Sarah Gross’s Modern Americana: A Look At One Of 2021’s Rising Stars
Photo courtesy of @SarahGrossMusic on Instagram
Self-proclaimed “country witch” Sarah Gross is all smiles, laughter, and fairy lights. The first thing out of her mouth is a joke about the stress of being a college student, immediately cementing her as a woman of the people (i.e. anxious witches in too-small dorm rooms).
Gross initially started her college education at Syracuse University studying Voice but soon made the switch to Music Production, becoming one of four girls in her program. She had thought that she’d be spending most of her time behind the scenes mixing other people’s music, but soon found herself in the studio, saying, “I got here and then I realized I wanted to be recording my own music, and then I just started performing.” As for her start in music, she was a typical band kid, playing flute and singing classical music, and in high school she was doing musical theatre. A friend of her mother’s approached her about an original song she had posted on Facebook, saying she could potentially make a career out of her music. “It was the first time I had ever heard that from anyone,” Gross laughed, saying, “It’s like, ‘I could do something with music that’s not education?’” She then offered Gross an opportunity to record in her husband and daughter’s home studio where she fell in love with recording. “To this day they’re still people I record with! I play in their bands, they play in my bands, and it’s all just really fun.”
Her music is a testament to today’s cross-genre music, blending a 21st century singer-songwriter sound with the vintage melodies of Carole King and Joni Mitchell. When asked to describe her sound, she says “If you put Kacey Musgraves and Maggie Rogers in a room it would sound like this.” When discussing her first album, Songs from the Passenger Seat, she told me that the record was initially supposed to be a funk-pop album, but then she fell in love with the music of Bob Dylan and Paul Simon. Gross is glad her music made the shift, saying it feels “more genuine” now that she has the courage to make more country-inspired music as opposed to the more popular R&B and pop influenced music that most artists her age make.
Songs from the Passenger Seat was recorded from entirely live musicians, with no digital instruments involved. This would be impressive any other year, but it’s an especially big feat during a pandemic. “It was so crazy that we pulled this off,” said Gross, “because a lot of the stuff I did at the studio, like any drums, guitars, vocal harmonies, but everything else was done either virtually, like I would be Zooming with the other person and we would be producing over the internet, or I would record them here at [Syracuse] and that’s really stressful right now because you can’t be in the same room as the other person.” In short, it was a monumental task, but Gross is rightfully proud of herself and her collaborators for their innovation and accomplishments.
At the end of our conversation, Gross offered some advice to any budding musicians. “Try everything. There’s nothing wrong with doing things and making mistakes.” She then went on to talk about her first ever band, a nine-person funk group, that she had started but then realized wasn’t the right path for her. “Now I feel like I’ve been settling into this sound that I really genuinely love, but I maybe wouldn’t have gotten there if it weren’t for these experiences I’ve had. Try it all, and don’t be afraid to mess up because it’s all part of the learning process.”
Sarah Gross’s debut album Songs from the Passenger Seat is out now on all platforms, and her new single “nothing i can do (to replace you)” is out on February 12.
