While our primary focus is (and remains) Canadian folk-roots music here at GDW, when Texas-born and Nashville-based singer-songwriter Sarah Jarosz makes a stop at The Appell Center for the Performing Arts here in central PA for her “Polaroid Lovers” tour, how can we ignore this rare opportunity to catch live music from a four-time GRAMMY-Award winner? Purchasing our tickets the moment they became publicly available, we made a relatively short 65-mile drive over to York, PA on an unseasonably warm February evening to enjoy many tunes new and old from this highly acclaimed folk-roots artist.
Released in late January via Rounder Records, “Polaroid Lovers” is Sarah’s seventh solo album, but her first since leaving the confines of her New York City home and relocating to Nashville. This geographic shake-up led to a sonic shake-up for this album, with Jarosz opening herself up to collaborators, leading to co-writes with Natalie Hemby, Ruston Kelly, Gordie Sampson, and producer Daniel Tashian (to name a few), evolving her creative process both lyrically and with much richer and more electric instrumentation.
Performing a 90–minute set on the stage of this charming old theater, Sarah (and her band) launched immediately into the new material, before making her first address to the room. “How are y’all doing, York? Thank you so much for coming and hanging with us tonight,” she announced. “We’re about a week into a tour and it’s been fun so far. I have a new album out into the world, finally, and it’s so incredibly exciting. I’m so glad it’s finally yours. It’s been a blast playing all these new songs, so we’re gonna just keep on doing that.”
With a natural strong emphasis on the fresh material, we were more than happy to hear live performances of “Jealous Moon,” “Take The High Road,” and her latest single “Days Can Turn Around” – one that magically blast across the radio airwaves in our vehicle as we approached the venue. But, of course, with a solid back catalogue of music from which to draw upon, Sarah added popular cuts from her 2016 “Undercurrent” album (“Green Lights” and a solo-acoustic version of “Jacqueline”), backtracking a little further to her 2012 “Build Me Up From Bones” album to share “1,000 Things” and the album’s title track.
Digging deeper still, Sarah delighted the room when momentarily strapping on her banjo to deliver “Annabelle Lee” from her 2010 “Follow Me Down” album, before shifting back to some more recent offerings to share “Morning” – an ode to her mother’s fight with breast cancer from the 2021 “Blue Heron Suite” – and “Pay It No Mind,” a co-write with John Leventhal from her 2020 “World On The Ground” release. Sarah also took time to toss in a fabulous classic Patty Loveless cover too – the set list proving incredibly well curated with frequent instrument changes.
Following a rousing performance of “Runaway Train,” Sarah and her band took their bows and exited the stage – but with both a standing ovation from the audience and the theater lights remaining dim, an encore was pretty much guaranteed. Returning to the spotlight, the four musicians performed a stunning cover of Bob Dylan’s “Ring Them Bells,” before cranking the dial and intensity up one final time to deliver “Mezcal And Lime,” the closing track (coincidentally) from the new album. With a long list of tour dates between now and June, Sarah is taking this show across the country – and we highly recommend giving this one a whirl if her tour bus passes through a town near you.
Set List:
- Jealous Moon
- When The Lights Go Out
- The Way It Is Now
- Columbus & 89th
- Green Lights
- Annabelle Lee
- Build Me Up From Bones
- Take Me Back
- Pay It No Mind
- Dying Ember
- Jacqueline (solo)
- Morning
- 1,000 Things
- Days Can Turn Around
- Timber, I’m Falling In Love (Patty Loveless cover)
- Take The High Road
- Runaway Train
Encore:
- Ring them Bells (Bob Dylan cover)
- Mezcal And Lime
The British guy that crossed the ocean and crash landed in central Pennsylvania (to quote Greg Keelor, “And I wonder what am I doing here?”). As the youngest of four siblings, exposure to music from a very early age nurtured my passion and appreciation for many musical genres. Continuing to discover some amazingly diverse and talented musicians based in Canada, I gravitate to live music experiences and remain devoted to spreading the word about such a vibrant music scene.
