Singer-songwriter Sarah Jarosz discusses 'Polaroid Lovers' album, co-writing and more ahead of Pittsburgh show

As singer-songwriter Sarah Jarosz pondered album titles for her most recent release, she wound up selecting “Polaroid Lovers,” enjoying the way it sounded and rolled off her tongue, as well as its multiple meanings.

“There’s the very literal meaning of two lovers, two people in a Polaroid photograph, which is kind of in the song (“When the Lights Go Out”),” Jarosz said. “But then also the idea of a Polaroid picture, this nostalgic form of a photo capturing a fleeting moment, but then you still have it in the physical form of the photo. There’s something about thinking about life and the moments that are fleeting but the memories that we keep, I just liked how the title kind of invoked that.”

Jarosz also drew a parallel from Polaroids to the resurgence of vinyl records to concerts, as something that can be held or witnessed carries a value that digital is lacking.

“We’re always going to want that tangible thing, the thing that isn’t just in the air or in the cloud,” she said Thursday in a call from Morgantown, W.Va. “I feel that way with live music even. I don’t think that that feeling for humans will ever be replaced. There’s that physical tangibility of putting on a vinyl record or taking a Polaroid photo that there’s something uniquely tapped into the human experience about it.”

Jarosz, who had fond memories of her 2017 appearance at the Three Rivers Arts Festival, will be bringing her Polaroid Lovers tour to the area, with a Sept. 3 show at the Roxian Theatre in McKees Rocks, with duo Viv & Riley opening. The latest leg of her tour just launched last week, and she’s been thrilled to play the majority of the new album in her shows.

“It’s been incredible. I’m not just saying this. It’s truly just been, this year has been some of my favorite times performing live on stage,” she said. “There’s just something about this record that these songs want to be played live, and they just lend themselves to that environment. So it’s been a blast. I’m just loving it.”

Over her 15-year career, Jarosz has been nominated for 10 Grammys and won four: Best Folk Album and Best American Roots Performance in 2017, Best American Roots Song in 2019 and Best Americana Album in 2021. With that kind of legacy, she set to work on creating a set list that heavily showcased the new album while also integrating the past.

“Honestly, I think maybe at the beginning of the year, I was curious about how that would unfold, mixing my older songs with this new record,” she said. “But that’s sort of been one of the coolest parts about these shows this year is building the set list and kind of including songs from all of my albums and how they really feel like they belong alongside each other. It feels like a seamless transition from old songs to new songs, and I’ve enjoyed the arc of that in the live show.”

Although “Polaroid Lovers” dropped in January, Jarosz said the album “still feels new and exciting and fresh to me.” It changes from night to night, but she said some of her live favorites include “Jealous Moon,” “Runaway Train,” “The Way It Is Now” and “Take the High Road.”

Another track from the album, “Columbus and 89th,” is “maybe the most personal song on the record,” referencing the New York City cross street where she lived for seven years.

“And when the pandemic hit, I moved to Nashville and kind of didn’t realize until I was looking back on that, how quickly that change occurred and how it was really a turning of the page from youth to adulthood and how so often in life those major life transitions happen in the blink of an eye,” she said. “And we only could sort of realize it when we’re looking back on it. So it’s an emotional song for me. It’s close to the heart.”

The music video, shot on the iPhone of her friend Jodi March, documents her favorite spots on the Upper West Side.

“It’s also really special to me because it’s kind of a keepsake of that time and that phase of my life,” Jarosz said.

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While that song looks back, Jarosz wanted to push into new territory with this album. To that end, she worked with other writers more than she had in the past, crafting songs with Daniel Tashian, Jon Randall, Sarah Buxton, Natalie Hemby, Ruston Kelly and Gordie Sampson.

“I was really closed off to co-writing for a long time when I was getting started because I just felt like if I was going to write with other people that, you know, I was still trying to find my voice as an artist and my voice as a songwriter,” she said. “And I thought that if I did too much co-writing too soon that somebody else’s voice might take over, and I would sort of get lost in the weeds. Fast forward to now, I just absolutely felt more open to the process because I find so much inspiration and collaboration in working with other creative people.”

The fresh voices helped offer her new perspectives and pushed her in unexpected directions, all while maintaining her own voice.

“There’s something about sitting down with someone else that they almost, it’s almost like when you write with another great writer, they can show you something about yourself that maybe you didn’t see on your own,” she said. “And there’s kind of that unveiling process. So I think that that definitely happened with some of the songs on this record.”