For me, whose fingers stumble clumsily across the neck my mandolin, Sarah Jarosz’s virtuosity is simultaneously laudable and damnable; her genius serves as both mighty inspiration and just cause for heaving my mandolin in frustration. Only seventeen, her genius is the stuff of dreams for we aging mortals. On her debut album, Song Up In Her Head, Jarosz, a stellar songwriter with the voice of an angel, guides her cadre of fellow prodigies and seasoned vets through a collection of tunes that combine the best of traditional mountain music with the progressive spirit that marks her generation’s contribution to the American Songbook. Song Up In Her Head firmly establishes Sarah Jarosz as the leading lady in the burgeoning generation of youthful acoustic musicians.
