On Bowen Island BC, Sarah Jane Scouten tagged along to folk music jams from an early age. Growing up in a hometown teaming with folk musicians led to many meaningful encounters all over North America, learning first-hand from her influences at jams, workshops and house concerts. Sarah has an insatiable appetite for music with a past, namely folk music of all kinds, and seeks it out wherever she goes. It’s no wonder she came to draw on traditional American music styles, paired with frank and evocative lyrics, to create her distinct brand of song-writing. Now based in Montreal, Sarah plays with a tight band of musicians: Sarah Frank (fiddle), Luke Fraser (mandolin) and Mathieu Lacombe (bass), all of whom have BFA degrees in classical music, as well as fully-developed honky-tonk sides. Each arrangement is carefully constructed, but playful, often having a tendency for the dramatic. Sarah released her first album Magpie Waltz, in December 2011, inspired by Hank Williams, Stan Rogers, Joni Mitchell, Willie P. Bennett, and a life-long love of bluegrass and old time music. With her own candid twist of comedy and tragedy, the album is a statement of Sarah’s musical coming-of-age. Recorded live at Concordia University’s Loyola Chapel in Montreal, it’s just a taste of what Sarah and her string band are capable of.
