Bio

Biography

Sarah Blacker’s music is a unique blend of acoustic rock, folk, and jazz with stand-out vocals and quirky yet catchy songwriting, that set her apart from other female singer/songwriters in her genre.

When describing Sarah Blacker’s impressive vocals,
music blogger ‘Oliver Di Place,’ wrote,

“Sarah Blacker sings in a twangy alto that floats in the quiet numbers, while still  being full of emotion. Sarah Blacker sings in a twangy alto that swoops andsoars in the all-out rockers. It’s clearly the same singer in both contexts. Some singers  have a rock voice and a folk voice that could be two different people, but Blacker  doesn’t need to do that. She doesn’t strain to get the volume, and she loses none of  her feeling when she sings more quietly.”

She is a highly impressive guitar player, mandolin player, and percussionist, with a sound much bigger than her size, and a DIY drive, which has impressed many in the music business.

She is regularly compared to Natalie Merchant, Joni Mitchell and Regina Spektor, yet is consistently told that her sound is all her own.

Blacker was the recent winner of Radio 92.9/Boch Subaru‘s artist competition, and became the voice and face of Subaru of New England’s “Ooh, ooh it’s love,” TV and radio campaign airing throughout New England and the mid-atlantic region for several months this fall/winter.

She was named Number 1 artist of 2009 by Max Bowen, writer for Noise Magazine, with her first release, ‘The Only Way Out is Through,’ [fall '09] and Number 2 artist of WMVY’s [Martha's Vineyard] Unchartered Waters Series. Her song ‘Smell of Caramel,’ off of ‘TOWOiT,’ was recently signed by Black Cloud Promotions for licensing in TV and movies, and it also garnered her the recent win in the Subaru competition.

Sarah Blacker has just begun presenting her new CD, ‘Come What May,’ [funded mainly by her Kickstarter campaign where-in she accepted pledges from her fans] to music scribes, radio DJs and fans nationally, with high levels of adoration coming back in response. When describing this sophomore album, Di Place also mentioned,

“Over all, what is clear is that Blacker has a clear sense of the subtleties of human emotion, and she can write songs of finely shaded emotion. Those fine shadings mean that Come What May is the kind of album that will start conversations about how each song should be interpreted. That is something that only fine songwriters achieve. Sarah Blacker proves here that she belongs in their company, and she backs it up with the quality of her performance.”

Blacker is a full-time, independent touring musician, having supported Jason Isbell from the Drive By Truckers, at the Fairfield Theater Company in Fairfield, CT, Farren-Butcher Inc. at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, MA, the Rustic Overtones, the Wood Bros. and Entrain at the Stone Church in Newmarket, NH, and Sarah Bareilles at the Granada Theater in Lawrence, KS to name just a few.

Having studied Music Therapy at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Sarah Blacker is also a Board-Certified, part-time Music Therapist for children with special needs, involved with the Doug Flutie Foundation, and is an Ambassador for Ernie Boch’s Music Drives Us Foundation.  She currently works in a school settings specializing in working with children with Cerebral Palsy. She was presented by an award for fundraising efforts and commitment to helping individuals with Autism, by AFAM. [Advocates for Autism of Massachusetts]

Last year, Blacker even released an electronic dance track titled, ‘Am Alive,’ which she co-wrote with Egyptian DJ’s Shiha, and Nii. This song was signed to Frisky and Armada records, and picked up by the Grammy-nominated DJ, Martin Roth, who chose to remix the song for  his latest release as the CD’s single. The song has been eating up the electronic charts since, and Blacker hopes to work on this side of the music industry again in the future!

Blacker is now touring behind her new CD, both solo and with her band, All Kinds of Sugar featuring Chuck Fisher on lead guitar, and Sean McLaughlin on bass, with her sights set on the stars, and her heart behind the wheel.

Notable Appearances, Accomplishments

Sarah has performed live on the following stations:

  • Boston- 92.5 the River, Magic 106.7, WERS, WAAF, WATD Marshfield, WCIB and WKKL Cape Cod, WVVY and WMVY Martha’s Vineyard, WMFO Medford
  • NC- WNCW Spindale, 98.1 the River, Asheville
  • VA- WRRW Williamsburg, WCNR Charlottesville
  • WMPG Portland, ME, WSCA + WXGR Portsmouth, NH
  • WHUD Hudson Valley, NY
  • live on Better CT TV, Channel 9 Wellesley and Framingham, MA
  • live on SCAT TV Somerville
  • and more…

Some notable venues…

  • the Hynes Convention Center for ‘Down to Earth Fest,’ & ‘CollegeFest’
  • Gillette Stadium’s Patriot Place
  • Club Passim, The Lizard Lounge & Middle East Downstairs, Cambridge, MA and the Paradise Rock Club, and Hard Rock Cafe, Boston
  • Dedham Music Fest, Dedham, MA
  • Best Buy, the Rockwood Music Hall, and the Livingroom NYC
  • the Granada Theater, Lawrence, KS
  • One Longfellow Square, Portland, ME
  • the Fairfield Theater Company, Fairfield, CT
  • the Vineyard Playhouse, Martha’s Vineyard, MA
  • Nectar’s, Burlington, VT
  • the Tin Angel and World Cafe Live, Philadelphia
  • the Stone Church Newmarket, NH
  • My Rural Radio Fall Festival, Stewartstown, PA
  • Live Music Week 88.9 WERS

and many, many more!

Visit the ‘Music’ Page to see which stations spin SB’s record, ‘The Only Way Out is Through’

She has shared the stage with:

  • Vince Welnick, Grateful Dead keyboardist
  • Sara Bareilles
  • the Wood Brothers
  • the Nields
  • Paddy Casey
  • Marc Broussard
  • Laura Veirs
  • Liam Finn
  • Jason Isbell of the Drive By Truckers
  • Carbon Leaf
  • Apollo Sunshine
  • Michelle Malone of Lillith Fair
  • Greg Hawkes of the Cars
  • Big Leg Emma

and many more…

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