Vienna Teng

Not so long ago, being a singer-songwriter was merely a hobby for Vienna Teng, a Stanford computer science grad who was on the fast track to a lucrative career, working as a software engineer in Silicon Valley. But she gave all that up to pursue her musical passions - a risky career move, but one which has paid off. The 27-year-old has already released two critically acclaimed independent albums: 2002's Waking Hour and 2004's Warm Strangers, which landed on three Billboard album charts and reached #2 on Amazon's best-seller list. She's appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman and toured widely, opening for such artists as Shawn Colvin, Joan Osborne, Patty Griffin, Joan Baez and the Indigo Girls."People used to ask what kind of music I played and I never knew how to answer that," says Teng. "I work a lot with classically trained musicians, but most of my influences are from 1970's-era folk music. So now I call it chamber folk." Produced by Larry Klein (Madeleine Peyroux, Joni Mitchell), the album is chockfull of memorable songs that together form a landmark achievement for this bold new talent.