breaking strings by sarah c. hanson

By the time I bought my Gibson a year later I could appreciate the sound of a good guitar.

Summer of 1993 in Denali National Park was where I found my voice. I sang wherever I walked. The park officials warned that the bears needed to hear you coming and singing was a good way to give the bears fair warning before they were startled by you and could possibly attack. I spent that summer (when I wasn't working as a house keeper) on trails or climbing mountains. I sang things I knew at first like my ABCs and old favorites, but then I began to make things up. Most of the time the songs had no real words but would just consist of syllables and melodies that seemed to come out of the ground that I walked. These songs felt like gifts and like conversation with the places I went.

I have two recordings now, one made in 1998 and another in the spring of 2000. I plan on recording every two years. My first recording is called Something More Than Beautiful. It is thoughtful and relaxing with a playful twist at the end. I played mostly unaccompanied and kept things simple. My second recording is called Breaking Strings and is quite playful. I worked with a handful of other musicians, including 3 different bass players.

I would say that my first recording was about working through emotions as well as love songs and stories. My second recording is mostly stories, and love songs and working through things. There's always a degree of problem solving going on in my songs. That's where the majority of my inspiration comes from.

Right now I live in Fairbanks, Alaska. I play my original music in pubs and coffee shops about town. I also work at a 30 year old music store called Music Mart, where we sell instruments and sheet music. Most recently I toured New Zealand with Uncle Monkey from Wellington (www.unclemonkey.com). We gallivanted all over the North and South Island in a yellow 1972 Holden. We gracefully covered 11 tour dates in far reaching corners of New Zealand by boat and car.

What I love most about what I do is getting to perform my stories and thoughts. What I love next about what I do is how my art is providing for me. It's like growing a garden of food that nourishes me rather than having to go out to purchase groceries. This summer I hope to tour in Alaska as well as Canada.

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