Thursday, March 15   8:30 p.m.
The Parish   (214B E 6th St)

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"I arrived in time to capture a gorgeous set by Meiko ... my pick for [Hotel Café's] next big success story. If Nic Harcourt hasn't begun to champion her yet on his 'Morning Becomes Eclectic' show, it's only a matter of time." - Josh Jackson, Editor, Paste Magazine

Jackson's selection was made after catching Meiko’s stand-out performance at the recent Sundance Film Festival, marking 2007 as Meiko's break-out year.

It's been an exceptional journey for this singer-songwriter, who gave her first public vocal performance at an all-black Southern Baptist church in her hometown of Roberta, Georgia (pop. 808) at the tender age of eight.

Four years later, her father - a talented back-porch musician - gave Meiko her first six-string. The songs soon followed.

"As soon as I learned a new chord, I wrote a song," she says.

With a current catalog of nearly 80 songs, Meiko has continued writing at a prolific pace - soaking up influences along the way as diverse as Patty Griffin, Sade, and Portishead.

Whatever her influences have been, Meiko has managed to craft songs of sweet disquiet that are all her own. Songs that reflect a clear understanding of how things are ... and a longing wish for how they might be.

“There’s a path you choose to follow,” she sings on, ‘I’m O.K.’, a track from her new debut EP. With her recent success, the path Meiko appears to have chosen for herself is straight up.