Sarah Wise, Josh Elkes

Sarah Wise is very excited to ring in her birthday at Rockwood. A Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter and background vocalist, Sarah is equal parts big sound and big hair. Sarah has spent much of the past year developing original material with music veterans Marc Shulman (Suzanne Vega, Jonatha Brooke, Jewel) and Clifford Carter (James Taylor, Art Garfunkel, Patti Scialfa), finding her voice through songwriting that is both daring and poignant. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College's theatre program, she admits that little of her training has been put to use. The best lesson she learned came from her poetry teacher, Marie Howe, who said, "Write what scares you. Write about the things you said you'd never write about." Sarah looks forward to recording over the coming months in preparation for her first release.


DOWNSTAIRS

Ascendant New York singer/songwriter Josh Elkes' intimate stories of loss and redemption go beyond the twenty-one year old's young-songwriter's years and recall at times the classic work of Leonard Cohen, Wilco, Bright Eyes and others, and features an array of heartfelt, personal emotion including heartbreak, forgiveness, and hope.

His self-titled debut EP released on Tuesday, March 19th, was produced and mixed by Grammy Award winning producer/mixer Neil Dorfsman (credits include Dire Straits' Brothers In Arms, Bruce Springsteen's The River) and Clifford Carter (James Taylor, Art Garfunkel), along with Elkes. The recording was mixed at Saint Claire Recording Studio in Lexington, KY and mastered by another Grammy winner, Ted Jensen, at Sterling Sound in New York. Along with his songwriting, Elkes provides guitar and vocals for the EP and is backed by Carter on piano, drummer Joe Bonadio (Roseanne Cash, Sting, Marc Cohn), guitarist / multi-instrumentalist Duke Levine (J Geils Band, Shawn Colvin), electric bassist Whynot Jansfeld (The Weepies, Gavin DeGraw), and upright bassist Richard Hammond (Marc Copley, East Village Opera Company).

Elkes performs regularly in and around New York City, most recently completing a four-month residency at The Living Room in Manhattan. His live performances feature Clifford Carter on piano, and Joe Bonadio on drums/percussion.