Tarney Haussler is young (just turned 15), pretty and multitalented. Talented in sports? Yes. The Nevada Union High School freshman participates in track, basketball and lacrosse - all does well at all three. She loves to go dirt-biking, backpacking, skiing, diving and exploring caves. She is a great student, too, and gets good grades in every subject. She likes to read, fiction mostly, such as "Lord of the Rings."

Could such a person be also musically talented? A resounding yes to that one. She plays the harp and sings like a druid of yore.

My first exposure to her music came when I dropped into the Stonehouse several weeks ago to hear some Celtic jamming. She pulled her harp to her and sang an Irish tune. I was floored. I couldn't help but think to myself, "The next Joanna Newsom?"

Tarney says, "I didn't chose the harp; it chose me. I actually started on the fiddle, then I saw it, a dusty strings harp, and I had to play it." She was 8 years old at the time. Her teacher turned out to be Lisa Stine, a local harpist of repute, who says, "Tarney came to me in 2002. It was quite obvious from the start that she was a natural musician ... and a joy to teach, not only because she is gifted but because she is an enthusiastic, intrinsically motivated music maker. Tarney is a wonderful Celtic player... really listens to the style and can create it ... of course, with her own creative "take" on them."

She has a lovely voice, to boot. "I've been in choir since seventh grade, and I do a lot of singing. I've been in several bands as lead singer, the most recent of which was the13, a rock band. I've been in bands with my mother (Saoirse, pronounced "SEER-sha," meaning freedom in Irish Gaelic, on the main stage at the Celtic Festival two years ago) and even with a couple friends for a one-time show. I'll sing anything. I love rock and jazz and some classical stuff like 'The Phantom of the Opera' or choir music."

Her understanding of music allows for some fun improvisations "and the personal arrangements of her pieces ... goes way beyond what I lay out for her," says Stine. "(She) jumps at encouragement and suggestions to "enlarge" each arrangement. She hears the music inside her and wants to make the more complex jazz harmonies, which are not easy or possible on a folk harp."

Translation: Tarney is ready for the next big leap to a pedal harp, one of those instruments that are so ridiculously expensive that Stine is helping out by researching contests and scholarships that might make it possible for her to have one.

Where to catch Tarney performing? No regular gigs right now, but every once in a while she drops into The Stonehouse to join the Celtic jam "just for a little fun every once in a blue moon." She and her mother, Shawn, will perform at the restaurant on St. Patrick's Day (March 17) at 6 p.m.

Though Tarney plays mostly Celtic music, classical and rock interest her, as well. She hopes to regroup with the13, the local teen rock band she has a history with, for a concert this summer.

Where is Tarney going with her career? She just won first place in her leg of the Rotary Club young musician's competition and will be competing in the second round Saturday at the Holbrooke Hotel in Grass Valley. A win would take her to the regionals in Reno.

"My goals are so very many, I can't even think about it," she says. "I want to go somewhere with music, definitely, but also with athletics and singing and possibly into a college that involves dancing, singing and acting. A couple side goals are things like write a book in my lifetime, pilot a plane and climb a mountain with my dad some day."

By the way, "Tarney" is an Irish name that means noble. "I am actually the first female in my family to have that name. It was my grandpa's before me, and so on." Appropriate, yes?