# Sara K. > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Sara_K. > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Sara_K..md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_K. > Source revision: 1333273203 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|American singer-songwriter}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Sara K | image = Sara k in performance, 2007.jpg | image_size = | landscape = | caption = Sara K. in Solingen, Germany, November 18, 2007 | background = solo_singer | birth_name = Sara Katherine Wooldridge | birth_date = {{Birth date|1956|05|16}} | birth_place = Dallas, Texas, U.S. | genre = [Folk](/source/Folk_music), [blues](/source/blues), [jazz](/source/jazz) | occupation = Musician, singer, songwriter | instrument = Guitar | years_active = 1970s–2009 | label = Mesa/Blue Moon, [Chesky](/source/Chesky_Records), [Stockfisch](/source/Stockfisch_Records) | website = {{URL|www.sarak.com}} }} '''Sara Katherine Wooldridge''', known professionally as '''Sara K.''', is an American singer-songwriter and acoustic guitarist. She withdrew from the music business in 2009. ==Early life== Born and raised in [Dallas](/source/Dallas), Texas, she grew up in a family surrounded by music: her mother sang in a church choir, her father in a barbershop quartet, her brother played in a band, and her sister played guitar. However, her family considered music a hobby, not a job. In 1965, at the age of 9, she started playing the guitar, using a flamenco guitar that her sister had left behind. She removed the remaining strings and added four bass strings, ([tuned to an open A](/source/Open_tuning)). This gave it a fuller tone than a conventional acoustic guitar while not sounding as deep as a bass.{{cite web|url=http://www.sarak.com/bio.html|title=Singer/songwriter - Sara K. - Bio}} This tuning became one of her trademarks. ==Career== ===Career beginnings=== After graduating and moving out, she spent a few years taking work wherever she could find it, singing back-up vocals, jingles, and making demo tapes. When she felt out of place in Dallas, she moved to [Ruidoso](/source/Ruidoso), New Mexico. She led the band Sara K. and the Boys Without Sleep. From 1978 to 1983, she toured mainly New Mexico and Los Angeles. She also toured with country musician [Gary Nunn](/source/Gary_Nunn) for two years. She released her debut album, ''Gypsy Alley'', in 1989. Many of the songs were influenced by years of a nomadic life. These years ended when she rented a place on Gypsy Alley (off Canyon Road in Santa Fe), won a goldfish at a country fair, and got her dog, Bebe, who is mentioned many times in her songs. She won a best album award from the [New Mexico Music](/source/New_Mexico_music) Industry Coalition.{{cite web|url=http://www.chesky.com/core/body_artist.cfm?artistid=100037|title=Welcome to Chesky Records: The Premiere Audiophile Record Label|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928132517/http://www.chesky.com/core/body_artist.cfm?artistid=100037|archive-date=2007-09-28}} ===Chesky years=== One of the musicians she worked with on ''Gypsy Alley'' was guitarist Bruce Dunlap, who was signed to [Chesky Records](/source/Chesky_Records), a record label in New York City aimed mainly at [audiophile](/source/audiophile)s. Dunlap brought her to the label and she signed for more than ten years until 2001. The change was marked by contrasts: between her home in Santa Fe and Chesky's home in New York City, between her analog [acoustic music](/source/acoustic_music) and the high-tech equipment at Chesky, and between her dream of fame and wealth and the reality of the record industry. She recorded six albums for Chesky. She toured Europe and planned to move to San Francisco but remained where she was. At the end of her contract with Chesky, she felt she had "been ripped off in many directions by labels and touring companies". ===Stockfisch years=== On her last tour through Germany under the Chesky contract, the owner of the German label [Stockfisch Records](/source/Stockfisch_Records), Günter Pauler, was called to be her sound specialist. He gave her a tour of his studio and offered her a contract and the prospect of having guitarist [Chris Jones](/source/Chris_Jones_(guitarist)) as a guest musician.{{cite web|url=http://www.folker.de/200205/sarak.htm|title=Folker! 