Sarah Horner, of Moravia, admits that growing up, country was not her favorite form of music, but as she has gotten older it has gradually grown on her and allowed her to take her musical career in directions she might have never dreamed of otherwise.
Sam Tenney / The Citizen
Sarah Horner, her sister Chelsea Horner, and Greg Carroll, of the Sarah Horner Band, will be competing in the Colgate Country Showdown competition next month in Ohio.
Sarah Horner, her sister Chelsea Horner, and Greg Carroll, of the Sarah Horner Band, will be competing in the Colgate Country Showdown competition next month in Ohio.
In August, Horner along with her band, The Sarah Horner Band, comprised of sister Chelsea and guitarist Greg Carroll and bassist Shane Aaserud, both of Skaneateles won the Colgate Country Showdown in Dansville, securing their spot in the Northeast finals of the competition to be held in Marietta, Ohio Oct. 25.
But music has always been an important part of Horner's life, and country has always been there in the background at least a little bit.
At the age of 15, Horner had the opportunity to perform at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in 2000 for the Teen national Karaoke Competition, finishing in the top 14.
And ever since, Horner has been looking for every opportunity to further her musical career, attending Berklee College of Music in Boston after graduating from Moravia High School.
Horner said that she and Carroll originally began playing together in January, when they met through a mutual friend.
“Greg is an awesome guitar player,” Horner said. “He heard that I was looking to put a band together and so we started playing together and just sort of took things from there.”
For Horner, singing with her sister has been a long running part of her life and when she started thinking about adding another vocalist, Chelsea was the natural choice.
“We've been singing together one way or another for at least the last 8 years,” Horner said.
“I've sang with other people, but the harmonies are never as tight as they are with Chelsea, so I knew that I wanted to be able to sing with her.”
But as the band gradually took shape, the members were still without any particular direction, until they stumbled on the idea of performing country numbers.
“I didn't really like country music growing up,” Horner said. “But as I got older I began to like it more and more. And Greg vowed that he would never play in a country band, but since we started playing he has gotten more and more interested in it too, it has been really cool.”
Since the band formed and began to find its sound and direction, they began playing locally at clubs in and around Syracuse, Ithaca, Skaneateles and Auburn.
“We've been able to accomplish a lot,” Horner said. “We haven't been together all that long really, but we've been able to play a lot and at a lot of different places, which has been a lot of fun.”
When the band heard about the chance to compete locally for a spot at the National Country Showdown, they were eager to get started.
Horner said that she and Carroll recorded a few songs for 98.1, The Hawk, a country music station in Binghamton; the station liked what it heard and sponsored the band to compete on the local and state level.
“We really didn't know what to expect,” Horner said.
“But this has given us so many opportunities. We got to open for national acts like The Lost Trailers and Jason Michael Carroll. The whole thing has been an amazing experience so far.“
Since learning that they had earned a spot in the northeast regional competition, the group has been hard at work, both in rehearsals and performing live, honing their act for competition.
The band has a busy upcoming schedule that will have them playing all over central New York and Horner and Carroll have begun work on some original material to go with their already extensive repertoire.
“Greg has always written songs,” Horner said. “I used to write a little bit of poetry and things like that, but until now I've never really worked on writing songs, that has been a really good experience.”
Horner said that at the regional competition, bands have the opportunity to earn extra points by performing original material, which has made the group even more focused on that aspect of their career.
If The Sarah Horner Band does win in Ohio, they will have the chance to go on to the national competition held at the Grand Ole Opery, the winner of which will receive a recording contract.
“Right now we're just really focused,” Horner said. “We're focused on writing really good original material and getting ready for Ohio.”
On the Net
To see and hear The Sarah Horner Band, visit www.myspace.com/SHandGC
But music has always been an important part of Horner's life, and country has always been there in the background at least a little bit.
At the age of 15, Horner had the opportunity to perform at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in 2000 for the Teen national Karaoke Competition, finishing in the top 14.
And ever since, Horner has been looking for every opportunity to further her musical career, attending Berklee College of Music in Boston after graduating from Moravia High School.
Horner said that she and Carroll originally began playing together in January, when they met through a mutual friend.
“Greg is an awesome guitar player,” Horner said. “He heard that I was looking to put a band together and so we started playing together and just sort of took things from there.”
For Horner, singing with her sister has been a long running part of her life and when she started thinking about adding another vocalist, Chelsea was the natural choice.
“We've been singing together one way or another for at least the last 8 years,” Horner said.
“I've sang with other people, but the harmonies are never as tight as they are with Chelsea, so I knew that I wanted to be able to sing with her.”
But as the band gradually took shape, the members were still without any particular direction, until they stumbled on the idea of performing country numbers.
“I didn't really like country music growing up,” Horner said. “But as I got older I began to like it more and more. And Greg vowed that he would never play in a country band, but since we started playing he has gotten more and more interested in it too, it has been really cool.”
Since the band formed and began to find its sound and direction, they began playing locally at clubs in and around Syracuse, Ithaca, Skaneateles and Auburn.
“We've been able to accomplish a lot,” Horner said. “We haven't been together all that long really, but we've been able to play a lot and at a lot of different places, which has been a lot of fun.”
When the band heard about the chance to compete locally for a spot at the National Country Showdown, they were eager to get started.
Horner said that she and Carroll recorded a few songs for 98.1, The Hawk, a country music station in Binghamton; the station liked what it heard and sponsored the band to compete on the local and state level.
“We really didn't know what to expect,” Horner said.
“But this has given us so many opportunities. We got to open for national acts like The Lost Trailers and Jason Michael Carroll. The whole thing has been an amazing experience so far.“
Since learning that they had earned a spot in the northeast regional competition, the group has been hard at work, both in rehearsals and performing live, honing their act for competition.
The band has a busy upcoming schedule that will have them playing all over central New York and Horner and Carroll have begun work on some original material to go with their already extensive repertoire.
“Greg has always written songs,” Horner said. “I used to write a little bit of poetry and things like that, but until now I've never really worked on writing songs, that has been a really good experience.”
Horner said that at the regional competition, bands have the opportunity to earn extra points by performing original material, which has made the group even more focused on that aspect of their career.
If The Sarah Horner Band does win in Ohio, they will have the chance to go on to the national competition held at the Grand Ole Opery, the winner of which will receive a recording contract.
“Right now we're just really focused,” Horner said. “We're focused on writing really good original material and getting ready for Ohio.”
On the Net
To see and hear The Sarah Horner Band, visit www.myspace.com/SHandGC
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