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Profile modified by: The CricketSoda Myspace Profile Editor /end of background and colum colors/Austin's FAVORITE PHOTOGRAPHER WINKER WITH AN EYE
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Sarah Elizabeth Campbell writes songs from her heart. She sings them
that way too. Furthermore, she has a keen intuition that aims her toward
other people's songs which she then makes her own. A gifted artist can
do that, you know.
My admiration for this woman's work began when I
heard "Geraldine and Ruthie Mae" as sung by Laurie Lewis on the 1988
Blue Rose album. It continued when Sarah Elizabeth sent me home from a
trip to California with new tapes (with the requisite, "sorry, the mixes
are crummy", which they weren't!). And now Running With You brings me up
to date.
From her beautiful version of "Love Hurts" to her own "Just Out
Of Reach", listen to this wise and mellowed voice telling you things
about her heart and its choices that mirror and make sense of your own.
A gifted artist can do that too. Nothing self-conscious here, nothing
calculated. There is a place for music like this, in our tape deck, in
our hectic lives, in our living room, in our CD player, in our car, in
our jogging pack, on our radio....It is about, among other things,
listening and learning, giving in to love and falling back out. Sarah
Elizabeth writes these kinds of songs, as only a gifted artist can.
-Mary Chapin Carpenter
IMAGINE BY JOHN LENNON
Imagine there's no heaven,
it's easy if you try,
no hell below us,
above us only sky.
Imagine all the people,
living for today yu-huh.
Imagine there's no countries,
it isn't hard to do,
nothing to kill or die for,
and no religion too.
Imagine all the people,
living life in peace yu-huh.
You may say I'm a dreamer
but I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us,
and the world will be as one.
Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
no need for greed or hunger,
a brotherhood of man.
Imagine all the people,
sharing all the world yu-huh.
You may say I'm a dreamer
but I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us,
and the world will be as one....
*************************************************
From The Red Dog Saloon To Austin
Sarah Elizabeth Campbell was born in St. David's Hospital in Austin, Texas during May 1953. "They tore it down, soon after I was born."
Growing up in Austin, Campbell sang in school and church choirs. "For my first solo, I was the Virgin Mary in the sixth grade Nativity play."
Sarah's older brother Bill bought her a Silvertone guitar for her twelfth birthday. In her late teens Sarah Elizabeth's wandering Celtic roots surfaced, "I grew up in Austin, but I couldn't wait to get out of it."
Aged seventeen, Sarah left home for the first time. Accompanied by a friend, the pair headed East. "When I left home I could pick out a tune, but I had no formal guitar tuition." The hitchhikers headed for Boston, but initially only got as far as Nashville and The Red Dog Saloon, where Sarah entertained the customers with covers of Country tunes.
The girls eventually made it to Massachusetts, stayed for a year, and then headed back to Texas. "There weren't that many places in Boston, where we could play our kind of music."
Restless in Austin, Sarah headed west to California where she lived for the ensuing seventeen years. Sarah eventually joined Fiddlestix, an old timey Bluegrass quartet based out of Sonora. Fiddlestix toured the western states, playing clubs, bars, and summer music festivals. The band's catalogue amounted to a couple of self-produced "gig" cassettes, including one recorded at California's prestigious Strawberry Music Festival. Sarah Elizabeth was the band's principal vocalist and played guitar and banjo. The band lineup included Cactus Bob Cole (mandolin/fiddle), Chris Stevenson (bass/banjo), and a string of fourth members. "I learned a lot in that band. It was sort of like going to school."
After twelve years, Sarah decided to leave Fiddlestix, but before departing she began working as a solo act. "After a while I wanted to do all the singing. Particularly on songs that I'd written. In the end, it was time to move on." For Sarah playing house concerts and being the opening act at gigs formed part of her second apprenticeship. Sarah recorded her August 1987 house concert at Vance's Place in Los Gatos, California, and for a couple of years sold the Live cassette at her gigs.
As her reputation as a solo singer-songwriter developed, Sarah enlisted Nina Gerber as her support guitarist. In due course Sarah's thoughts turned to making a studio album. Nina had maintained a close working relationship with Tom Diamant of the now-defunct Kaleidoscope Records, and in 1990 the label released the Gerber produced A Little Tenderness. Sarah's debut album featured eight of her compositions. Soon after completing the recording sessions, Campbell relocated to her hometown. "I felt my work in California was complete, for a while at least. I'd return home for Christmas with my family each year, and become depressed when it was time to go back to California. In the end, I decided to live in Austin and fly out and play gigs. It's a lot cheaper to live here."
In 1991 Sarah began her weekly sad song session, "Bummer Night," at Austin club La Zona Rosa. Sarah soon turned the normally slow Tuesday night into an essential weekly attraction. "It's not an open mic, it's friends getting together. Austin's a funny town. They've always embraced the weird. If you are just a little bit off, Austin will claim you as their own." For a number of years now, Sarah has played her weekly Austin show on Monday nights at Artz Rib House. Her three-piece band, aka The Banned, features Brian Wood (acoustic guitar), David Heath (bass), and Paul Sweeney (mandolin).
In May 1993 Sarah performed at the Frutigen Festival in Switzerland, and continues to appear regularly at the Kerrville Folk Festival and the Strawberry Music Festival. Sarah's songs have been recorded or performed by Jim Messina, Rick Danko and Levon Helm (The Band). and Blue Rose.
March 1994 saw the release of Campbell's sophomore solo album on Dejadisc, Running With You. The initial sessions were produced by Bill Ginn (Leonard Cohen, Jennifer Warnes), and Marvin Denton Dykhuis, Tish Hinojosa's long-time guitar man, subsequently took over the mantle of producer. Six of Sarah's songs featured alongside material by Pierce Pettis, Karla Bonoff, Tom Russell/Greg Trooper, John Prine/Funky Donnie Fritts, and Boudleaux Bryant. The up-tempo album title track, finds Campbell recalling with affection and a discernable tinge of regret, the period she lived in California. In 1995 Dejadisc reissued A Little Tenderness.
During July 1998 Sarah and The Banned, assisted by Chip Dolan (accordion), recorded a "Live Set" for Austin radio station KUT-FM. Campbell self-released the Live recording on CD the following year. Sarah's latest recording, The Early Years, is a CD version of the 1987 Live cassette, and includes two songs cut at radio station KUSP-FM. These early solo recordings include readings of "Geraldine & Ruthie Mae" and "Mexico," as well as tunes by Randy Newman, John Prine, and Irving Berlin.
-Arthur Wood
Discography:
Solo: Live Sarah solo, cassette-only [1987];
A Little Tenderness [1990];
Running With You [1994];
Live Sarah with The Banned [1999];
The Early Years [2004].
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