Sarah Jarosz Shares New Single, “Johnny,” and Announces Forthcoming Album, World on the Ground

Sarah Jarosz just announced the release of her new LP, World on the Ground, due out on June 5 via Rounder. The latest from the three-time Grammy Award-winner and member of I’m With Her explores “the tension and inertia of small-town living, the push/pull between the desire for escape and the ease of staying put” in her follow up to her 2016 album, Undercurrent. Jarosz has also shared the single for the melancholy song “Johnny.”

My fifth album, World On The Ground, will be released June 5, 2020. Produced by John Leventhal. I’m deeply proud of this music! Stream the first single, Johnny, everywhere now pic.twitter.com/fKjKhEzC5a

— Sarah Jarosz (@sarahjarosz) March 24, 2020

World on the Ground is “conveyed through an assortment of stories set in her small Texas hometown” and “reveals Jarosz’s remarkable gift for looking outward while slipping into the inner lives of others,” as per a press release. Jarosz collaborated on the album with producer John Leventhal, recording in his New York City studio.

For Jarosz, “this album feels like the bird in the song who’s up on the seventh floor looking down at the world, taking it all in.” She adds, “I feel like that’s so much of the struggle today: trying to combat the noise around you, and get down to the real stuff that’s happening in our lives.” The singer drew inspiration for World on the Ground from Texas songwriters like Shawn Colvin, Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith and James McMurtry.