about

First off, you should know about Sage’s new single.

Rainy April Afternoon is finally here! Listen now:

Searching for the press kit? Don’t worry, I got you, it’s over here.

artist’s statement

I’m Sage Harrington and I play American swing music on the ukulele.

I write songs. My singing voice is like a shiny silver bell.

I love lyrics that sound conversational and natural but also wink at you a little bit. I’ve also always loved a catchy melody.

I’ve never been content to sing about straightforwardly pleasant things. There’s always some kind of discomfort underneath the cheerful boppyness, and it’s always been my preference to crack jokes instead of wallow. There’s a resistance to being, hmm, shall we say, 100% earnest.

My current album-in-progress draws heavily on the form and structure of golden era jazz.

I love “discovering” the “lost” tunes that could have almost made it into the Great American songbook, but didn’t. A lot of magic can happen on the margins of the jazz oeuvre.

An old tune echoes through the years, rhyming with something I feel today. Rhyming with something I’ll feel tomorrow. Rhyming with something I’ll feel in 15 years when I finally understand what the singer meant the day they recorded it a hundred years ago.

I’m inspired by the delicate and precise playing of my favorite ukulele players. The ukulele is so easy to play, at any level of musical ability. It’s such a friendly and accommodating instrument. At the same time, I think it’s very difficult to play in a way that comports tenderness and a deep emotionality.

bio

Sage Harrington is a ukulele player, singer, and songwriter enamored with swing tunes of the Golden Jazz Era.  She has recorded seven albums of her original music and holds an MA in Music Production and Recording from the University of Stavanger in Norway (2022). Her performances include festivals and venues throughout Europe and the United States, including the Féstival Ukulele to Heaven (France), Berlin Ukulele Festival (Germany), Ukulélé sur Meuse (Liège, Belgium), Grand Northern Ukulele Festival (UK), Ukulele Hooley (Ireland), Burning Uke (Gent, Belgium), Cały Poznań Ukulele (Poland), Tropical Winter Ukulele Festival (Finland), Santa Fe Bandstand (USA), Summerfest (Albuquerque), Outpost Performance Space (USA), and ABQ Folk Fest (USA). Sage has taught ukulele since 2012, working one-on-one, with groups, at festival workshops, and on online at Ukulele Swing School, which she founded in 2023.

Media coverage of her music includes Time, ABC News, GMA Yahoo, Jezebel, NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, Eater, Albuquerque Journal, KOB4 Albuquerque, 89.9 KUNM, Albuquerque the Magazine, Santa Fe Reporter, Weekly Alibi, Albuquerque IQ, Pyragraph, Musically Speaking, The Morning Brew (USA); Südwest Presse, Badische Zeitung, the Berlin U-Bahn screens (Germany).

private concerts

I give private, intimate, deeply delightful concerts. Read more about them here.

To book yours, contact me.

praise

Sage “is blessed with an antique sort of onstage personality which is charming and unselfconscious.” —Weekly Alibi

“Speaking of Harrington’s voice, this lady’s got quite the range, a solid midrange, and a spooky falsetto. She can inject a ’20s quality into her vocalizing at will.” —Musically Speaking

“Sage Harrington: She’s weirdly wonderful. Her music…seems a luxurious, curious oddity… Her voice is pure, full of formality and tight tonalities.” —Sonic Reducer

“The lyrics are clever (even better when the rhymes are forced); the melodies, memorable; the harmonies, delectable; and the performances, fun.” —Musically Speaking

“[Sage] brightened up the room with fun, enthusiasm, and energy,” —A. Mitrevski

highlights and achievements

I’ve been featured as a performer at the best ukulele festivals and showcases across Europe:

trivia

  • Sage opened for ukulele player, vintage crooner, writer of piercingly political lyrics, and general dreamboat Nellie McKay
  • In a news story about how it got so cold that a constantly-shorts-wearing mailman finally had to finally put on long pants, Sage’s song I Am Gonna Put Some Pants On was featured in an episode of NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me
  • In the most Portlandia thing ever, Sage helped her food-truck owning friend write and record a song wooing back the writer of a One Star Review
  • The city of Albuquerque, New Mexico awarded Sage’s band the highest bestowable honor on an cold and unexpectedly snowy March Sunday: the one and only Best Busker city tricentennial oil lamp
  • It can be verified that, yes, that lady playing ukulele in the park over there is, in fact, the one who sang her ukulele songs on YouTube with her pet rat on her shoulder
  • In 2022, Sage was scheduled to play in a castle and while the venue was switched last-minute to a cozy warm living room for logistical reasons, as an American this still feels very special to her
  • Wowee, she made all these albums, and completely independently, holy shit!

links

instagram @sageharrington

patreon /sageharrington

bandcamp sageharrington, (previous projects: beautiful william, happy gland band) * PSA: bandcamp is the best place to buy music online because they give the highest cut directly to artists

youtube @sageharrington, (previous projects: beautiful william, happy gland band, moon berries)

spotify Sage Harrington, (previous projects: beautiful william, happy gland band, moon berries)

I teach ukulele at Ukulele Swing School