Sarah Jarosz
May 23, 2011
In the two years since Sarah Jarosz's first album, "Song up in Her Head," came out, the world has discovered what plenty of old-time and bluegrass luminaries and festival-going fans already knew -- that she is a formidable talent. There have been Grammy and Americana Music Award nominations, three Austin Music Awards, invitations to perform on "Austin City Limits" and "A Prairie Home Companion," and at Bonnaroo, Newport and Telluride.
On her second album, "Follow Me Down," Jarosz - who just turned 20! --pays homage to her musical roots while pushing beyond those sometimes limited boundaries: This graduate of Boston's New England Conservatory - where she studied contemporary improvisation on a NEC Presidential Merit scholarship - has a unique way of blending the old with the new. Her approach to acoustic music is invigorating and she gives equal attention to playing, singing and writing, choosing songs that embrace both old-timey and modern sounds.
Recording for the new album included a session with the Punch Brothers in New York and a session in Boston featuring her talented young trio mates of Alex Hargreaves and Nathaniel Smith, but the bulk of the recording was done in Nashville with some of the acoustic world's finest pickers and singers, including Béla Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, Viktor Krauss, Dan Tyminski, Shawn Colvin, Vince Gill and Darrell Scott, among others. Jarosz sings and plays mandolin, guitar and banjo.
Co-produced by Jarosz and Gary Paczosa, "Follow Me Down" features an exciting array of songs including originals like "Come Around," "Run Away" and "Annabelle Lee"-inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's final poem -- as well as choice covers like Radiohead's "The Tourist" and Bob Dylan's "Ring Them Bells."
"I definitely could have just made a record that was similar to the last one-pretty rootsy," said Jarosz of the new album. "That would have been a representation of a side of me. But I have all these new sounds and ideas and I just didn't want to hold back on this one."
After just playing at the 2011 NONCOMMvention in Wilmington, DE, Jarosz has a month-long U.S run before touring the U.K. and Europe.
- 5/22 One World Theatre, Austin,
- 5/23 Waterloo In-Store, Austin
- 5/25 Rams Head, Annapolis, MD -
- 5/26 Jammin Java, Vienna, VA -
- 6/01 The Grey Eagle, Asheville, NC
- 6/02 Spoleto Festival - College of Charleston, Charleston, SC
- 6/03 Tryon Fine Arts Center, Tryon, NC
- 6/05 3rd And Lindsley, Nashville
- 6/07 Slim's, San Francisco
- 6/08 The Big Room @ Sierra Nevada, Chico, CA
- 6/09 CultureWorks, Ashland, OR
- 6/10 First Presbyterian Church, Corvallis, OR
- 6/12 Tractor Tavern, Seattle
- 6/13 Mississippi Studios, Portland
- 6/15 Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Telluride, CO
- 6/25 International Bluegrass Music Museum - ROMP Festival, Owensboro, KY -
- 6/26 McCabe's Guitar Shop, Santa Monica, CA
- 6/28 The Hotel Café, Los Angeles
- 6/29 Anthology, San Diego
