Where it Hurts - the Foreword by John Fordham,
Jazz Critic of The Guardian

‘Where It Hurts is an intimate and very personal statement (it charts the period of Sarah Jane’s divorce from her musician husband after 22 years), but it’s anything but sentimental, self-pitying or mawkish – as you’d expect from someone whose imagination, empathy and musical agenda have always taken her music way beyond her own four walls...

The music of Where It Hurts is both an uncompromising picture of Sarah Jane Morris struggling in a kind of rebirth, and a broad view of a world that is also hurting, but whose citizens, like her, believe there’s a new life beyond.‘

'Sarah Jane Morris couldn't sing an insincere note if she tried. What's especially galvanic about her singing is the passionate commitment to the song's narrative, whether it concerns the pro-democracy struggle against Burma's military junta ('A World To Win'), the freeing of a wrongly incarcerated Death Row prisoner ('Never Forget How To Dance'), or a snapshot of an evening fondly remembered ('Under The Stars')... the new album is an aural feast.'

‘... the hushed Migratory Birds is a showcase for Morris’s voice rather than her songwriting. She... brings new nuances to Damien Rice’s Blower’s Daughter, reclaims Britney Spear’s Toxic as the great song it always was but never performed as, and stays lasciviously true to Nina Simone’s filthy Sugar in My Bowl.’

In May and July 2008 I recorded a CD with Enrico Melozzi, 14 cellos and Dominic Miller in Rome.... and in January 25th, 26th and 27th 2010 I'm mixing the cello album also in Rome. So watch this space - I think the music is quite special.

Enrico plays on some of the tracks on Where it hurts. And he's on the Musicians page...

What you are listening to, according to Mike Thorne, record
producer, is a ‘rarity... a mighty, horn-driven version of Sarah Jane and Alastair Gavin's song Cry (in her words, ‘Bruckner meets techno’), a timeless version with standout solo vocal and the mighty Uptown Horns. This recording fell between the cracks and was never included in any CD collection. It's too powerful and special to leave to rust away on the archive shelves.’

Find out more about Mike Thorne

There is another version which you can find out more about on the Video page or click to watch here.

A lost video turned up on YouTube....

Sarah Jane says,

‘In 1989 as I was putting finishing touches to my album, Sarah Jane Morris, I was approached by a German singer songwriter Franz Benton to sing a duet on his latest album. The song was called Carry On and the video was filmed in the English Gardens in Munich. I think it was a strong song and I thoroughly enjoyed singing with Franz who is not only a good singer but a lovely guy. The song was not a hit, alas, but Franz is still recording and performing so check out his website for detail: http://www.benton.de/

But better still, watch the video here.

Onstage, a shock of wild-woman curly frizz, startlingly lit... From behind the broad, sunny smile, a deep, rich contralto voice emerges, disturbingly masculine at times, and frequently compressed into wild, hoarse strangulations, into raw, raucous Janis Joplin screeches or into breathy whispers. This dramatic performer is Sarah Jane Morris, the very antithesis of modern day celebrity packages of cloned makeovers, gloss, and insipid, one-style-fits-all singing.
Throughout the evening, a calm, softly-spoken Morris chats about events and people that have shaped her life and inspired her song-writing. Softly spoken she may be, but she sings with wild abandon, pouring passionate emotion into each and every lyric, in songs covering all manner of issues, social, political and personal... Her commitment to conveying meaning with her whole being is spine-chillingly apparent.
Superb instrumental and occasional vocal accompaniment came from the magnificent Dominic Miller, long-standing virtuoso guitarist with Sting and co-song-writer with both him and Morris. The sound he produces through his dextrous yet effortless pick and pluck and the tender sensitivity of his touch are a pure joy: whatever the style, the notes sparkle with delicate beauty.    Bravo!

Fantastic review for the Where it Hurts show - - DigYorkshire.com - - 4 stars