NL: Describe your musical background. How did you get involved with music?
Sarah: My dad sings. He likes to sing a lot, but mostly just for himself. And my mom doesn't do much. After a long time I thought she didn't sing at all. But she likes to sing for herself. But I didn't start singing until 1993. I was living in Denali National Park for the summer and we're supposed to be really loud in the woods.
NL: So you would sing?
Sarah: Because the bears, if they hear you coming they'll go away rather than charge you if they're afraid. So I just started singing. At first I started singing songs that I knew and then I just started making them up as I went along. And that was a real eye-opener for me as far as enjoying the sounds that I could make.
NL: How would you describe yourself as a musician?
Sarah: I am mostly just accompanying myself with guitar. Um, I pick the guitar and I strum the guitar but I have miles and miles to go before I actually understand the guitar. I just use it to accompany my poetry and my singing. My music is poetic. Some people say that it sounds like I just talk through my songs.
NL: Singspiel!
Sarah: That surprised me, though, because I thought I was singing. But that's alright. It's folky. There's lots of stories and it's a lot about love. For me, most of my songwriting is like journal entries. Like if there's something on my mind, I'll often times just start singing about it and then I'll make it into a song.
NL: So what inspires you when you write your songs?
Sarah: Compulsive thoughts that keep on drumming into my brain until finally it just comes out my mouth. And then when I perform. I just really love to share things that I've been thinking about. And I often times find that people really relate with the things that I've been thinking about. And, um, that's always always really cool for someone to come say "Hey, you know, I really relate with that line" or "I just totally know what you're talking about in that entire song" And that really inspires me. Besides the fact that I'm a performer. I just really love toä
NL: To connect?
Sarah: Well, yeah and I'm sure there's something, uh, what's the wordäExhibitionist. I'm sure there's something exhibitionist about it.
NL: Where do you regularly perform?
Sarah: I've performed quite a bit at the Marlin but I'm not sure if the venue is switching a little bit. What I want to do is just open up the Yellow Pages and look up cafes and bars and call everybody and tell them where I've been and what I've been doing and tell them that I want to play there.
NL: Where is your favorite venue to perform?
Sarah: My favorite venue in Fairbanks? You know the place that I've performed the most has been the Marlin. And I like it because it's smoke free for one thing. I love [playing at] the festivals. That is my favorite thing. There's kids and there's family and there's people there because they want to hear music. It's just about music, so it's always really nice to be in a festival.
NL: What is the most bizzare thing that's happened to you on a gig?
Sarah: Somebody gave me a hundred dollar tip. That was nice.
NL: Wow. Where was that?
Sarah: That was at the Marlin. Yeah, that was really nice. Let's see what elseäsomebody told that, uh, they'd written a sone with the same melody. And that was my friends in New Zealand who I ended up staying with while I was there. And that was pretty incredible. We ended up getting to know each other really well and sharing all of our music, which was good.
NL: So tell me about New Zealand. What were you doing down there?
Sarah: I met those people from New Zealand while they were in Juneau on their tour.
NL: What people are those?
Sarah: They're called Uncle Monkey.
NL: So you met them in Juneau?
Sarah: In Juneau they were on tour and we ended up hiking glaciers together and just hanging out a bunch. And then we kept in contact over email and, uh, decided to hook up. They kept on saying "Come to New Zealand and I was, like, "Alright." I said that I'd love to come there and play music and they said "Why don't you come and support us on tour?" We had eleven different tour dates together.
NL: Have you done any other touring?
Sarah: I did a little bit this summer. I went to the Anderson Bluegrass Festival and I went somewhere around Nenana to a Bluegrass festival. That was my extensive touring in Alaska so far. I feel really excited about the tour I just went on.
NL: How did you find performing in New Zealand as opposed to performing up here? How were the venues?
Sarah: The venues were bars and, um, pubs. I found that people were a little more reserved than in Alaska. Because their dollar is worth less than half of our dollar, people were pretty reserved about buying cds too. What I ended up doing was selling my cds for, like, ten bucks because it meant enough to me just to have my music out in New Zealand.
NL: If you were stuck on a desert island with a solar-powered cd player, what album would you want to have with you?
Sarah: It would have to beäoh god, that's a rough one. You know lately I've been listening to this cd over and over again and really enjoying it. But, it's like, I don't know if I'll like it forever. But Alannah Davis has a cd out right now that I really like a lot. It's like showing my underwear to tell what kind of music I listen to (laughs). Her music is so insightful and it's really got a good groove to it. And she's a young songwriter too. And she covered a song by Ani DiFranco, which I would never have the cajones to do.
NL: Who are some of your musical influences?
Sarah: Um, Joni Mitchell and James Taylor. Greg Brown and I would definitely say Ani DiFranco, even though it's kind of embarrassing for some reason. And um, Cat Stevens.
NL: Do you plan on doing any recording in the near future?
Sarah: I would love to. I started recording four years ago and then two years ago I did [her cd "Breaking Strings"]. And I wouldn't mind recording in about another two years. I think that every two years is pretty good. It gives me a chance to figure out what songs really count to me. I learn a little more about recording every time I record. And I learned a lot from ["Breaking Strings"], because I did things pretty bass-ackwards. I should have laid down drum and bass tracks first, which I didn't do and my timing is really funny. I have really funny timing. Because I sing emotionally, I speed up and slow down and get quiet and everything. The people who played along with me, Clay Good and Albert McDonnelläClay Good was my ninth grade Physical Science teacher, he played drums and I feel so bad because I was all over the place.
NL: Where and when are your next gigs?
Sarah: You know, I don't have any plans.