Sara Curtin was born and raised in Washington, DC in a very musical household. While her first full-length solo album didn’t come out until 2010, Sara has been singing since before she can remember. A family of professional musicians and rock & roll blasters, the Curtin house was always the loud house on the block - the one you could hear from down the street. The Washington Post calls her voice “angelic”, and That Music Magazine writes that she is "a gifted songwriter who understands that you don’t write because you want to say something, but because you have something to say, and she sure as heck says it exquisitely." Music has always been a refuge and a lifeline for Curtin. From her early years immersing herself in harmony as a founding member of the Children’s Chorus of Washington, then diving into songwriting as a young adult living abroad, and now as a mother of young twins, Curtin continues to lean in to the gift of music as a way to connect more deeply with others as well as herself. Curtin’s songwriting is personal, often autobiographical, and has always sought to reflect honest and sometimes tough emotions, face vulnerabilities, and make peace with both hopes and losses.
She is inspired by the platform given to her as an artist to produce and present works that open conversations which are typically behind closed doors. Curtin’s 2023 EP “Goodbye Forever” is her most raw and vulnerable release yet and Sara describes it as “an energetic romp through my postpartum depression”.
As a producer and engineer, Curtin records much of her music in her home studio in Washington, DC. Currently set up in the basement, she often has to wait for her children to go to school, or to sleep, before getting down to work.
Sara is a classically trained professional vocalist of over 25 five years, a self-taught multi-instrumentalist (electric & acoustic guitar, ukulele, percussion, accordion, piano), and an accomplished recording engineer.
She is a current recipient of the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities Artist Fellowship grant (2014 - 2025) and has won multiple Washington Area Music Awards with her folk duo THE SWEATER SET, including the 2021 Wammie for Best Folk Group. Together they have opened for and collaborated with Dar Williams, Aoife O’Donovan, Lucius, Arc Iris, Christylez Bacon, and toured the UK, Ireland, and the United States with Michelle Shocked. In 2010-11 The Sweater Set were Strathmore Artists-In-Residence.
In 2020 The Sweater Set was featured in The Washington Post as some of their “favorite people”.