Sarah Blacker will treat you like an old friend
before a show and stop you dead in your tracks once
she starts to sing. Her songs are mature with sharp,
eloquent lyrics that are easy to relate to and a
seemingly endless ability to capture audiences of
all kinds with her unique and aesthetic sound. Though
just the size of a woodland fairy, (as her logo
illustrates) her instrumental skills on the guitar,
mandolin, piano and djembe (and a current student
of the ukulele) are enough to make any fellow male
peers weak in the knees, (and equally as impressed)
with a sound much bigger than her size.
Recent
winner of the Radio 92.9/ Boch Subaru contest as
judged by thousands of listeners, and finally Ernie
Boch Jr. himself, Sarah Blacker is the current voice
and face of the New England Subaru, “Ooh,
ooh it’s love,” TV and radio ad campaign.
Bob McKillop head of Mainfolkmusic.com states, “Sarah
Blacker’s voice is sweet, clear, sharp, and
precise, supple, happy, and full of mischief. She
sounds like a street-savy urban vocal busker with
world-class voice training.” SevenDays VT
says, “Sarah Blacker is an old soul in a modern
woman’s body. “ She has also been named,
“the perfect blend of Ella Fitzgerald and
Joni Mitchell,” and a ‘River Rising
Star’ by Boston’s Independent Radio,
92.5 the River.
Candy
O’Terry of Magic 106.7 calls her “an artist
our listeners should know about,” while many
local and national DJs (Cat Wilson of WCIB Hyannis,
Carmelita of WAAF Boston, and Brad Savage of WCNR
Charlottesville, VA to name just three) have also
taken a shining to Blacker and regularly promote her
record and her busy touring schedule. Barbara Dacey
of WMVY, Martha’s Vineyard also chose her newest
record’s single, ‘I Should Speak‘
as number 2 on the station’s ‘Best of
Unchartered Waters’ charts. Michael
S. Males of MyRuralRadio.com says her voice is "probably
what the angels sound like".
Blacker
is also a prolific songwriter with more than 400 songs
to her credit. Her debut release, ‘The Only
Way Out is Through,’ released October, 2009,
co-produced by Rob Loyot [Girls Guns and Glory, Entrain]
and Sean McLaughlin of 37' Productions [Metallica,
Vary Lumar, Lannen Fall] presented 11 of these songs
in a breathtaking, captivating way. This record, Blacker’s
quirky songwriting and extremely unique vocals, have
made it easy for Sarah Blacker to perk the ears of
radio DJs nationally, who have been eager to add her
release to their playlists, and invite her to perform
live in their studios. (She has since visited WMJX,
WCIB, WMVY, WAAF, WNCW, WMPG, WNCR to name just a
few)
Sarah
Blacker is a full-time Music Therapist turned full-time
touring singers/songwriter. She has been scanning
the coast-line, performing (both solo and with her
band All Kinds of Sugar consisting of Chuck Fisher
on lead guitar, Sean McLaughlin on bass, and various
other special guests) from Burlington, VT all the
way down to Macon, GA and to Texas for SXSW in March,
2010. When in town, she does run private and group
music Therapy sessions out of her private studio in
Dedham, MA, as well as in different school settings
specializing in working with children with Autism
and 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] and has even facilitated Music Therapy
groups at Doug Flutie sponsored events. Most recently,
she has become an Embassador for local auto-giant
and music supporter, Ernie Boch Jr.’s company,
Music Drives Us.
Ending
in May 2009, with perfect timing to promote her
new record, was her career as the full-time pediatric
Music Therapist at Boston Medical Center, due to
the hospital’s financial state of emergency.
It is since then that she’s been following
her humble dream, and watching the stars align in
her favor.
Since
a very successful local CD Release Party to over
300 Blacker fans at the Hard Rock Cafe, Boston in
October 2009, A 7-City CD Release Tour, and four
impressive 2-3 week southern tours, based on the
positive response of her growing audiences, press
and radio, Blacker has had a very successful year.
She 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 currently touring along the east coast, working
part-time as a Music Thearpist and tucked away in
37' Productions Recording studio, nearing completion
of her second album, with the working title, ‘Come
What May,’ which is slated for release late
this fall. She recently succesfully funded this
project using the promotional fundraising tool,
Kickstarter.com. Blacker is also putting plans in
place for CD Release touring the country with her
black lab, Beasley come spring.
Blacker
has supported such great acts as the Grateful Dead’s
Vince Welnick, Liam Finn, Laura Veirs, Greg Hawkes
of the Cars, Jason Isbell formerly of the Drive
By Truckers, Carbon Leaf, Meg Hutchinson, Will Dailey,
Paddy Casey and more.
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 Portsmouth, NH
• live on Better CT TV, Channel 9 Wellesley
and Framingham, MA
• live on SCAT TV Somerville
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
• MyRuralRadio.com Fall Festival 2, Stewartstown,
PA
• Live Music Week 88.9 WERS
She
has shared the stage with:
•
Vince Welnick, Grateful Dead keyboardist
• Sara Bareilles
• 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
• Jeff Hostetter
• Wayne Supergenius
