Celebrated vocalist Sari Schorr brings intense blues to Crawley's Hawth

“I love playing the UK,” says New York-based Sari.

“It is very important to me. I feel incredibly at home here, the fact that my band is based here, my publisher is here.

“The very first time I came to England, I just felt such a connection.”

Sari gained prominence throughout the blues world after several years of touring the US and Europe with blues performer Joe Louis Walker and guitarist Popa Chubby.

Sari is described by many blues pundits as a modern-day hybrid of Janis Joplin and Tina Turner – a red-hot blues mama who radiates emotional intensity, connects with and inspires her audiences.

And now she has got that first album under her belt, A Force of Nature – on which she worked with British producer Mike Vernon.

“Every step along the way, it just seemed impossible. When I would step out of the situation I was in and think about what was happening, I just felt I was so lucky that it actually scared me,” she says.

“Michael had changed his mind about being able to make this record, and I was so pleased that he could.

“He did Fleetwood Mac. He did David Bowie. He is this iconic British blues producer who really introduced the blues back to America. And the idea was that I was making a record with him! I just could not believe it. I thought something was going to go wrong.

“It had been a long, long struggle to get to this point. I had so many sure things that did not happen for one reason or another. I have had seven or eight record deals across my career that never materialised. There was always some meteorite that would come smashing into our plans, and I thought that something like that was going to happen with this record. And all the way through I was just waiting for that something to go wrong. It didn’t. It came out in September.

“You don’t do it for the rewards and the accolades. You are just trying to make the best record you can. And you just hope that people are going to like it. I was very pleased with it. It exceeded all the expectations we had for it. And it was not an easy record to make. We were pushing the boundaries all the time. And now we are starting to think about making the next record.

“We are going to be travelling all over the world, and it is very important to start working on that next album in the little breaks that we have in between. Actually, we are way ahead of schedule with the next one.

“We met in Spain and we wrote ten songs in one week. This band we have got has got the most incredible synergy. Mike has said that the second album is really the most important and that the pressure is really on, but when I am with my band, I just don’t feel the pressure at all. It just focuses you on trying to be the best artist you possibly can be.

“All the external pressures just go away when I am working with my band.”

The show starts at 7.45pm. Tickets cost £15.50. Call 01293 553636.

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