Quality Americana

Good Dog is an upbeat, thoughtful collection of folk songs from Sarah Noell & Joe Hayward.

Noell grew up in Connecticut and later attended college in Ithaca, New York.

“I went to school here for four years and then I just stayed,” Noell said about her past decade in the Empire State.

Theater Influence

Noell grew up around theater, and shared the love of musicals with her mother. She started taking her first guitar lessons in middle school. 

“I originally learned guitar because I just wanted to learn an instrument I think,” Noell said. “I didn’t even think about singing or writing, but then it all just kind of happened.” 

Noell hosted an open mic night while studying at Ithica, “but didn’t have the guts to play” herself. “After college I kind of just started really expanding on everything.”

Noell has experimented with many different areas of folk music and songwriting, and Good Dog is the first collaboration with Joe Hayward, who plays banjo, pedal steel, bass and sings harmonies. 

“The other ones, I did everything by myself,” Noell said with a laugh. “I made myself learn bass, and piano. It was a goal of mine to do something completely by myself and see how it could happen.”

Good Dog

Hayward noticed Noell on the singer-songwriter scene with her trio, and offered his pedal steel services. She had recorded herself on slide guitar for her previous albums, and was welcome to the idea of Hayward joining the trio. They later started collaborating during the pandemic. 

Good Dog serves as the title of their album and their collaboration. They’ve seen success in the bluegrass scene, adding fiddle by Sam Schmidt who also recorded on the EP along with Ryan Albert on drums. Albert also served as the producer with mastering by Chris Ploss at Sunwood Recording.

Noell is currently immersed in the songwriting scene, and the groups she meets with every week have kept her looking forward to her next solo offering.

Katie’s Song

We asked Noell about the muse behind “Katie’s Song.”

“Everytime I see her she just stays up so late,” Noell said as she described the energy of her friend. “She’s always the last one up and I’m always trying to keep up with her. We’ve definitely had some nice moments in the early dawn.” 

The song feels like a lullaby, with beautiful soft drums, slow pedal steel and layered vocal tracks.

“Everyone’s passed out except you and I, and girl we’ve got it all,” Noell sings.

Support the Artist

Support the artist by streaming and purchasing Good Dog on Bandcamp.

More works from Sarah Noell can be found here.

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