Sarah Elizabeth Campbell and the Banned - Live! is the long awaited new release from Sarah Elizabeth. It was a KUT-FM Live Set, recorded in July 1998. It features Sarah on vocals and guitar, with The Banned, pictured below. (Paul Sweeney on mandolin, Brian Wood on lead guitar, Dave Heath on bass. Not pictured, Chip Dolan appeared on some tracks on the accordian.)

If you've never heard her sing before, you need to know that Sarah Elizabeth Campbell's voice is the reason someone coined the phrase, "It grows on you." Like learning to appreciate the taste of good Scotch, once you get into Sarah Elizabeth's singing, you don't ever want to ask for any thing else. Give yourself a song and a half, maybe two songs, to get into her new album. By the end of it, you'll be thinking you just heard one of the best albums you've had the pleasure of listening to in a long time.

Known for her hauntingly beautiful voice, Sarah performs songs of sadness and despair along with songs of hope and beauty in a deceptively simple way that makes it easy to think she's singing just to you. Mixing her own material with that of her favorite writers, Sarah makes music to soothe heartaches and ease dark nights of melancholy and longing. There's no denying that she is particularly drawn to sad songs. "I think my voice is built for it. That torchy stuff is easy for me to sing."

For several years Sarah hosted "Bummer Night" a popular weekly event at La Zona Rosa and now at Artz Rib House in Austin where one rule applies: sad songs only. Along with her band and several guest artists each week, Sarah entertains the crowd with songs they can cry, whine, complain and moan along with. Among the many artists who have participated as guests are Rosalie Sorrells, Peter Rowan, Tish Hinojosa, Odetta, Townes Van Zandt, Steve Young, Tom Russell, Kevin Welch and Butch Hancock.

It's Sarah's voice that first draws many listeners into her music. "Her voice is unvarnished, with a strength and passion at its center and a dusty, almost ragged quality around the edges," is how one critic described it. It's a voice perfectly suited for the material Sarah writes and interprets. "I really write about what's going on with me," she says. "I guess it's a form of cheap therapy. I mean what I write. I don't sit around and dream stuff up."

Her original songs have been recorded or performed by Jim Messina, Rick Danko and Levon Helm (of The Band), Blue Rose and many others. The Washington Post described Running With You as "combining the confessional qualities of country and the sing-along qualities of folk into songs that are at once personal and universal." In the liner notes to Running With You , Mary Chapin Carpenter says, "Sarah Elizabeth Campbell writes songs from her heart. She sings them that way too."

Sarah played for twelve years in a well known old-timey, bluegrass band called Fiddlesticks. Although they never released an album, the band did acquire a strong following throughout Northern California. Sarah eventually struck out on her own. She became a regular on the folk festival circuit, performing at The Strawberry Musical Festival in Northern California, The Kerrivlle Music Festival in Texas and The Frutigen Singer-Songwriter Festival in Switzerland. Eventually, Sarah moved back to Austin, where she has earned a reputation as a powerful storyteller and vocalist.

Her talented band has been with her for several years: Paul Sweeney, mandolin; Brian Wood, guitar; and Dave Heath, bass.

Her albums include: Sarah Elizabeth Campbell and The BANNED - LIVE! 1999 Running with You 1994 A Little Tenderness 1995 with a new one in the works

Available locally at Tower and Waterloo Records.

Sarah also performed on: Second Helpings 1996 Walk In The Sun 1996 Threadgill's Supper Session 1993

For bookings: Contact Maria Camillo at 512 323-9467. To buy an album, email SayraLiz@aol.com.