Sarah Jarosz Previews New Album ‘World on the Ground’ With Wistful Song ‘Johnny’

Sarah Jarosz, who earlier this year won a Grammy for her work with Sara Watkins and Aoife O’Donovan in the trio I’m With Her, returns with her first solo album in four years, World on the Ground, on June 5th. Produced by John Leventhal (Rosanne Cash, Elvis Costello) and recorded in his Manhattan home studio, the Rounder Records LP is Jarosz’s solo follow-up to her Grammy-winning 2016 release Undercurrent.

Ahead of the album’s release, Jarosz offers an advance listen with the timely and tantalizing “Johnny,” which finds the title character fighting an inner battle with the forces of wanderlust and inertia, freedom and stability.

“He takes another sip of that blood-red wine, just waitin’ on the stars that will never align,” she sings. “A little luck, a little love, a little light and he’ll be doin’ just fine.”

World on the Ground takes its title from the album cut “Pay It No Mind,” which finds wisdom being passed down through song by a bird observing the world below: “When the world on the ground is gonna swallow you down, sometimes you’ve got to pay it no mind.”

A native of Wimberley, Texas, Jarosz is currently based in New York City. Taking up the mandolin at age 9, she earned her first Grammy nomination at 18 with her 2009 debut, Song Up in Her Head. World on the Ground is her fifth solo project.

World on the Ground track listing:
“Eve”
“Pay It No Mind”
“Hometown”
“Johnny”
“Orange and Blue”
“I’ll Be Gone”
“Maggie”
“What Do I Do”
“Empty Square”
“Little Satchel”