Sarah Summers - Lovely Little Things (2014)

Spanning genres on her debut album, Lovely Little Things, Sarah Summers explores her small town roots while stretching out to embrace the energy and contemporary vibes of the city she currently resides in, Los Angeles.

On her debut album, Lovely Little Things, Sarah Summers explores her small town roots while stretching out to embrace the energy and contemporary vibes of the city she currently resides in, Los Angeles. Spanning genres, Lovely Little Things is deeply connected to the sources of Sarah's inspiration: marrying the influences of modern folk artists Johnny Flynn, Laura Marling, The Tallest Man on Earth, and The Wood Brothers with the blues of Sister Rosetta Tharpe and John Vandiver. Autobiography figures heavily in Summers's songwriting; distant memories of the innocence and young love experienced during the summer months of her youth in the title track, "Lovely Little Things", shows an authenticity to Sarah's lyrics. This honesty is also readily apparent on the bruised but not broken ballad of love gone wrong in "Not a Ghost" and in her a cappella track with pained yet intensely catchy harmonies, "Shelter." Soulful beyond her years, Summers aims to explore the interconnectivity of human stories and the way in which words in music say more than the words alone. Sarah's aim is facilitated by the deft hand of producer/arranger/multi-instrumentalist, Sean Carscadden, and a powerhouse lineup of musicians behind her; most notably Cliff Hugo on bass who has played with the likes of Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, The Beach Boys, and Supertramp. Summers's sensitive yet mature lyrics melded with her ability to tell intrinsically relatable and multilayered stories, provides the listener a new lens from which to look through each time her songs are played. All these forces combine to make this youthful, sensitive, and soulful album a standout debut effort.