Texan singer-songwriter Sarah Jarosz has come a long way from the teenage bluegrass star first discovered at a festival by her co-producer and long-time collaborator Gary Paczosa.

Listening to her second album Follow Me Down, it was a shock to see the word bluegrass still connected to the musician, who is spending her holiday from Boston’s New England Conservatory on tour in the UK.

“I think there are definitely some songs that have a bluegrass influence, for sure,” she says from Northampton, as she prepares to play an evening show in Sheffield.

“I don’t feel like my new songs are quite as bluegrassy. It was a natural progression in terms of songwriting – but there were a lot of life changes which are reflected in the songs – I left high school and moved from Austin to Boston. I’m constantly trying to push myself and be challenged.”

Although her current live set-up is devoid of drums in true bluegrass style, and features a fiddle-player, alongside her mix of mandolin, dobro, banjo and guitar, the third instrument – a cello – can hardly be described as a typical feature of Appalachian roots music.

Similarly, her choice of the two covers on her new album – Bob Dylan’s Ring Them Bells and Radiohead’s The Tourist – shows the sort of music she is being influenced by.

“I’ve always been drawn to the music of people who keep exploring, like Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon,” she says, admitting one of her dreams is to work with the singer-songwriters.

That said, she has already achieved many dreams, appearing on Austin City Limits, the international music showcase based in her home city; writer Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion; and working with the likes of Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Shawn Colvin and the Punch Brothers on the second album sessions.

“It was a learning experience to watch them,” she says. “It’s not something you get used to – seeing all my heroes walking through the door waiting to record something on my album. It was a pinch-me moment.

I’m very grateful they are such great people and have been so generous with their time.”

Learning rides high on Jarosz’s schedule, as she prepares to start the third and final year of her course in contemporary improvisation in Boston.

“Some of work and school definitely overlapped,” she admits. “I worked on the arrangements for some of the tunes on the album with my teachers.

“Peace [which closes the latest album] was something I started writing a long time ago, one of the first I wrote with my mandolin, as a two-part instrumental. I was looking for more material to put on my album, and took it to a teacher who said it needed another part – and that’s the version which is on the record.”

Although she has thoughts of a third album, it could take a little while.

“Working on new material is a slow process for me,” she says. “Right now I’m trying to balance writing and my last year at school.

“All through my life it’s been about figuring out how to do both. You have to take it one day at a time and try not to look at the big picture. It can be overwhelming.

“Once school is over it will be interesting to see how my schedule changes!”

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