In 2017, Sarah Jarosz became the second recipient of the FreshGrass Composition Commission, a grant to compose a long-form piece of music for an ensemble that includes elements of traditional string band instrumentation. Guitar whisperer Bill Frisell preceded the Wimberley native, while Rhiannon Giddens and the Kronos Quartet followed. As she began to write, her mother battled breast cancer in the wake of Hurricane Harvey having ravaged the Texas coast and decimating Port Aransas, a summer mecca for the family.
When Jarosz premiered
Blue Heron Suite at FreshGrass that fall, avant-roots traditionalists heralded the work. The then-23-year-old entered the Central Texas scene as a prodigy – singer, mandolinist, clawhammer banjo picker – and by now counts four Grammy Awards and nine nominations.