Claire Chamblin Holley, a native of Mississippi, was exposed from an early age to the southland's rich variety of musical influences, and from an early age she responded. She took a ukulele to church and sat out in the hot car strumming it between Sunday school and the church service. She ruined her father's classical guitar by replacing the nylon strings with steel strings so she could imitate what she'd been hearing on her favorite record Chet Atkins and Merle Travis Traveling Show.

She moved to North Carolina, where she collaborated with producer John Plymale on the 1999 release, Sanctuary, a visionary collection of traditional hymns and gospel songs which struck a chord with many radio listeners: "Every time we play 'Bounty of the Lord' ... the phones ring and ring." (Keith Weston, WUNC Chapel Hill, NC). She signed with Yep Roc Records soonafter and her self-titled release from the label was featured on NPR's Weekend Edition with Liane Hansen. Performing Songwriter calls her work on this record, "straig