Renowned singer/songwriter Sarah Carroll will round out the tour of her new album NQR&B on home turf, showcasing her latest collection of songs at the Barwon Club on Sunday, September 22.
She will be joined by her band The Big Fuss, which includes guitar luminaries Shannon Bourne and Leigh Ivin and her sons Fenn (drums) and George (bass), with special guest Jack Meredith on harmonica.
Affectionately known as the Ukulele Queen of the Bellarine, the moniker may be a little misleading. On the album Carroll performs lead vocals, guitars, electric and upright basses, as well as glockenspiel and various other percussion instruments.
The album also features the world class Tim Neal on keys and clarinet and local musician and sound engineer Jasper Jolley on bass, keyboards and pedal steel.
Carroll said the album was a paean of “compassion for oneself, hope and honest reflection”.
“They’re the main themes that tie the songs together; they deal with lots of different subjects but really are mainly about life and learning from the last 10 years or so,” she said.
“(First track Done To) is really a response to the feeling (through COVID) of being confined and held, and the benefits of that, which I thought were plentiful, actually,” she said.
“My kids came home for a good part of that time. And I saw society changing, sort of going backwards, but in a good way, to a really small community kind of way of operating, which I thought was really beautiful.
“I loved the way that so many people showed care and compassion for each other, really extended themselves as far as they were able to look after each other during that time.”
The presence of Carroll’s late husband Chris Wilson is palpable throughout NQR&B, but the mood is celebratory rather than melancholy.
She said bringing those songs to life with her sons and some of her closest friends was “wonderful and very comforting”.
“Shannon and Leigh were both very close to Chris, and so the songs that deal with grief and talk about him were particularly precious to me and close to my heart,” Carroll said.
“Having that core (band) be people who I knew would understand and would really put everything they had into those tunes was just an absolute blessing and I couldn’t have really done it any other way.”
