A quiet midweek evening on the west bank of The Flats in downtown Cleveland was the destination location for Sarah Jarosz. Touring behind last month’s release of Undercurrent, the twenty-five year old native of Austin, Texas was originally signed out of high school by Sugar Hill Records is the stuff normally found in storybooks. But Jarosz proved to be the real deal, garnering Grammy nominations, touring with Garrison Keillor and his A Prairie Home Companion, and recording with some of the best bluegrass musicians on the planet.
Now living in New York, the singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist was accompanied on stage by Jedd Hughes on lead guitar and upright bass player Jeff Picker. The three-piece ensemble played beautifully throughout the twenty song set as Jarosz switched off between banjo and a twelve string acoustic throughout the evening. Opening with one of her hits “Annabelle Lee” followed by “Build Me Up From Bones”, the audience was in for a real treat the rest of the way. “Mile On The Moon”, a song she co-wrote with Hughes and one penned with Parker Milsap titled “Comin’ Undone” allowed the spotlight to shine on Hughes playing acoustic and electric riffs. Jarosz played “Everything To Hide” and “Take Another Turn” alone on the stage at the midway point before Picker came out to play a nice Tim O’Brien medley of “Land’s End/Chasin’ Talon”. Jarosz shared vocal harmonies with Hughes on the gorgeous “House of Mercy” and tore it up with her sidekicks playing mandolin covering Tom Waits “Come On Up To The House” allowing the crowd to sing along. Besides other popular Jarosz numbers “Run Away” and “Over The Edge”, rounding out the set included “Green Lights”, “Everything To Hide”, “Back Of My Mind”, “Lost Dog”, “Still Life” and the closing encore of “Jacqueline” off the new record along with “Fuel The Fire”, “1,000 Things”, “Take Me Back”, and her interpretation of Bob Dylan’s “Ring Them Bells”.
Opening with a short seven song set were The Brother Brothers, who are twins Adam Moss on fiddle and David Moss on guitar/cello. Originally from Brooklyn, NY and now residing in Peoria, Illinois, the boys performed seven songs blending their unique vocal harmonies on “Siren Song”, “Bird In A Tree”, “Ohio River Blues”, “Columbus Stockade Blues”, “Notary Public”, “Tugboats”, and a Peter Rowan cover “Angel Island”. Some may recognize Adam as playing on tour with several artists including The Defibulators. They will be along for the ride on the remaining Jarosz tour dates and promoting a new EP set for release next week.
