My Sarah Jarosz

The Duck Room, July 28, 2011

The thrill of watching a rising star play in a small venue in a big city will surely be one of the highlights of my summer. Multi-instrumentalist and singer Sarah Jarosz mesmerized a small but appreciative crowd last week at the Duck Room in St. Louis.

I like to call her “My Sarah.” When she released her debut album at the tender age of 17 (2009), fate landed it in my lap. My tennis partner, Steve, was given the CD (Song Up in Her Head, Sugar Hill Records) by his niece, as Sarah was a friend of hers at high school in Austin, Texas. Steve found the music interesting, but gave it to me, knowing my love for bluegrass music and traditional instruments. It took only one listen to know that the niece had a talented friend, but I did not have the foresight to know that I was in on an early secret in the bluegrass world. 

In the next six months, My Sarah popped up on bluegrass blogs, tribute albums (she performed one of the strongest songs on the Shel Silverstein tribute CD, The Twistable, Turnable Man) and made guest appearances with bluegrass superstars such as Sam Bush, Steve Martin, Jerry Douglas, and Chris Thile. I beamed with pride for My Girl.

Thanks to information on my Facebook feed from Sarah's Fan Page, I found out that she would be playing at the Duck Room in St. Louis. Now, a couple of months into her 20th year and boasting a second critically acclaimed album (Follow Me Down, Sugar Hill Records) released this spring, she stopped in St. Louis, one of her last shows before returning to school at the New England Conservatory in Boston. 

Sarah along with her uber-talented band opened the show with “Song in Her Head.” Her unforgettable alto voice filled the joint, and as the set continued, I watched jaws drop around the room. Everyone knew they were witnessing something unforgettable. She also possesses a youthful enthusiasm that shined brightly throughout her show. After the opening song, she enthused, “This is awesome, I’ve never been to St. Louis and so many friends came out to see me!” 

“Awesome” pretty much summed up the performance, as Sarah—along with cellist Nathaniel Smith and fiddler Alex Hargreaves—captivated the crowd. A friend, who saw her at Telluride earlier in the summer, told me prior to the show, tongue-in-cheek, “those dudes that play with her aren’t too shabby.” One had the feeling that she plucked the best of the best at the music conservatory and said “Come play with me.” Sarah routinely switched from mandolin to guitar to banjo throughout the evening, displaying serious talent on each instrument. And that alto voice! Powerful, rich, and completely unique.

My brother (John) and sister-in-law (Jill) agreed to go to the show with me; later, they thanked me for the nudge. My brother seemed in awe of the evening, something he never expected. The highlight of the show for us Rogers' was the final song of the set. See, when Sarah was My Sarah, I gifted her first CD to Jill. When my little brother died last fall, John made a tribute CD for Jim. The mix included Sarah Jarosz’s cover of Tom Waits’ “Come On Up to the House.” She closed the show with this song and asked us to sing along. I sang, I danced, and I noticed tears squirting out of my eyes. When I turned to my brother, he was doing the same with a huge grin on his face. Jim is in the House, and My Sarah somehow knew we needed to hear it.

Come On Up to the House

Well the moon is broken

And the sky is cracked

Come on up to the house

The only things that you can see

Is all that you lack

Come on up to the house

All your cryin don't do no good

Come on up to the house

Come down off the cross

We can use the wood

Come on up to the house

Come on up to the house

Come on up to the house

The world is not my home

I'm just a passin thru

Come on up to the house

There's no light in the tunnel

No irons in the fire

Come on up to the house

And your singin lead soprano

In a junkman's choir

You gotta come on up to the house

Does life seem nasty, brutish and short

Come on up to the house

The seas are stormy

And you can't find no port

Come on up to the house

There's nothin in the world

[Chorus]

There's nothin in the world

that you can do

you gotta come on up to the house

and you been whipped by the forces

that are inside you

come on up to the house

well you're high on top

of your mountain of woe

come on up to the house

well you know you should surrender

but you can't let go

you gotta come on up to the house

[Chorus]