Sarah Jarosz

Sarah Jarosz (born May 23, 1991 in Austin, Texas) is a Grammy Award nominated American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Jarosz picked up the mandolin at the age of 10 and by 2005 she was jamming onstage with bluegrass icons David Grisman and Ricky Skaggs at the age of 14. Jarosz also plays guitar, banjo and piano and wrote the majority of the music on her albums. Her music is largely contemporary and progressive bluegrass but includes folk, old-timey, country and folk rock. Jarosz has been frequently compared to Gillian Welch. She began attending the New England Conservatory of Music in the fall of 2009 where she studies contemporary improvisation. During her senior year of high school, Jarosz signed with Sugar Hill Records who released her debut album “Song Up In Her Head” on June 16, 2009. The album earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Country Instrumental Performance for the track "Mansinneedof". "Song Up In Her Head" went to #1 on the Billboard Bluegrass chart and crossed over to the Indie chart peaking at #21, and the Hot 200 (pop) chart peaking at #158. Her second album, "Follow Me Down", was released on May 17, 2011. In addition to nine original tracks it includes a cover of Radiohead's "The Tourist" recorded in a session with the Punch Brothers and Bob Dylan's "Ring Them Bells". The album peaked at #2 on Billboard's Bluegrass and crossed over to four other charts, reaching #4 (Folk), #16 (Indie), #26 (Rock) and #98 (Hot 200).