About Sarah Allison Turner
What’s in the name? Well, the answer is personal for country singer-songwriter Sarah Allison Turner. Born in the mountains of Bluefield, West Virginia, her unique moniker came from parents who thought “it sounded like a cool stage name,” she says with a laugh. It is no surprise music has been a part of Sarah’s destiny from the beginning.
Her first memory of music is her dad playing cover songs on the guitar at 4 years old. She began piano lessons the same year and honed her skill for singing in church where her grandfather was the pastor. A few years later she started her first band and while they never performed a single show together, it was then that Sarah knew music was always going to be part of her life —she just didn’t quite know how. “Music was something I was always around,” says the woman who calls Loretta Lynn her hero. “Besides my dad playing and singing around the house, I’m pretty sure everyone in my family can play an instrument and sing. It’s like a Turner family rite of passage or something.”
A moment on the floor of her bedroom closet when she was 15-years-old changed everything. She had been writing poems there, and eventually, she started putting music to those words. When her dad overheard the process, she reluctantly played him the first song she finished called “Letter To You.” His response set the trajectory for the rest of Sarah’s career. “There’s a place in Nashville called the Bluebird Café,” he said at the time. “If you write two more songs, I’ll take you to Nashville.”
Discovering songwriting and her beloved Bluebird Café that day led to the realization that Music City was indeed where she belonged. In 2011, she moved to Murfreesboro, TN—a few miles outside of Nashville—to attend Middle Tennessee State University, but she jokes she found herself on Music Row more than on campus.
That time in the heart of the city’s hustle and bustle helped to create many coincidental connections for the artist who names Miranda Lambert, Dixie Chicks and Lee Ann Womack as her biggest influences. Taking hold of every opportunity she could, the fiery redhead applied for an office manager position at Horipro Entertainment. While she didn’t
get the job, she had the opportunity to play a few of her songs for the company’s executives. A few months later she began an internship at Sea Gayle Music where she met A&R rep Courtney Crist, who quickly became Sarah’s biggest cheerleader. While Sarah waited tables at Nashville’s Loveless Café, Courtney remained by her side and continued to be Sarah’s champion when she began a new position at—where else? —Horipro Entertainment.
That full-circle moment led the timeless talent to her big break: signing a publishing deal with Horipro in 2015. Shortly thereafter, she earned her first cut as a songwriter when Tyler Farr recorded her song “I Should Go to Church Sometime.” Sarah has since earned cuts from Alan Jackson,
Gretchen Wilson, Walker County and many more. Her song “Hope” was even picked up for an episode of Grey’s Anatomy in 2020.
The same passion Sarah found for music at an early age is still alive and well. Opening for Jameson Rodgers’ Cold Beer Calling My Name Tour this fall, she has also shared stages with the likes of Cody Johnson, Walker Hayes, Lee Ann Womack, and more. She recently recorded a project with hit songwriter and two-time ACM Album of the Year nominee Bart Butler (Jon Pardi, Craig Campbell, Trace Adkins). Check our her latest single “Intervention!”
