Sarah
had to make the tough decision that most teenage artists finishing high school face: to continue onto college or to go straight out on the road. She chose the former—an atypical but highly commendable decision—and enrolled in the New England Conservatory in the fall of 2009 where she now studies contemporary improvisation in voice, a program Jarosz credits for pushing her out of her comfort zone and into Jewish and World music ensembles. Jarosz’s journey began when she borrowed a friend’s mandolin when she was 10 years old and her music-loving parents took her to her first Friday night Bluegrass Jam in their hometown of Wimberly. “I just fell in love with it,” she says. “I would go back
JAROSZ
70
march 2011
tribeza.com
every week and learn more and more stuff... and that’s kind of how it all started. That one experience led me to meet other people and then I started going to [music] camps around the country.” By 16, Jarosz had shared the stage with such Bluegrass icons as Ricky Skaggs and Tim O’Brien and was signed to Sugar Hill records. Her latest album will be released this May, coinciding with the end of her sophomore year at the Conservatory. The album took a year to record. It was a long process, which she credits for helping develop and mature the songs over time. Jarosz is the first to admit that it sounds different than her previous, heavily acoustic recordings, owing to the introduction of drums and other sonic elements that may surprise some ears. “The fun thing about
[recording] is the more that I’m growing as a person and the more experiences I have and new people I meet, that whole side of me only gets deeper,” Jarosz says of her current outlook on songwriting. “It’s fun to explore those places and try to represent them in some sort of poetic way. It’s a constant, never ending learning process.” Since 2009, Jarosz may have been nominated for a Grammy in the Best Country Instrumental Performance category for "Mansinneedof " and performed on the legendary Austin City Limits television show, but she counters any acknowledgement of accolades with humility and gratitude. “I’m most thankful for how organically and naturally it all happened,” Jarosz says. “None of it was forced. It all felt like I was in the right place.”
image courtesy of jeffrey Martin.
Balancing college with her music career, JAROSZ manages to excel at both, snagging a Grammy nomination in 2009.