MUSIC

by Holly Gleason | Photography by Buddy Jackson

arah Jarosz, 22, has never heard Miley Cyrus nor explains. “[Studying poetry] set me free. When I came back Slistened to “Blurred Lines,” Robin Thicke’s controversy- to songs, I was in a freer place. I didn’t feel that pressure to fit into laden song that was named a structure.” Song of the Summer 2013. Her previous records—2008’s With her wide-open face, equal Song In Her Head and 2011’s parts Modigliani Madonna and Follow Me Down—were etched low-light Vermeer, she’s very interiorscopes that felt like a serene about this fact. dusky alto cross of Having just completed Build Me and Alison Krauss. With Bones, Up From Bones, her third album, Jarosz’s acoustica has found and her degree at the New an integration that provides a England Conservatory, Jarosz’ heavier kind of weightlessness, attention has been on music— and her voice has grown richer, just not the pop culture zeitgeist. deeper in places, brighter in Music, not sensationalism, others. is what matters to the young Recording on her school breaks woman who signed a record during the final semester of NEC, deal at 16, was nominated for Jarosz and myriad-Grammy- a Best Country Instrumental winner Gary Paczosa worked Grammy for “Mansinneedof” from a trio template rather than a year later—and has New York stacking layers of overdubs. Times economic columnist Paul Space became a full-blown Krugman writing her mash presence in the arrangements. notes in lieu of his usual Friday morning op-ed piece. “We went in with a real vision. Including the trio I play with was “I’m not on a crusade to bring a big thing sonically; that energy back art for my age group,” she comes through. !ere were also offers. “But I’ve been doing a lot of give and take moments this music and following music where I play something, then through my life—and trying to [violinist] Alex [Hargreaves] push beyond what I know.” will play something from the !at push is what balanced energy . . . or [cellist] Nathaniel her recording career with the [Smith] will.” prestigious NEC, where she As for her voice, once so absorbed the classical structure SARAH JAROSZ shimmeringly haunted on of Ravel, Stravinsky, and ’s “!e Tourist” Debussy, as well as intense recorded with the Punch studies of contemporary Brothers, that deepening has American poets Charles Olson, Build Me Up a sultriness that transfixes. Adrienne Rich, Gertrude Stein, “A voice can change a lot in and Ann Marie Waldrop. From Bones four years. I took private voice It can be felt. Her own work, lessons at NEC with Dominique especially “Rearrange !e Art,” “Over !e Edge,” and “Anything Eade, studying technique and the different ways I can use my Else,” more than hold their ground with a plucked cello and instrument. And in a way, Gary, a voice teacher in the studio, he’s voice rendition of ’s “Simple Twist of Fate” and Joanna always pushing me to breathe in certain ways.” Newsom’s staccato wow “!e Book of Right-On.” Jarosz, who balances her love of Wilco and the Decembrists with “Poetry is a completely different process than [writing] lyrics,” the her parents’ love of Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, and Bob Dylan, is woman who’s proficient on , guitar, and clawhammer subtly weaving the jazz she picked up at NEC—Ornette Coleman,

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Billie Holiday, and Abbey Lincoln—into her evocations and explorations of what melody can carry.

Blazing a progressive musical future with strong roots, she recognizes she’s lucky to have a label that both supported her desire to get her degree and allowed her to find her way musically.

“When I started, I had the freedom to be the artist [I wanted to be] and follow that vision. I normally say [it’s] Americana, or I can say it’s folk or acoustic. I don’t think it fits in bluegrass, when people try to put that tag on it . . . And it’s evolving.

“!at’s what I want to do: to transform myself while still being me, pushing the boundaries every time and getting out of my comfort zone. In some ways, texturally and sonically, I’ve never recorded anything this sparse.”

!at evolution, which has attracted guests ranging from co-writers and to Dan Dugmore and Crooked Steel’s Aoife O’Donovan, will find the Austin, Texas-born songwriter able to truly tour for the first time. Moving to New York’s Upper West Side, her adventure continues.

“My audience has been middle-aged NPR people,” she confesses. “In the last year, it’s been getting younger. !ere are musicians in my scene and musicians from other scenes, and it’s so energizing. I feel like I can be anything; getting out of my comfort zone.”

She pauses. “I’ve done the four years, gotten the bachelor of music degree. !is is real. It’s my life now. I’ve graduated, turned 22, and come to Nashville to finish this CD. Now it begins . . . ”

"Build Me Up From Bones" on is available at all music stores and online. For more information about Sarah Jarosz visit www.sarahjarosz.com.