One of the most authentic talents on the scene, Sari Schorr is a beacon of light amongst a rising tide of AI-generated music. With a voice that would make angels weep and Baptist preachers sound lacking in passion, the New Yorker has done things the hard way, proving herself in clubs and concert halls all over the world.
Initially working as a backing singer for Popa Chubby and Joe Louis Walker, it was the latter who encouraged her to spread her wings and become a solo artist. With legendary record producer Mike Vernon (Bluesbreakers, David Bowie, Eric Clapton and Fleetwood Mac amongst many others) coming out of retirement specifically to helm her solo debut album, things have not stopped from there.
Ten years after that first release and having just signed to the mighty Provogue / Artone Label Group, she has announced today the next chapter in her story in the form of Running Wild.
Describing it as the album she has always dreamt of making, MetalTalk can confirm it is an extraordinary work that more than fulfils the promise of the past. With ten brilliantly produced tracks running from hard rock to deep blues, each number is a stunning representation of an artist at the top of her game.
Never holding back in emotional honesty, this is her most personal release yet and digs deeper into both universal and autobiographical themes that reveal her as a torchbearer for soulful humanity.
We caught up with Sari Schorr via Zoom at her New York apartment to discuss the album, her plans for the future and why she is running wild.
For Sari Schorr, everything is new. “This is what I’ve been working for, for several years now,” Sari told MetalTalk. “Trying to find the right home for this new record and being able to deliver a record that I’m proud of. I haven’t had a record out in a few years. The truth is that there was a record. There were almost two complete albums, but I didn’t feel that they were good enough.
“I have been accused of being a perfectionist all my life. It’s not perfectionism. It is just a real, honest desire to deliver the best work I can, and this is finally the record that I really felt comfortable with. I’m proud of it. I feel as though it represents who I am as an artist, and I think it’s coming at a time when people will find something of value in it.
That’s why I’m so excited about this record.”
Getting here was not straightforward. Before Running Wild, there was another record. One that never saw daylight. When we caught up with Sari Schorr at last year’s Maid Of Stone, she was going straight back in the studio after the festival. This work was part of the album put to one side.
“It was a difficult decision,” Sari says, “because there was not only a lot of time invested in that album, but there was a lot of money that I put into that project. To walk away from a commitment like that is a little frightening, because there was tremendous pressure for me to deliver an album before my last major tour. I had every intention of doing that.
“I’m the world’s greatest optimist. I could not have predicted that I wouldn’t want to release the record I had been working on. Sometimes you get so close to a project, you lose perspective. But as we got further and further into it, it just started to feel as though it was moving further away from what I wanted to share.
“I had to take a really hard, honest look at it, and just throwing an album out for the sake of putting music out was not something that I wanted to inflict on the world. There is enough music out there. Whatever we do in life, if we’re gonna ask people to pay attention to something, it damn well better be the best thing you can share, or else don’t waste people’s time.
“There’s no way I would have been able to do interviews to say, yeah, this is a great piece of work, please spend some time listening to it. That would have had no integrity and no respect for my fans. So I waited, and I hope that this will hit the mark for everyone, as it has for me.”
Whatever it cost Sari Schorr, the gamble paid off. It has to be said that Running Wild is ridiculously good. Some parts are mind-blowing.
“I think it was a gift for me,” Sari Schorr says. “It came together without the normal tension and friction that you usually find when you’re undertaking a major project like this. There are a lot of different opinions, and not everyone generally agrees. But in this case, and now that I’ve experienced how to make an album this way, the bar has been set high for me.
“I was working with producers who allowed me to try to realise a vision that hadn’t been explored before, for them to have faith in me, and allow me to have the artistic freedom to push the boundaries and to really just work at a higher level because there were no constraints.
“There were no expectations. When I would ask my wonderful producers, Luke Paget and Jamie Walker, what do you think about this idea? They would say, ‘It’s your idea. You’re the artist. Our job is to facilitate your vision, so let’s go with this.’
“That fueled my confidence because it really gave me an environment where I could work without any fear at all. There was no sense of judgment. There was no sense of having to prove myself. It was beautiful. It was inspiring, and the result is an album that I’m proud of.”
That freedom shows. There are so many different textures within Running Wild. There is a really strident and bluesy opening to the album with the new single, Mr. In The Middle, a song about an intoxicating pull between two people who cannot quite let each other go. That is a great way to kick things off.
“We thought a lot about the running order for the album,” Sari Schorr says. “I wanted it to be a cinematic journey for our listeners and to take them on quite a musical adventure. One of the other great things about this record is that, because I had such a supportive team, I was not confined to a limited identity.
“The songs were all allowed to express themselves in the best possible way for the stories to come through in a way that would have the most impact. I was able to use my voice as just another vehicle to express the songs. Jamie and Luke, with the production approach that they took, really supported the vision of the songs and allowed the music to live beyond any constraint.
“We didn’t think about genre. We didn’t think about radio. We just wanted the songs to express themselves and evolve into the best versions of what they could be. Because my influences are so diverse, from blues and rock and soul, R&B, and jazz, I was able to pull in all of these different influences and create something more textured and hopefully more interesting for the listeners.”
