Sarah Swain is a singer/songwriter who sets herself apart by leaving in the rough edges - discovering country and roots music without throwing away her Replacements albums. This honesty and enthusiasm is captured best in her live performances, which features Sarah on vocals and acoustic guitar, along with a stripped down band that rocks. Her original set mixes in old Wanda Jackson and other rockabilly classics as well as some lost garage rock nuggets - rock/americana with a hint of country and an energy that makes it all very real. Every Little Bird was recorded at Wolly Mammoth Sound in Waltham, and produced by legendary Boston rocker Dave Minehan. Featuring seven original compositions, the collection also includes tracks by local songwriters Chandler Travis and Emma Dubner and select covers that range from Irving Berlin to Mickey Newbury. Backed by The Oh Boys, guest musicians include NRBQ pianist Terry Adams and Greenheads frontman Steve Wood. A collection of folky Americana and gritty rock that sometimes meets in the middle, the varied styles on Every Little Bird never sound forced or contrived, largely due to a singer and a band that play for themselves and the songs rather than fitting into a specific genre. Chatham Edition 11/22/2012, Page 34 Sarah Swain Releases Album 'Every Little Bird' Saturday by Rob Conery HARWICH - Sarah Swain of Harwich is releasing her second album Every Little Bird on Nov. 24, in a record release party at Harvest Gallery & Wine Bar in Dennis. From 7:30 to 8:30 we're playing the album in order, says Swain. After that it's a rockabilly dance party. Music is central to Swain's life. She played flute in the school marching band, an experience she now cringes at. When she was 14 her mom bought her a guitar. I couldn't wait to get home from school and play it, she said. She started writing what she calls really bad poetry and singing in aspirant bands. One was an all-girl band. Their name? Girl Band. We were so terrible that it was awesome, she said with a laugh. Swain has become a fixture in the Cape music scene since relocating from the North Shore in 2004. Depending on the night, you can catch her solo, or as Sarah Swain and the Oh Boys, or with rockabilly outfit Randy & The Oak Trees. She also plays bass in over-the-top rock act The Greenheads, with impresario Steve Woo Woo Wood on guitar. While she's played venues like the Paradise in Boston and toured the eastern seaboard - both with her old band the Spike Emerson Society - today Swain gets more satisfaction playing a few nights a week on the Cape. In 2005 she married artist Steve Swain and together they run the Frying Pan Gallery in Wellfleet. The couple have three children, girls Lucy and Jessie, and a new arrival, Stan. (Stan slept peacefully in his car seat during our interview at an area coffee shop; the ladies knitting at an adjacent table, one celebrating her 94th birthday, fairly cooed over him.) Swain cites Neil Young, Paul Westerburg and Lucinda Williams as favorite songwriters. On stage, she has a kind of bright-eyed enthusiasm, not unlike June Carter Cash; it's just infectious. She looks like she's having the best time up there, playing and singing her heart out. Sometimes this joie-de-vivre spills over. Literally. At the recent Wellfleet Oyster Fest, she took the stage for the first time since Stan was born. Her normally calloused picking fingers had gone soft, and by the second song she'd taken a not-insignificant chunk out of her right index finger. When blood appeared on her strings she initially thought it was nail Polish. I thought my girls did it! Soon the guitar was splattered like a Pollock original. Swain says the blood got everywhere, on the guitar, even on me, on my neck... She turned around to show drummer Liam Hogg the gore, but didn't stop the show. She slowly turned back to the crowd and the sun caught the front of the guitar, and it looked like she had been shot! says Hogg. Then the picks started to fly. By the time the set was over, the stage was littered with her blood, sweat, and pi
