Meet Sara Regan

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Regan.

Sara, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Music has always been a present companion in my life. I remember being super young and driving to Lake Austin with my dad in his black pickup, windows down, speeding through these tight curves, and always blasting The Doobie Brothers. My dad was a drummer back in the day and my older brother is a ridiculous guitar player. I remember him learning/shredding to these great 80s rock icons- Bon Jovi or Journey especially. Eventually, I took interest and picked up his old nylon guitar and started to teach myself. I was around 12 years old and my obsession never really stopped. I started writing in high school and got more serious about it late in high school and going into college. I also got to play in front of people a lot because I developed a big passion for worship leading. The big turning point I remember was my freshman year of college. Some friends and I had driven to the coast one weekend and we decided to get a live video of me singing a song I’d written earlier that year called “Dear Daughter”. I didn’t think much of it, but when we posted it picked up some major traction within our Austin community and got more views than we ever thought it would.

Then, I got that dream phone call. Andy Baxter and Kyle Jahnke of “Penny and Sparrow” were musical heroes to me, and they gave me a call and affirmed the crap out of me. After that, they took me under their wing and we co-produced my first EP “Summit Hour”. I got to sing on one of their albums and tour with them in the early days too. It was awesome. After that season I leaned into sharpening my writing. In the following years, I put out another single and another album. A lot of life happened over that time- I finished and graduated college, got engaged and married to my best friend, David, and moved out to Katy, TX, where David had just accepted a job with Young Life. The move to Katy made me think my musical journey might be temporarily over, but the isolation ended up being formative.

It pushed me to explore producing from home, which I have fully leaned into. I put out a single last April called “Handmade Thieves”, which was my first go at producing from home. I’m about eight songs deep in producing my next record, and I’m so excited to put it out. It feels awesome to have my fingerprints all over it, and to write the song but also find a way to bring it fully to life through production.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Balancing college with music was tricky. I’d say the biggest challenge for me was moving to Katy and having to discern how to keep the music going, and what that looked like for me. I knew I didn’t want to tour and that I wanted to be fully invested in my marriage and Young Life. But I didn’t want to fully give up music, and for a little bit, it felt like that’s what I maybe needed to do. I felt/feel a lot of pressure (self-inflicted) to get out there and play show after show and give all my time, but I don’t think that’s the route for me, and it’s been challenging to navigate that. So I’m learning to talk down those insecurities I have about feeling the need to tour. I love the writing and the producing side. It feels pure to me.

We’d love to hear more about your work.
I’m stoked to release this next album since I’m producing the whole thing. It feels like a huge achievement and the fulfillment of a dream I didn’t know I had. I’d put my music in the indie-folk or singer-songwriter genre. My musical influencers are all across the board and range anywhere from Bon Iver to The Doobie Brothers, Sarah Jarosz to The Staves, Alt- J to Kacey Musgraves, Night Beds to Punch Brothers, The Avett Brothers to Penny and Sparrow. So I guess I’m not married to a specific genre and I’m willing to flex. I’ve loved learning multiple instruments and trying to excel as a multi-instrumentalist. My songs are acoustic-driven, and I’ve loved adding banjo, guitalele, percussion, piano, bass, and electric guitar myself. Lyrically, my goal is to pull you in and cause you to feel and think deeper.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
A few memories come to mind:
-Opening a sold-out show for Penny and Sparrow at what was my high school dream-venue, Common Grounds in Waco, TX. I’d seen a lot of my heroes play that stage, so that show was a huge milestone.
-Covering Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” at a packed Stubb’s Jr. with the band back in January was stupid fun. We had a ton of friends at that show and everyone just got really into it.
-Putting out my first song last April I had both written and produced and seeing it do really well was awesome. It’s called “Handmade Thieves”.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://saradavisregan.com/
• Email: saradavisregan@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saradavisreegs/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/saradavisreganmusic
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5kpGOvJqD4L8QhrgPFYxcZ?si=dOXcrHbVTj2G7TAEcjwWng

Image Credit:
Emily Boone Photography
Jake Dapper
Jake Ruth

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