Our Story

Sarah and the Arrows emerged out of mutual and musical admiration between friends who were fortunate enough to overlap in the folk circles of Philadelphia, PA. Sarah and the Arrows includes Sarah Napolitan on the guitar, Stacy Weathers on the banjo, and Lee Vuotto on the bass. The group predominantly plays the original songs of Sarah Napolitan, as well as some by Stacy Weathers. The group also enjoys covering a wide variety of songs known well in contemporary, folk, and country circles.
 

Sarah Napolitan- Sarah’s grandmother Hazel handed her down the Epiphone she’d bought secondhand after World War II in hopes that her granddaughter would learn to play Janis Joplin’s ‘Bobby McGee’. Sarah had been crafting poetry about the natural world and life events since early elementary school, and had been singing raucous show tunes with her father or making up songs on too long road trips with her family as a young thing. With the guitar in her hands, all of these pieces of creative expression were molded together, and Sarah began writing songs. Armed with an ancient four track and an arsenal of borrowed instruments, Sarah created her first album, Scrapeless and Nameless and True (1999), in her basement during her junior year of high school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Sarah began performing publicly in 2011 at venues such as the Mermaid Inn and The Philadelphia Folk Festival with The Turnips (Lee Vuotto, Gene Smith, Ernie Tokay, John Strauss), and some of her original songs were featured on their album Sciacky’s Clock (2012). Sarah then went on to release her own album of original songs called Friday Night In (2013) recorded at Little Spiders Studio in Phoenixville, PA. She has recorded with various other artists including Matthew Gordon, Jim Brann, and Jason Parish. Sarah has traveled several times across the country and has worked for the AmeriCorps Program in Portland, OR. She currently resides in Mt. Airy, and in her civilian life she is a certified public school psychologist, volunteers at her local soup kitchen, is a Big Sister in the Big Brother/Big Sister program, and is an avid hiker and nature lover. Sarah is honored to play music with the remarkable women of the Arrows.

Stacy Weathers- Inspired by a wandering banjo player in the early hours of the morning at her first Philadelphia Folk Festival when she was sixteen years old, Stacy decided that one day she too wanted to be able to play lonesome banjo tunes under the night sky. Since that time, Stacy has been exploring the possibilities of both clawhammer and finger picking techniques on the banjo. She developed her style from participating in the Philadelphia old-time, bluegrass and folk communities, and from her travels in Europe, the Middle East, and Central America. Stacy’s past musical projects include playing in the traditional folk music band Cruel Sister, performing at children’s religious services, recording with local singer songwriters, and playing with the old-time band Stolen Thyme.  She also plays with Kicking Down Doors, Yonder Hearts, Meghan Cary with Analog Gypsies, and The Spiritual Window Shoppers. When not playing banjo, Stacy is a teacher, writer, and parent who enjoys immersing her children in the music festival culture.



 

Wendy Fuhr- Wendy  started playing classical violin at 9, and bluegrass/old-timey fiddle at age 10. Wendy’s father introduced her to bluegrass and Celtic music, and brought her to festivals to learn fiddle. She was a member of Full Frontal Folk, So’s Your Mom, and Rock Salt and Nails. She has recorded and played with many other artists over the last 20 years: Christine Havrilla, CC Railroad, Coyote Run, Katie Graybeal, and many more. Wendy learned harmony by listening to her parents’ Eagles and Beatles records, and directed a cappella groups in college and medical school. She plays all styles of fiddle. Wendy is a Family Medicine physician seeing patients and teaching medical students and residents in the Philadelphia area.

Photo courtesy of Carol Foreman Photography

Lee Vuotto- Lee has a long history of music appreciation but as a volunteer at The Philadelphia Folk Festival she discovered she wanted to play music, too. At the age of 40yrs she took a chance and tried on her first instrument -a left-handed Fender Squier P-bass at the former Pro Drum Shop in Glenside, PA. It was a slow and clumsy start but encouraged by friend musicians and her dad who played guitar as a young lad in the 1930’s things eventually fell into place. In 2011 Lee found herself filling in on bass with The Turnips for two shows in Dulcimer Grove at The Philadelphia Folk Festival. That’s when she met her next inspiration in Sarah Napolitan, who was also playing with The Turnips. Mostly self-taught, Lee makes an occasional trip to Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch in Ohio to study with bass master Jack Casady of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna. Along with Sarah & the Arrows Lee plays with The Lost Local Boys, Buzzkill Angels, Matt Gordon & Friends, and the emerging rocker band Dracula’s Miniskirt.