Helen McCreary, Melis Aker

Helen McCreary grew up in rural upstate New York. At age four, her parents - in a desperate bid to make her sit still for five minutes - started her on the cello. Many years later, after playing lots of Bach and Beethoven, she decided that guitar was a lot more fun, and started to write songs. A classically trained soprano, she pulls inspiration from songwriters such as Brandi Carlile, Joan Baez, Allison Krauss, and Joni Mitchell, as well as traditional folk songs. After graduating from Yale with a degree in archaeology, Helen worked as a backpacking instructor in the mountains of Wyoming, and as an archaeologist in Christchurch, New Zealand. Her songs are, in many ways, a musical diary of her thoughts and experiences as a young woman finding her place in the world.