There is no cookie-cutter music on Running Wild. We know about her writing and that everything comes from the heart. Everything means something to her, and alongside the storytelling and the breadth of music on her new album, her vocals are extraordinary. There is no showboating in her vocal runs. The result is an impressive level of emotional intensity.
“Restraint is really one of the hardest things to learn,” Sari Schorr says. “Not just in music, but in everything that we do. Learning where to find the balance between effort and compassion, and not doing things to show off, to prove something, to be something that you’re not.
“But to use moments to express something, like in Running Wild, to pick and choose spots that will help accentuate a lyric, an emotion. It is really easy to oversing and overplay and overact, and over anything in life.
“I just came from the boxing ring this morning, and what I was learning was how much restraint and technique there is in boxing. It’s not just punch, punch, punch. There’s this beautiful artistry. It’s movement of dance with power. But it’s very specific and controlled, and it took me a long time to learn how to use that control vocally. I’m still learning. That’s the exciting thing.”
Following an album launch show at The Lexington, Sari Schorr will cross Europe on an extensive run of dates. With this tour, will her boxing skills help keep the crew in check?
“I got into the boxing ring under the condition that I actually wouldn’t have to hit anyone other than the trainer,” Sari says. “It’s hard for me, a former vegan, to be able to want to hurt a living thing. But if I have to, worst comes to worst [laughs].”
There is a gentleness about Sari Schorr, but also a strength as well, which is shown very much in the new album. A vulnerability, yes, but also strength.
“If you have an outward-facing perspective of the world and don’t allow your ego to take up so much space with other people. If you give other people room to be themselves. If you care about people, love people. If you give people space and allow them to be the best versions of themselves, it’s very easy then to be more vulnerable because you’re not trying to prove yourself.
“If you focus more on allowing the circumstances you move within to be more input-based and absorb other people and other situations, then you can be more sensitive, and there’s more space. Vulnerability really comes from a place of confidence and finally being comfortable in your own skin.
“It’s a journey that I’ll be on to the last day of my life. It’s about acceptance, and if you find acceptance, try not to be judgmental. Be open, be tolerant, be caring, and the more you care about other people, so much more comes back into your own life and life is so much more interesting.
“You already know your own story. It always surprises me when people love to talk only about themselves. I wanna learn about other people’s lives. Things I don’t know, interesting things. My life might seem interesting to other people, but it’s just my life. I’m very familiar with it. I’d rather take on board other people’s stories.”
Nowhere is that more apparent than on Man On Fire, a song written for her father. It is personal, but yet universal, a style which features in a lot of her songwriting. This is the balance that Sari Schorr talks about.
“That is the reward for reaching a point in your life where you are strong enough to be vulnerable,” she says, “and to express things that are deeply personal, and not feeling as though you have to hold things back or create something because you want to be something else that you’re not.
“People know authenticity. You can feel it, especially in this world of everything artificial. We need real human connection, real human dialogue, and the most interesting conversations are not about the superficial things, the weather and whatever. It’s about the life events that we go through, and you can’t talk about that from a place of closure or stubbornness. You have to be open.
“This is my problem with social media because it’s one face of a very complicated picture. As artists, we are putting out our best moments and all the little wins here and there. But we’re not showing, or I’m not showing, the hours of work before a lyric comes, or all of the hundreds of songs that no one will be forced to listen to because they’re not good enough.
“Maybe that would be more interesting to share. But I also feel as though I don’t want social media to be a place where I go for therapy. I have a pit bull. She’s my therapist. I’m not a big fan of complaining. It’s not really productive.”
It is easy to disappear down that hole. Sari’s answer is to look outward instead. You can look at the world at the moment and fall into a dark hole of navel-gazing and thinking everything is terrible. We know there are issues. I suggest focusing more on the positive makes our lives and those around us feel a little lighter.
“That’s why it’s so important for people to connect through things that enhance our lives like the arts, music, dance,” Sari says. “All of these things bring all kinds of different people together from different parts of the world, different cultures, different backgrounds. We all can recognise beauty in art.
“These fundamental things that make us so human help reestablish our connection to each other. We can agree to disagree on a lot of things, and I disagree with 60 million people in my own country about where our government is going. But I always try to remind myself that we all want the same things. We are all in the pursuit of happiness. We want to take care of our families, our loved ones. We care about our friends.
“It’s human nature to want to help each other. There was an accident on 5th Avenue here, and when everyone ran to help, nobody was giving a second thought to where you are politically. We were all just helping. That’s when the real humanity comes out.
“Go back to trying not to judge people based on opinions from information they’ve been given. A lot of my opinions come from the publications and the books that I’ve read. So it’s slanted my perspective.
“I live in New York, so I’m not fearful of people who look different from me. I’ve been exposed to it. But if you have a different experience, you have to understand that people have come to judge the world around them based on the experiences they’ve had. So tolerance is really important right now.”
