Sarana VerLin (born September 19, 1953) is an American violinist, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She was the vocalist/violinist of the bands Natasha and Dark Carnival, and violinist for numerous bands.

Biography

VerLin was classically trained on violin starting at age 10 and performed in The International Youth Symphony which was founded by Windsor Symphony Orchestra conductor Matti Holli. After high school, she played guitar and rock violin with other musicians for many years. In 1979, after a feature article about women in rock appeared in the ''

Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival ''Detroit Free Press'' building. ''The News'' absorbed the ''Detroit Tribune'' on February ...

'', she decided to front her own band called Natasha which won an award for Best New Talent. They were active until 1985 and during that time she also worked on projects with Grammy Award winner

Don Was Don Edward Fagenson (born September 13, 1952), known professionally as Don Was (), is an American musician, record producer, music director, film composer, documentary filmmaker and radio host. Since 2011, he has also served as president of the ...

, Grammy Award winner

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producer Steve King and

Marilyn Manson Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He is the lead singer and the only original member remaining of the Marilyn Manson (band), same-titled band he founded in 1989. Th ...

Debbie Harry Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble, July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie (band), Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1 ...

producer Ben Grosse. They toured extensively throughout the midwest and Canada. She is in the Detroit Metro Times Hall of Fame (alongside

Patti Smith Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter, author, and photographer. Her 1975 debut album '' Horses'' made her an influential member of the New York City-based punk rock movement. Smith has fu ...

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and

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...

) after winning best instrumentalist 3 years running for the Detroit Metro Times Music Awards (a.k.a. the Detroit Music Awards). She has been featured in numerous articles in the

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' (commonly referred to as the ''Freep'') is a major daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest local newspaper owned by Gannett (the publisher of ''USA Today''), and is operated by the Detro ...

, Goldmine,

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who, Dave Schulps, and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

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, and the

as well as television and radio appearances. Sarana was one of the original members of the supergroup Dark Carnival, which was a rotating group of superstars from the Detroit Area...most notably Niagara,

Ron Asheton Ronald Franklin Asheton (July 17, 1948 – Wiktionary:circa, c. January 6, 2009) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist, bassist, and co-songwriter for the rock band the Stooges. He formed the band along with Iggy Pop and his brot ...

, Scott Asheton, Cheetah Chrome of the Dead Boys and poet Jim Carroll. In 2004, she switched her talents from rock to Celtic, performing at midwestern

renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

and

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

festivals such as the Michigan Renaissance Festival for the next 4 years. Her most well known and popular song written during that time is St. Brendan's Reel. After reappearing on the Detroit music circuit in 2009, she won Detroit Music Awards Outstanding Instrumentalist in the Acoustic category. In 2010 she won Detroit Music Awards Outstanding Folk Act as a duo with Billy Brandt and received several other nominations in various categories. Her music has been heard worldwide from Australia to Japan and her song "Knock On Wood" was featured on Taxi Talk video in 2010. VerLin's recording of 'Kyrie' was featured in a 2012 Haiti Rescue film soundtrack for Maryland's Fire and Rescue team. She appeared in two films which were shot in Michigan. She is credited with playing the part of a renaissance fiddler in All's Faire in Love and also appeared in Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story where she was a journalist photographer. A voting member of the

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

, she currently splits her time between Detroit and

Stroud Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Sited below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the ...

when not touring.

Style of music

Sarana VerLin's primary musical instruments are the violin, the guitar and the baritone violin. Her current style blends the roots of Celtic, Folk and Americana.

Festivals/Touring

VerLin has toured extensively throughout the Detroit/

Ann Arbor Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

area as well as touring

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, Florida, Canada, Chicago, New York City,

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...

, and England. In 2009, she performed solo and with various musicians during the summer tour, performing at

Blowout, Hamtramck Blowout, Scarab Club Musings Series, Dunegrass, and Michigan Earth Day Festival as well as individual venues. In May 2010, she toured for 2 weeks around

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

with music partner Billy Brandt. Arriving back in the US in June to begin the heavy summer touring season, she performed solo, as a duo with Billy Brandt, or with full band lineup (Brandt on guitar/mandolin/vocals, John Holk on bass/vocals, Drew Howard on dobro/mandolin, Chris Degnore on guitar, and Todd Glass on drums.) In 2011, VerLin returned to England with Billy Brandt and added

Crediton Crediton is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Mid Devon district of Devon, England. It stands on the A377 road, A377 Exeter to Barnstaple road at the junction with the A3072 road to Tiverton, Devon, Tiverton, north w ...

and

Exmouth Exmouth is a harbor, port town, civil parishes in England, civil parish and seaside resort situated on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe, southeast of Exeter. In 2011 it had a population of 34,432, making Exmouth the List of settl ...

