"Sarah Brown" sounds like that wild Saturday night at a grunge-y, smoke-filled bar listening to hard rock. Or… hard folk? This new tune by 5j Barrow sure rocks and rolls in every sense of the term, except there’s also a banjo solo. That’s what makes it all the more: there’s the expected lonesome beginning, with hollow harmonies and a steadily beating kick drum, which melts into smashing guitars and half-growled/half-shouted vocals by the end of the song. 5j Barrow are clearly heavily influenced by the folkier textures in the genre, but "Sarah Brown" is a wild ride, no doubt. Their forthcoming EP, The Journey: Vol. 1, is out this fall. After a bunch of local dates (Union Hall tonight, Rockwood on the 13th), the band, founded and fronted by singer-songwriters and Broadway actors, Eryn Murman and Jason Hite, will go out on a New England/upstate NY in August. –Geena Kloeppel
