S.J. Tucker

Hailing from an artistic family in Arkansas, singer/songwriter S.J. Tucker drew early influence from Joni Mitchell, Jeff Buckley, and Ani DiFranco upon launching her performing career in 1997. Her debut group, Skinny White Chick, took shape in 1999. After a string of festival appearances in 2002 and the issuance of her first record, Haphazard, she made the choice in 2004 to pursue music full time. That year also brought her first meeting with fire spinner Kevin Wiley. Their immediate rapport prompted the creation of the performance troupe Fire and Strings, which took the stage at Burning Man in 2005. The next year she partnered with Betsy Tinney and Alexander James Adams to launch the West Coast band and musical collective Tricky Pixie. In 2007 she issued Blessings and Solace and Sorrow, a companion album to the Catherynne M. Valente novel The Orphan's Tales: In the Cities of Coin and Spice.