The musical queen of the Bellarine, Sarah Carroll, kicks off her new country wide tour with a gig at the Piping Hot Chicken shop this Friday, 3 March.
Sarah will also be launching her new album, Star Parade, produced with close friend and multi-instrumentalist Leigh Ivin. Sarah travelled to Tamworth to produce the album in Leigh’s new studio having worked alongside him for more than 15 years.
“I think this is the best album I have ever produced, and I think working with Leigh has definitely been part of making it special,” Sarah said.
“The songs this time will be very topical looking at issues like the election process and the changes happening in the natural environment around where I live in Clifton Springs.
“The songs will also include my attempt at a tribute to my late father, so there is a lot of heart in this album, and I have somehow felt free to let my emotions out there in this album.”
Sarah has performed at most of Australia’s high-profile festivals over a 25-year career, and she will be joined on this tour by her new band The Left Wing, featuring Leigh Ivin on guitars and her “supernaturally talented” son George on bass. The band will feature different line-ups for the latest tour but for the Victorian leg, Christopher Tabone will be her drummer.
The multi-talented singer has travelled twice to the US in the past two years at the invitation of Mezray Tours; to Nashville, Austin and San Francisco in 2014 and to Hawaii in 2016. In Hawaii she focused on teaching the travel group and learning more herself, taking advantage of numerous opportunities to jam with traditional local musicians.
Sarah returned to Nashville afterwards to take part in the Americana Music Conference with the assistance of Creative Victoria.
Sarah is much in demand as a live and studio backing vocalist and has added her harmony singing to albums by artists as diverse as Joel Silbersher and Judy Small.
She was director of The Tides Of Welcome Soul and Gospel Choir, based in Queenscliff, for seven years. During that time the choir performed at every Queenscliff Music Festival, as well recording two albums. She has also recently been a guest conductor of choirs in Anglesea and Apollo Bay.
