Grammy nominee Jarosz bound for Mareel this winter

GRAMMY-nominated and highly gifted singer and multi-instrumentalist Sarah Jarosz, from Austin, Texas, will bring her trio show to Shetland early in 2017. She will perform at Mareel in Lerwick on Sunday 29 January.

Signed to a major record deal aged just 16, she has built up a major reputation in the contemporary folk, Americana and roots scene. In addition to playing mandolin, octave mandolin, guitar and banjo, Jarosz is an expressive and distinctive vocalist and a hugely accomplished songwriter.

She is a regular on A Prairie Home Companion TV show, where she is part of the new house band alongside host Chris Thile and other members of the Punch Brothers. This year she has shared a stage with the likes of Paul Simon and Jack White.

Jarosz boasts multiple Grammy nominations including two for her last album Build Me Up From Bones, while her current release Undercurrent is her first since graduating with honours from the New England Conservatory of Music.

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It features cameos and co-writes with collaborators including Crooked Still’s Aoife O’Donovan and Nickel Creek’s Sara Watkins, with whom she has toured under the name I’m With Her. 

The three singers spent much of 2015 touring together and Jarosz described it as “eye-opening to shift gears and be a part of something different”.

“We’ve only been a band for a year, but I’ve learned so much from it already, and I definitely brought some of those lessons to Undercurrent,” she said.

Neil Riddell of local promoters Ragged Wood said he was delighted that Jarosz had agreed to come to Shetland on the back of two planned appearances at Celtic Connections in Glasgow this winter. 

• Tickets to see Sarah Jarosz and her trio live at Mareel on Sunday 29 January are on sale now, priced £22, from Shetland Box Office.