Ridge) in 1875 and worked as a barber in nearby Clinton, where James and Willie were born in 1904 and 1909, respectively.
James Sievers began playing banjo with his cousin, Walter McKinney, in 1913, and learned much of his technique from a north Anderson County banjo player named Steve Cole.