Sara Melson grew up in a small town in Indiana, the daughter of two college professors, in a house with books covering every wall from floor to ceiling. Her parents also had an impressive record collection. Sara spent hours after school memorizing every word and note of classics by the Beatles, Stones, Dylan, The Band, Bowie, Neil Young, Simon and Garfunkel, the Velvet Underground, Carole King, and Van Morrison. Classically trained on the piano, she taught herself to play the guitar, and began to wed her own words and poems from her journals with melodies to form her first songs.
Sara performs both solo and with her band. Her timeless songs blur the boundaries between folk, rock, soul, country, and pop in a soulful voice that is at once tender and strong. At times soothing, at others chilling, that voice is, always, distinctly her own. Sara writes about love and lust, growth and change, and faith in a better future, both personal and global, in lyrics that are introspective, frank, witty and precise. Despite harsh realities, Sara's unswerving idealism and optimism shine through.
While attending Harvard as a scholarship student majoring in writing, Sara worked as a dishwasher in the school cafeteria by day and as a waitress in a local bar by night. It was during these years that the Brit-pop sound of the Verve, Blur, and Oasis, as well as the Americana tradition of songwriters such as Ryan Adams, Lucinda Williams, and Jeff Tweedy began to shape her sound and songwriting into a unique blend of diverse influences.
After graduation, Sara moved to Los Angeles, where she worked as a kids' music teacher, a yoga instructor, and a film and television actress. She continued to raise the bar on her songwriting and playing, crafting her songs and honing her recording skills. Her self-recorded and self-released Five Song EP was selected by Launch.com/Yahoo as a "Top Ten Pick" in its Cool as Folk Radiocast, along with Beck, Damien Rice, and Sondre Lerche, was aired on Indie 103.1, XM Satellite Radio, and KCRW, and featured in the ABC television show Men In Trees, the Viacom teen cult show South Of Nowhere, and in the independent films Spectres and Safe Harbour. Sara has shared the stage with Silversun Pickups, Inara George, Ben Lee, Jill Sobule, Neil Halstead, and Juliana Hatfield, toured as guest vocalist with Mojave 3, and was sponsored on an acoustic tour of Japan.
Sara's self-produced debut full-length, Dirty Mind, came out in the spring of 2008 on Nettwerk Records. Dirty Mind was featured on iTunes' "What's Hot," climbing the iTunes pop chart upon its release. Episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Lipstick Jungle both used the album's first track in its entirety in climactic final scenes. Yahoo Music chose her as their New Buzz Artist, and featured her video in their Who's Next/User's Choice promotion. Songs from the record have been featured on American Airlines and on episodes of MTV's Exiled and the N Network's South of Nowhere.
Sara is currently in the studio recording new songs.