Megan Reilly

Singer/songwriter Megan Reilly crafts a lilting kind of beauty reminiscent of Cat Power, Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis, and Tanya Donelly. Born in Memphis in 1978, she started guitar lessons at age 15 and soon formed her first band, Lucynell Crater, which took its name from a Flannery O'Connor character. For several years afterward she stayed active by playing the Memphis bar circuit and cutting a single with Doug Easley for Loverly Records. With the arrival of the new millennium she relocated to New York to immerse herself in its thriving music community. Almost immediately she connected with Sonic Youth's Steve Shelley, whose admiration for her earlier recordings with Easley led him to secure performances for her around the city. A CMJ showcase alongside Joel RL Phelps and Johnny Dowd came next. Her debut album, Arc of Tessa, appeared on Carrot Top in 2003, and her striking follow-up, Let Your Ghost Go, arrived in early 2006.