Sarah Jarosz CD
Sarah Jarosz CD

By MIKEL TOOMBS

Tuesday is the traditional day to release new CDs. However, the album dominating my player this Tuesday is not new, although it’s been newly recognized: Sarah Jarosz’ “Build Me Up From Bones” (Sugar Hill Records), released 11 Tuesdays ago, has been nominated for two Grammys, for Best Folk Album and, for its exquisite title track, Best American Roots Song (yes, it’s a new category).

The most notable champion of Jarosz, now 22 and a graduate of the New England Conservatory, is, of all people, Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman. Oh, and a couple years ago I profiled Jarosz and her albums “Song Up in Her Head” (it includes a compelling cover of the Decemberists’ murder ballad “Shankill Butchers”) and “Follow Me Down,” both also Grammy-nominated.

“Build Me Up From Bones” makes a lovely centerpiece to her new(ish) album: “Build me up from bones, wrap me up in skin,” Jarosz sings. “Hold me close enough to breathe me in.”

But there are plenty of other acoustic pleasures here, whether Jarosz is relinquishing her mandolin duties to youth-grass inspiration Chris Thile on “Fuel the Fire” (she plays banjo) or putting her own stamp on Bob Dylan’s “Simple Twist of Fate” and Joanna Newsome’s typically more elaborate “The Book of Right-On.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Mikel Toombs is a frequent contributor to GeneStout.com. Read his last post on Jarosz here.)

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