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Sharon Little: WXPN's January 2009 Artist to Watch

Sharon Little

Working as waitress at the start of 2008, soul-pop singer Sharon Little was suddenly the opening act for big-name stars Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, and T-Bone Burnett in their national Raising Sand tour. Though she could be called an overnight sensation, Little has been honing her distinctive, bluesy style for years.

She began performing in her teens and while living in Philadelphia, she made the local venue rounds. Her sultry, soulful voice attracted the attention of a label early on, but Little rejected the offer to pursue her own sound. She self-released a critically acclaimed album in 2006, Drawing Circles, and began co-writing with Grammy-winning Scot Sax over the course of two years as they made numerous cross-country trips by train. The material from this collaboration - inspired mostly by their travels - is what comprises Little's first major label album.

Little's 2008 debut, Perfect Time for a Breakdown, clinched the opening act on the Raising Sand tour and got the attention of Rolling Stone, who featured her as a "Breaking Artist". In the album, her acoustic-pop style is intensified by her jazzy, moving vocals, and her years of performing experience have given her a commanding yet soulful presence. A track on Breakdown, "Follow That Sound," was featured on XPN Local, Volume 2 CD and was then selected as the theme to the hit A&E series "The Cleaner".

After finishing her concerts with Krauss, Plant, and Burnett, Little has more performances lined up across the states, some supporting Jonny Lang. Little and Sax also recently took their collaboration to the small screen on "CSI: New York" portraying subway buskers. The episode airs January 14.

Website: sharonlittle.com
MySpace: myspace.com/sharonlittle
Origin: Philadelphia, PA
Recent Release: Perfect Time for a Breakdown
Release Date: May 27, 2008
Label: CBS Records

Song Clips:
listenFollow That Sound | Oohwee | Try