That openness is the theme of the record as much as it is of the conversation. Running Wild is a stunning album. It genuinely is. Every track of the ten is incredible. It is great talking about the album to Sari Schorr. People will see her, watch the interview video, hopefully, and fall in love with her as a person and want to say, yeah, I want to have some of that positivity, some of that worldview, some of that spirit, heart and soul.
That is very much seen through the album, but it is an album coming from her. Sari Schorr permeates every fibre of the album.
“That is the greatest compliment, honestly, because the album does feel like an extension of me,” Sari says. “When you create something that is honest, it does feel like it is a part of you and you’re sending that out into the world. It’s exciting. It’s also, I wouldn’t say apprehension, but there’s a lot of anticipation.
“I’m hoping that people will hear the record the way you have heard it, because in the end, being an artist for me is about trying to give something. I love music, I love to sing, I love to write songs. But if it’s not creating anything beautiful for anybody else, I really need to think about doing something else, and it won’t be professional boxing.
“If there’s this synergy where it is a give-and-take, then that is the greatest gift for me.”
Sari Schorr will release Running Wild via Provogue Records / Artone Label Group on 9 October 2026 in Europe and 30 October 2026 in the USA. The album features co-producers Jamie Walker on guitar and bass and Luke Paget on drums, alongside acclaimed keyboard player Bennett Holland.
There will be an album release show on 29 September 2026 at The Lexington in London, before an extensive tour of Europe begins on 02 October in Germany. Pre-orders are available from lnk.to/sarischorr. Tickets for The LExington are available from thelexington.co.uk.
Sari Schorr Tour Dates
29 Sep 2026 —The Lexington, London — UK
02 Oct 2026 — Die Halle, Reichenbach an der Fils — Germany
03 Oct 2026 — Blue Note e.V., Birkenfeld — Germany
04 Oct 2026 — Rockfabrik, Übach—Palenberg — Germany
05 Oct 2026 — Theaterstübchen, Kassel — Germany
06 Oct 2026 — Nica Jazz Club, Hamburg — Germany
08 Oct 2026 — Zik—Zak, Ittre — Belgium
09 Oct 2026 — Boerderij, Zoetermeer — Netherlands
10 Oct 2026 — Life House, Stemwede — Germany
12 Oct 2026 — Muddy’s Club, Weinheim — Germany
13 Oct 2026 — Lindenbrauerei (Schalander), Unna — Germany
14 Oct 2026 — Meisenfrei Blues Club, Bremen — Germany
16 Oct 2026 — Zig Zag Jazz Club, Berlin — Germany
17 Oct 2026 — Palác Akropolis, Prague — Czechia
18 Oct 2026 — Bergkeller, Reichenbach — Germany
20 Oct 2026 — Backstage, Munich — Germany
21 Oct 2026 — Kofferfabrik / MusicClub, Fürth — Germany
22 Oct 2026 — Franzis im Kulturzentrum, Wetzlar — Germany
23 Oct 2026 — Salzlandtheater, Staßfurt / Aschersleben — Germany
24 Oct 2026 — Zwischenbau, Rostock — Germany
27 Oct 2026 — Mojo Blues Bar, Copenhagen — Denmark
28 Oct 2026 — Kulturkvarteret, Kristianstad — Sweden
29 Oct 2026 — Blues Tidaholm, Tidaholm — Sweden
30 Oct 2026 — Blue Heart Bluesförening, Halmstad — Sweden
31 Oct 2026 — YNG Bar & Sosial, Oslo — Norway
01 Nov 2026 — Kafé K, Porsgrunn — Norway
03 Nov 2026 — Sävja kulturhus, Uppsala — Sweden
04 Nov 2026 — Telefonfabriken, Stockholm — Sweden
05 Nov 2026 — Hotell Arkipelag, Mariehamn — Åland Islands
06 Nov 2026 — Malmitalo, Helsinki — Finland
07 Nov 2026 — Grand Blues, Lahtis — Finland
08 Nov 2026 — Võru Kultuurimaja Kannel, Võru — Estonia
10 Nov 2026 — Scena Monk, Gdańsk — Poland
11 Nov 2026 —Klub Gwarek, Kraków — Poland
13 Nov 2026 — Jazztage Dresden, Dresden — Germany
14 Nov 2026 — Ansbacher Kammerspiele, Ansbach — Germany
15 Nov 2026 — Bürgerhaus Wiltingen, Wiltingen — Germany
17 Nov 2026 — Arbeiterkammer Oberösterreich, Linz — Austria
19 Nov 2026 — Die Akte, Fürstenfeld — Austria
20 Nov 2026 — Analog Music Hall, Budapest — Hungary
21 Nov 2026 — Reigen Live, Vienna — Austria
22 Nov 2026 — Bluegarage, Frauental — Austria
25 Nov 2026 — Spectrum Club, Augsburg — Germany
26 Nov 2026 — Gaswerk Eventbar, Seewen SZ — Switzerland
28 Nov 2026 — Kulturverein Konservi, Seon — Switzerland
