Portrait of Sarah Wilfong Joblin

Sarah Wilfong Joblin

Pro Tempore Instructor of Musicology
Music
swilfong@uoregon.edu
Phone: N/A
Office:
Research Interests: Popular Music, American Roots Music, folk music performance practice, intersection of violin and fiddle techniques

Sarah Wilfong Joblin currently directs the American Roots Ensemble and Traditional Irish Music Ensemble at the University of Oregon, and has taught violin and fiddle at Middle Tennessee State University, Vanderbilt University, and at workshops around the country. Wilfong Joblin began her violin studies at 3 years old in her native city of Chicago; as a child she studied with Rachel Barton Pine and Drew Lecher, both of whom encouraged her passion for fiddle music. She formalized her relationship with fiddle music at Berklee College of Music where she studied jazz, bluegrass, and composition. Wilfong Joblin has composed and premiered multiple works for solo violin and orchestra, and has appeared with artists such as Michale Bublé, Steven Tyler, Two Cellos, and with jazz greats Charlie Haden and Michael Brecker at Carnegie Hall. She toured nationally and internationally for nearly a decade with the all-female country group Mustang Sally, and is a songwriter for Nashville publishing house Hammering the Hits. Locally, Wilfong Joblin can be found performing as a member of the Eugene Symphony, and with the Eugene bluegrass staple, the Moon Mountain String Band. 

  • DMA, Violin Performance, University of Oregon, 2024
  • MMus, Violin Performance,  Middle Tennessee State University, 2020
  • BMus, Violin Performance, Middle Tennessee State University, 2018

Recordings of note

Solo releases 

  • Facets, Sarah Wilfong, 2012 - composer, arranger, producer, performer 
  • Fiddle Soup, Sarah Wilfong, 2007 - composer, arranger, producer, performer 

Group appearances 

  • Moon Mountain String Band, Valsetz, 2025 - composer, arranger, producer, performer 
  • Moon Mountain String Band, Moon Mountain String Band, 2024 - performer 
  • Kirwan the Band, Kirwan, 2024 - performer 
  • Robin Ruddy, Healing Happens, 2023 - performer 
  • Kettle of Fish, Celtic Christmas, 2019 - composer, arranger, producer, performer 
  • Kettle of Fish, Celtic Mist, 2019 - composer, arranger, producer, performer 
  • Robin Ruddy, Miss Robin’s Musical Farm - arranger, performer 
  • Roy Orbison, Mystery Girl 25th Anniversary Edition, 2014 - arranger, performer 
  • Jesse Linder, Ready for the Storm, 2014 - arranger, producer, performer 
  • Candace Corrigan Group, O’Carolan: Songwriter, 2013 - arranger, producer, performer 
  • Mustang Sally, Mustang Sally, 2008 - performer 
  • Mustang Sally, Git R Done, 2005 - performer 
  • Mustang Sally, Six Strings and a Honky Tonk, 2004 - performer 
  • Additional guest appearances on 50+ albums 

Honors

  • Roundhouse Grant to support American Roots Ensemble travel and performance, 2025 
  • CEI Grant for Program Enhancement, 2024 
  • Outstanding Graduate Performer Award in Strings, University of Oregon, 2024  
  • MTSU Overall Outstanding College of Liberal Arts Graduate Student Award, 2020 
  • Finalist, Naylor Solo Artist Competition, 2020 (Finals canceled due to COVID-19) 
  • URECA Undergraduate Research Grant recipient, 2018 
  • Honors Transfer Fellowship, MTSU Honors College, 2017 
  • MTSU School of Music Scholarship, 2017 
  • Creative Capital Conference fellow, hosted by the Tennessee Arts Council, 2012 
  • Berklee College of Music Best Invention Award for an outstanding composition in the style of Bach, 2003 
  • Berklee College of Music Terri Lyne Carrington Award, given for musical leadership and performance, 2003