My essentials: KC singer-songwriter Sara Swenson
By Brianne Pfannenstiel
For Kansas City-based singer-songwriter Sara Swenson, hearing her words and melodies on the Season 4 finale of ABC’s “Private Practice” two weeks ago was a surreal experience.
“It’s kind of a big deal for me,” says Swenson, who had friends over to hear her national television debut. “It’s kind of weird hearing something so familiar and knowing it was being broadcast out to the nation.”
Just three years ago she started putting pen to paper to expand her musical reach into songwriting, and she had no idea it would lead her this far, she says.
Now, with two albums under her belt and appearances alongside Sarah McLachlan, Emmylou Harris and Ingrid Michaelson, Swenson is ditching her day job as a high school English and journalism teacher to throw herself into the music industry full time.
“As time has gone on it’s gotten harder and harder to keep up with both, so I’m giving myself the opportunity to see what it’s like to give more of my time and energy into it,” Swenson says. “I’m trying not to place a lot of expectation on it because I’ve learned it hardly ever turns out how you think it will.”
Though Swenson will continue to substitute teach, she says, she plans to put out some new music, tour and attempt to make music a sustainable profession.
Her essentials
Restaurant: Lulu’s Thai Noodle Shop
Drink: “This is going to sound lame, but skim milk. I’ve never had a cavity. It’s been good for my teeth.”
Snack: “My roommate makes awesome cookie dough.”
Gadget: Phone
Actor: Clint Eastwood
Book: “The Elegance of the Hedgehog,” by Muriel Barbery
Movie: “Moulin Rouge”
TV show: “Glee”
Shoes: Boots
Singer/band: Gregory Alan Isakov
Song: “San Francisco” by Gregory Alan Isakov
Vacation spot: “I really want to go to Canada — some pretty, remote, scenic part of Canada.”
Place to spend an extra $50: “I’d love to take $50 into Anthropologie and hope to find something.”
Way to spend a Sunday afternoon: Napping
Sports team: Royals
Job perk: “I love meeting all of the interesting people I get to play shows with and rub shoulders with. There are a lot of fun people that I wouldn’t meet otherwise.”
Place to perform: “Downstairs at Crosstown.”
Link to original article in Ink.