Nashville, Tenn. — Seventeen-year-old Texas native Sarah Jarosz emerged on the scene about five years ago as someone to watch. Jamming onstage with bluegrass icons David Grisman and Ricky Skaggs, Jarosz played her mandolin with a sure touch and real joy. It looked and sounded comfortable in her then twelve-year-old hands. She started writing songs on the guitar and took up the banjo. While Jarosz’s instrumental talents are formidable, let’s make one thing clear: Sarah Jarosz is a singer. Her voice is velvety smooth, agile, and powerful occasionally reminiscent of such disparate artists as Natalie Maines and Patty Griffin. With subtle use of colors and effects, she inhabits her songs the way a fine actress does her role. Overall, her music feels good, avoids overreaching. Nothing’s contrived.

About to graduate from high school this spring, Sarah is that rare self-possessed teenager. Her schoolteacher parents have raised her well, providing the skills, support, and freedom to become the confident artist that she is. Beautiful, talented, and just a little mysterious in a wholesome, Texas hill country kinda way, Sarah is at home in this world. She knows what she’s about and is ready to get out there and make her mark.

“You hear Sarah Jarosz sing or play even a note and the relevancy of time and space goes on hold. As a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter she attracts the finest musicians into her musical fold. This young woman is proof that the future of music itself is certain to be full of virtuosity, passion, integrity, deep beauty, and soul.” — Abigail Washburn

“Song Up In Her Head,” produced by Jarosz and award-winning engineer and producer Gary Paczosa, features a mix of her original new-old-timey ballads, and two well chosen covers, the Decemberists’ “Shankill Butchers” and the Tom Waits/Kathleen Brennan co-write, “Come On Up To The House,” which mesh flawlessly with the other eleven songs.

Her collaborators include teenaged peers Samson Grisman and Alex Hargreaves, as well as well-known veterans of the acoustic scene, including Chris Thile, Darrell Scott, Stuart Duncan, Mike Marshall and Jerry Douglas.

“Song Up In Her Head,” is an impressive coming out party, a survey of where she’s been so far, and a good indicator of where she’s headed. (Adapted from the liner notes by Tim O’Brien)

Upcoming Sarah Jarosz Appearances

• April 18 — Old Settler’s Music Festival, Austin, TX
• June 6 — Pagosa Folk ‘n Bluegrass Music Festival, Pagosa Springs, CO
• June 11 — Blue Rock Studios ( “Song Up In Her Head” CD Release Party), Wimberly, TX
• July 18 — Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, Wimberly, TX
• July 26 — Rocky Grass, Lyons, CO