Ingrid Michaelson, Meiko, Priscilla Ahn, Brooke Fraser, Erin McCarley, Holly Conlan

Alice Russell
Soul era-inspired U.K. vocalist Alice Russell, if anything a child of Chaka Khan, became increasingly known throughout the early 2000s with her contributions to recordings from Bah Samba, Quantic, TM Juke, and Nostalgia 77, and she also released some ambitious albums for the Tru Thoughts label.

Rachael Yamagata
Singer/songwriter Rachael Yamagata grew up listening to Carole King, Roberta Flack, James Taylor, and the like, for music was the one thing in Yamagata's life that remained consistent. Her parents divorced when she was two, forcing her to find a balance between her German-Italian...

Catherine Feeny
"I was born, third of three, to the Feeny's of Mt. Airy, Pennsylvania. Both of my parents grew up in big Irish Catholic families in Philadlephia boroughs. "My mother was an english teacher; she inspired in me an unnatural affinity for melancholy and fiction.

Katie Herzig
Katie Herzig struck out on her own after eight years as the frontwoman for Newcomers Home. Herzig was no stranger to the solo game, having released her first solo album, Watch Them Fall, in 2004, so it was no surprise when, following the dissolution of Newcomers Home in 2006, Herzig...

Kate Havnevik
London-based, Norwegian-born Kate Havnevik spent her formative years with the desire to become a guitarist in the jazz and classical worlds, but these plans were derailed after joining a punk band at the tender age of 14.

Thao Nguyen
Indie folk singer/songwriter Thao Nguyen crafts delicate but memorable songs tinged with country and blues, and her rich voice and thoughtful lyrics draw comparisons to Fiona Apple and Cat Power.

I Nine
Hailing from central South Carolina, the female-fronted pop/rock quintet I Nine first appeared in 2005, having received a personal invitation from screenwriter/director Cameron Crowe to appear on the motion picture soundtrack for Elizabethtown.

Brooke Fraser
Brooke Fraser translated her pensive, Christian-themed folk-pop into massive commercial success, emerging as one of the best-selling New Zealand singer/songwriters in history via her 2003 debut LP, What to Do with Daylight.

Jenny Owen Youngs
Coming up strong behind R. Stevie Moore as the most talented singer/songwriter to be based in the nondescript bedroom community of Montclair, NJ, Jenny Owen Youngs fuses Liz Phair's perceptive and brashly funny lyrics with the orchestrated folk-pop of Regina Spektor and Erin McKeown...

Anya Marina
With her uniquely breathy vocals and diverse résumé, Anya Marina is a modern day Renaissance woman: actress, comic, disc jockey, and songwriter. Marina was born in Ann Arbor, MI, a town she eventually left in order to pursue an acting career in California.

Ingrid Michaelson
With her piano-fueled songwriting, witty wordplay, and slight vocal vibrato, Ingrid Michaelson carries the tradition of the female singer/songwriter into the 21st century. Befitting a musician of the digital age, Michaelson first gained wide exposure through spots on TV soundtracks...

Priscilla Ahn
A charming singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist (playing the guitar, bass, harmonica, ukelele, and even kazoo from time to time), Priscilla Ahn was raised in rural Bernville, PA.

Holly Conlan
A California-based singer and songwriter, Holly Conlan got her start at a very young age, which is not surprising given that her father was a classical composer. Her debut 2005 LP, Holly Conlan, was followed by the EP Bird, which appeared in 2008, and was bolstered by a string of...

Jaymay
A member of the New York anti-folk scene that developed in the early part of the 21st century, singer/songwriter Jaymay (real name: Jamie Kristine Seerman) has drawn comparisons to Feist and Laura Veirs with her wistful vocals and literate, folksy narratives.

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Emily Wells
Emily Wells' songwriting combines electronics, orchestral strings, jazz structures, pop sensibilities, and vibrato-laden vocals into one eclectic package. A former child prodigy, she began fielding offers from record labels during her teenage years.

Meiko
Meiko is one of the most promising singer-songwriters to emerge from the Los Angeles music scene in recent years. Counting among her influences artists as diverse as Patty Griffin, Sade, and Portishead, Meiko has managed to create songs of sweet disquiet that are all her own.

Samantha Crain
Samantha Crain was raised in rural Shawnee, OK, a town whose remote location influenced her quirky, earthy interpretation of folk music. Although inspired by the sounds of her father's music collection, including Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead, an adolescent Crain took even greater...

Lenka
Taking a break from her duties as vocalist and keyboardist for Australia's Decoder Ring, songwriter Lenka Kripac relocated to Los Angeles and began crafting eclectic, atmospheric pop songs under her forename.