‘True to the songs themselves’
Sarah Jarosz’s new album is ‘stripped down’ to the basics
Following two 2017 Grammy wins, folk artist Sarah Jarosz will be performing her first show in Santa Fe as she wraps up shows featuring tunes from her latest, more “stripped down” album.
Jarosz’s label describes the 26-year-old’s 2016 set, “Undercurrent,” as a “studied departure” from her three previous albums, with less of a focus on multi-instrumentation — she plays mandolin, guitar and banjo — and more on the singing and songwriting.
During a recent phone interview while touring in California, Jarosz told the Journal the songs themselves led her toward that shift.
She also had more time to focus on what she wanted her songs to sound like. “Undercurrent” was first album the young star has made while not also attending high
school or college, which gave her time to plan how to visualize and create an album as a whole.
She graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music in 2013, the same year her previous set of songs was released, and wrote most of her latest songs in 2015.
“I was feeling the best way to capture them was more stripped down and true to the songs themselves … . This time, I would play for friends and they would say, ‘That’s what I want to hear on the record,’” she said.
The album received two Grammy Awards, one for Best Folk Album and one for Best American Roots Performance for its song “House of Mercy,” a feat she described as “incredibly exciting and surreal.”
The Texas native also said her move to New York City on her own four years ago had a crucial impact.
There also was touring with other musicians, where she could be part of a group. This includes her trio called I’m With Her, including Sara Watkins and Aoife O’Donovan, that began playing shows in 2015 and toured with The Punch Brothers this summer.
“Musically, that opened my ears up in a great way,” she said.
Her Saturday show in Santa
Fe at the James A. Little Theater will include tracks from “Undercurrent,” cover songs and tunes from previous albums. “Build Me Up From Bones,” from 2013, was also nominated for a Grammy. Also on the bill are the Brothers Brothers, a bluegrass string duo.
Though she wants to take with her the lessons learned about conceiving an album like “Undercurrent,” that doesn’t mean Jarosz’s next venture will be similar. She wants to stay true to whatever the songs are telling her, no matter what that means. Whether that includes her traditional country sound or even incorporating electric guitar or drums, Jarosz mentioned with a slight laugh, she doesn’t know.
“I’m never going to feel limited in terms of what the song might require,” she said.
Doors open at 7 p.m. at the New Mexico School for the Deaf’s James A. Little Theater. Jarosz will also perform in Roswell Sunday at Pecos Flavors Winery and Bistro.