Follow this link to Sara's Resume    

Sara Grey is a fine American singer of traditional song and ballads, banjo player and song collector. She’s immersed in the song traditions of both sides of the Atlantic and also loves teaching the banjo as a versatile instrument for accompanying song. She has performed throughout the UK, Europe, North America and Australia for the past 65 years. The passage of songs from Great Britain and Ireland to America is of particular interest to her. A good deal of her material is the American versions that have travelled, through a song or two from Britain will no doubt be sung. Although born in the United States, she has lived more than half her life in the United Kingdom, but she now lives back home in Vermont in the USA.


One of the best things about her singing is that it reflects her great knowledge of and feeling for traditional singing. She just seems to know what is right in the interpretation of a traditional song. She is a singer of great strength with a fine understanding of the importance of understatement in the art of ballad singing. The breadth of her repertoire of songs is enormous.

It is not Sara's lovely voice alone that makes her one of the most popular singers on the folk scene, on many of her songs Sara accompanies herself by on a five string banjo by frailing or two finger style and, when playing tunes, it is obvious why she is regarded as one of the foremost exponents of the old-time style. As well as singing and playing superbly Sara is a fine story teller specialising in stories from northern New England where she grew up and learned many of her stories from her dad.
 
Sara grew up in New Hampshire but has lived in Scotland and England for 46 years. As a youngster in North Carolina she first heard a lot of mountain music and her love for the old time banjo music and songs developed from this experience. She has carried this interest into her adult life studying folklore and collecting and performing music from the various areas in which she has lived. Before she moved to Scotland, Sara was part of "The Golden Ring" with people like Ed Trickett and Gordon Bok. They were a well-known group of singers interested in traditional song.

Now, after many years of singing and playing her banjo in public, Sara's repertoire is as fresh and relevant as ever. She has been concentrating for the last several years on tracing the migration for songs from the British Isles to North America. Sara lives for her music and works at her trade with the result that her music is not only technically excellent but also filled with her warmth and spirit. 
Sara's interest in the musical traditions of America led her to form the Lost Nation Band. For anyone interested in the traditions of old-time American songs, tunes and ballads, the combined forces of Sara Grey, Dave Burland and Roger Wilson presented a lively and sensitive interpretation of the music.

Sara has sung at most every folk club and arts centre in England, Scotland and Wales and has performed at over 60 different folk and bluegrass festivals.
Now Sara mostly plays and tours with her son, Kieron Means, who is a remarkable singer and guitar player and is passionate in his desire to carry on the presentation of old songs and tunes. When possible they both perform with Ben Paley, one of the finest exponents of old-time fiddle on either side of the Atlantic.
Sara is from New Hampshire in the United States but has lived in Scotland and briefly in England for 40 years. She has always been interested in the migration of songs across the Atlantic and it was as a result of a collecting trip to Scotland in1970 that she moved to the UK. She has been working closely with other traditional singers from Scotland and Ireland to look at the movement of Celtic songs and how they change. She has also looked at the culture of Travellers in Scotland and the movement of their songs and stories to North America. Sara has now returned to live in the North Eastern United States.

Sara has featured in a book by Fiona Ritchie & Doug Orr, “Wayfaring Strangers - The Musical Voyage from Scotland and Ulster to Appalachia”. In an email from Fiona Ritchie to Sara, Fiona said
"As you reflect upon your life's work I want you to know you are an important part of this book. There are three transcribed excerpts from our radio interview on the subject, you are profiled as one of our "Voices of Tradition" as a "specialist in transatlantic song connections from year of research and collecting", and you are also included on the wonderful 20 track CD, singing "Black is the Color". Recordings by you and Kieron are included in the Discography of fifty recommended albums. So this book has real benefited from your input Sara, along with other "Voices" such as Pete Seeger, Jean Ritchie, Doc Watson, Jean Redpath, John Cohen, John Purser, Archie Fisher, Cara Dillon, Len Graham, Sheila Kay Adams and other musicians you will know. "

Sara’s love affair with traditional songs for over 60 years has given her an incomparable knowledge of songs and ballads and how they have moved and evolved. She wants to gather the songs and pass them on to future generations so that they will have the pleasure of hearing and singing them just as she has. Her career is not about herself, it has been about the songs, about sharing them with others and ensuring that they go on living in our traditions.