May dates. From June through September, the Michigan tour included festivals such as Ann Arbor Summer Festival, Concert of Colors with

's All-Star Review, Arts, Beats and Eats, Assembly Line Concert behind the Michigan Governor, Thumbfest, Detroit River Days Festival, Crossroads Music Festival, Bluewater Festival and concerts at Chelsea Sights & Sounds, Black Cat Concert Series, Stone Arch Concert Series, Trinity House Concerts, and Stonehouse Concerts. Since her November 2011 move to the UK she continued to tour 3–4 weeks in the US and 3–4 weeks in the UK and Europe with Billy Brandt. She performed at festivals (including Bristol Folk Festival,

Priddy Priddy is a village in Somerset, England in the Mendip Hills, close to East Harptree and north-west of Wells, Somerset, Wells. The village lies in a small hollow near the summit of the Mendip range of hills, at an elevation of above sea-leve ...

Folk Festival, Watchet Music Festival, Stroud Fringe Festival) and venues throughout the UK either as a solo artist, with Detroit music partner Billy Brandt, or with UK music group Iron & Oak. She organized the Stroud Americana Festival, a 3-day festival in her then hometown of

during the first weekend in June, which was so popular it ran for a second year.Stroud Americana Festival Returns
/ref>

Awards

*1985 VerLin's band Natasha won Detroit Metro Times Music Awards Best New Talent. *2000 listed in the Detroit Metro Times Hall of Fame alongside

and

after winning Best Instrumentalist for 3 consecutive years. *2009 VerLin won the ''Acoustic/Folk Instrumentalist'' award at the Detroit Music Awards with 2 other nominations. *2010 VerLin along with music partner Billy Brandt won the ''Folk Artist/Act'' award at the Detroit Music Awards with 4 nominations in different categories. Her song "Gravity Down" won the Black Crystal Songwriting Challenge. *2011 VerLin won ''Acoustic/Folk Instrumentalist'' and ''Acoustic/Folk Album'' awards at the Detroit Music Awards with a total of 11 nominations in several categories. *2012 VerLin won ''Classical Recording'', ''World Recording'' and ''Acoustic/Folk Recording'' (with Billy Brandt) at the Detroit Music Awards. *2013 Goin' Home CD nominated ''Acoustic/Folk Recording'' at the Detroit Music Awards. *2014 Brandt & VerLin nominated ''Folk Artist'' at the Detroit Music Awards. *2017 VerLin nominated ''Classical Instrumentalist'' at the Detroit Music Awards. *2017 Finalist in the International UK Songwriting Contest for the song ''Detour'' in the Country category. *2019 VerLin & Brandt Are You Listening? CD nominated ''Americana Recording'' at the Detroit Music Awards.

Discography

# ''Slip of The Lip/Crocodile'' (1981) # ''Mandatory Music Tremor Records Compilation'' (1982) # ''WLLZ Motor City Rocks Compilation'' (1983) # ''WLLZ Motor City Rocks II Compilation'' (1984) # ''Unity Gain Compilation'' (1985) # ''GutterPups'' (2004) # ''GutterPups – Live on the Street of Red Lanterns'' (2005) # ''Amadon Crest – Live'' (2007) # ''Sarana VerLin – Half'' (2009) # ''Billy Brandt & Sarana VerLin – Live From Billy's Basement'' (2010) # "New Atlantic Sound Volume 1 (UK)" (2010) # ''Rock N Reel Magazine Compilation (UK)'' (2010) # ''Carnival Girl – Live and Otherwise'' (2010) # ''US/UK Compilation – Distant Thunder'' (2010) # ''Sarana VerLin – Bats & Butterflies'' (2010) # ''Wilderspin – Something to Crow About'' (2012) # ''Sarana VerLin & Billy Brandt – Goin' Home'' (2013) # ''Iron & Oak – Detour'' (2017) # ''Sarana VerLin & Billy Brandt – Are You Listening?'' (2018)

References

External links

St. Brendan's Reel
written about

Brendan the Navigator Brendan of Clonfert (c. AD 484 – c. 577) is one of the early Celtic Christianity, Irish monastic saints and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. He is also referred to as Brendan the Navigator, Brendan the Voyager, Brendan the Anchorite, ...

Detroit Music Awards
*

Concert of Colors video
*
Sarana VerLin website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verlin, Sarana Living people American rock songwriters American rock singers American punk rock singers American women singer-songwriters American women violinists American women punk rock singers 1953 births Place of birth missing (living people) Singer-songwriters from Michigan 21st-century American violinists 21st-century American women Singers from Detroit Musicians from Detroit