5/2002 - Sara K|language=German|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303193455/http://www.folker.de/200205/sarak.htm|archive-date=2016-03-03}} Her first Stockfisch album, ''Water Falls'' (2001), was followed by a tour, which provided material for a live DVD and the album ''Live in Concert'' (2003). She won the Hi-Fi Music Award in 2003 from the German magazine ''Audio/Steoreoplay''. Her album ''Hell or High Water'' (2006) again featured Chris Jones on guitar and [dobro](/source/dobro). Jones died of [Hodgkin's lymphoma](/source/Hodgkin's_lymphoma) shortly after recording, before the album was released. Her fourth album for Stockfisch, [Made in the Shade](/source/Made_in_the_Shade), came out in 2009, with new versions of songs from her debut album. After the release of this album, she announced that she was going to quit the music business. In a note to her fans on her label's website, she stated, "After many years on the road and writing music, I've decided to stop touring and recording. It's [hard to explain](/source/Hard_to_Explain) why but I hope you will understand. I had a good run but I think it's over. It's just too much for too little these days. ''Made in the Shade'' explains it as best as I know how."{{cite web|url=http://www.stockfisch-records.de/stckff/sf_sarak_e.html|title=Sara K.|website=Stockfisch Records|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603092436/http://www.stockfisch-records.de/stckff/sf_sarak_e.html|archive-date=2016-06-03}} In 2015, Stockfisch published a live album called ''Horse I Used to Ride'' based on the recording of a solo concert in [Sülbeck](/source/S%C3%BClbeck), Germany, on April 6, 2001. Out of habit, Günter Pauler, head of Stockfisch, had brought his mobile recording equipment to this concert. He asked Sara K. if he could record the concert, and she agreed. After that concert, Chris Jones added [dobro](/source/dobro) guitar solos to these tracks in the studio. When Pauler sent the recordings to Sara K., she was thrilled.{{cite web|url=http://www.stockfisch-records.de/pages_art/sf12_sarak.html|title=Stockfisch Records page about 2015 album|language=German}} ==Awards and honors== * Best Album Award, ''Gypsy Alley'', New Mexico Music Industry Coalition, 1989 * AUDIO "Goldenes Audio-Ohr" (Golden Audio Ear) award 1994 for the album ''Play On Words'' * Bundesverband der Phonographischen Wirtschaft (Phonographic Business Association of Germany) Jazz Award 1996, 1998, and 2002 for the albums ''Tell Me I'm Not Dreamin' '', ''Hobo'', and ''Water Falls''{{cite web|url=http://www.ifpi.de/wirtschaft/gpergebnis.php?strAktion=suche&txtSuche=Sara%20K.|title=Gold/Platin Datenbank durchsuchen|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930160409/http://www.ifpi.de/wirtschaft/gpergebnis.php?strAktion=suche&txtSuche=Sara%20K|archive-date=2007-09-30}} * AUDIO/stereoplay "Hifi Music Award" 2003 for Best Audiophile Album for ''Live in Concert'' * "Just Plain Folks 2004 Music Award" for Best Blues Song, ''Turned My Upside Down'' (live version with Chris Jones){{cite web|url=http://www.jpfolks.com/MusicAwards/2004/SongWinners.htm|title=2004 Just Plain Folks Music Awards Song Winners|website=Just Plain Folks|access-date=2018-03-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312022630/http://www.jpfolks.com/MusicAwards/2004/SongWinners.htm|archive-date=2018-03-12}} ==Discography== * ''Gypsy Alley'' (Mesa/Bluemoon, 1989) * ''Closer Than They Appear'' ([Chesky](/source/Chesky_Records), 1992) * ''Play on Words'' (Chesky, 1994) * ''Tell Me I'm Not Dreamin'' (Chesky, 1995) * ''Hobo'' (Chesky, 1997) * ''No Cover'' (Chesky, 1999) (CD & DVD) * ''What Matters'' (Chesky, 2001) * ''Water Falls'' ([Stockfisch](/source/Stockfisch_Records), 2002) * ''Nautilus Tour'' (Stockfisch/in-akustik, 2003) (DVD) * ''The Chesky Collection'' (Chesky, 2003) * ''Live in Concert'' (Stockfisch, 2003) * ''Hell or High Water'' (Stockfisch, 2006) * ''Made in the Shade'' (Stockfisch, 2009) * ''Horse I Used to Ride'' (Stockfisch, 2015) ==See also== * [Chris Jones](/source/Chris_Jones_(guitarist)) * [Chesky Records](/source/Chesky_Records) * [Stockfisch Records](/source/Stockfisch_Records) ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== * [http://www.sarak.com/ Official site] {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Sara K.}} Category:American women singer-songwriters Category:American folk guitarists Category:American folk singers Category:Chesky Records artists Category:Singers from Dallas Category:People from Ruidoso, New Mexico Category:Living people Category:Singer-songwriters from Texas Category:Songwriters from New Mexico Category:Guitarists from New Mexico Category:1949 births Category:Guitarists from Texas Category:20th-century American guitarists Category:Stockfisch Records artists Category:20th-century American women guitarists Category:21st-century American women --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sara K.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_K.) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_K.?action=history)). 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