Friday night at McCabe's, Sarah Jarosz put on a show that ranks right up there with the finest I've ever seen at McCabe's, or anywhere else, for that matter. My concert-buddy Steve cringes whenever I throw in one superlative too many, but how can one describe Sarah Jarosz without a massive helping of superlatives?
Accompanied by two great players - Jedd Hughes on acoustic and electric guitar and Jeff Picker on upright bass - Sarah delivered a set that borrowed heavily from "Undercurrent", her just-released new album that she either wrote or co-wrote in its entirety. Her focus was firmly on music, not chatter, and that allowed her to play seventeen or eighteen songs during her blissful ninety-minute set. Kicking off her show with two of her "oldies" - "Annabelle Lee" and "Build Me Up From Bones" - Sarah treated us to her own compositions, plus a few outstanding covers, such as Tom Waits' "Come On Up To The House" and Bob Dylan's "Ring Them Bells".
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| Sarah Jarosz at McCabe's |
Accompanists Jedd and Jeff deserve extra praise for their outstanding musicianship and the way they supported Sarah - there was plenty of eye contact between the three, with Sarah sending out frequent smiles of approval to her musical cohorts.
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| Sarah Jarosz & Jedd Hughes at McCabe's |
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| Sarah Jarosz & Jeff Picker at McCabe's |
The star of the show was Sarah's golden voice, but I was equally impressed with her skills as an instrumentalist, as she alternated between acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin and even electric guitar - her masterful rendition of Tim O'Brien's two-song instrumental medley, "Land's End" and "Chasin' Talon", was one of the highlights of an evening that did not suffer from a lack of highlights. And speaking of highlights: I enjoyed very much the self-penned "Early Morning Light" and also "Comin' Undone", a song Sarah co-wrote with the young and talented Parker Millsap. And one more thing: not too many artists have Sarah's disarming smile and humble-yet-confident stage presence.
Overall, I had a thoroughly enjoyable time at McCabe's. Experiencing Sarah's music in a live setting is something I definitely want repeated.
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| The set list |
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| Sarah Jarosz tuning her guitar |
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| Sarah Jarosz at McCabe's |
Curtis McMurtry opened the show with a thirty-minute set that, at first blush, sounded a bit uneven, yet it still managed to impress me with two outstanding songs, "Sparks In The Wind" and especially the haunting "Foxhole". By the way, Curtis is James McMurtry's son.
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| Curtis McMurtry at McCabe's |
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| Sarah's instruments |
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| The stage |
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