Music Style folk influenced pop

Musical Influences Ani DiFranco, Indigo Girls, Dave Matthews, Caedmon's Call, Patti Griffin, Jonatha Brooke...

Similar Artists I've heard Lisa Loeb, but I'll let you decide...

Artist History Melissa Snyder, born and raised into a family of musical influence and passion, has found that writing has always come naturally to her. Growing up in Wilmington Delaware, she learned early the magic of music by listening to her fathers cover band practice, and immersing herself in her mother’s old 45’s. "I used to sit in the den for hours when I was in high school just listening to the music that my parents grew up on. Bands like the Allman Brothers, Janice Joplin, Cat Stevens, I heard them sing songs about what life was teaching them, and it changed me." It wasn’t long until she began writing her own songs at the age of 16. Melissa went to college in Lynchburg VA and managed to sit through enough classes to get a degree. What really began occupying her time there was finding other musicians to write and perform with. "I played in 3 different configurations of bands. It was chaos for a while, just trying to find my sound and what I wanted my music to be about. It took the first 2 and a half years for me to get it right." Melissa started playing small clubs and coffee shops around the college town of Lynchburg. By the time she began her junior year, she was playing consistently with Sean Burtt, and they formed a fast musical friendship. Soon after they began playing together, Chris Weston joined to make a trio of folk music unlike Lynchburg had ever heard. They formed the band Less than Local and moved to Nashville the summer before Melissa’s senior year. "We didn’t know a single person in Nashville. We just moved there, with a name of a friend of a friend scrawled on some paper and a demo CD we recorded in the audio labs at Liberty University. Looking back now, that’s the kind of gutsy move that makes a dream bigger than reality, that’s the kind of thing you have to do to make it happen." Less than Local then joined up with some local musicians and songwriters and recorded their first real project. They played all over Nashville at writer’s nights and open mics with Melissa at the helm. Melissa and her band headed back to Lynchburg to finish one more year of college. When they returned, they slowly began to burn their music into the heart of the locals, playing every Sunday night at a local hot spot called Percival’s Isle. Their subtle style and heart warming camaraderie, mixed with the powerful lyrics and melodies Melissa writes were enough to capture the hearts of the locals in Lynchburg. "We were breaking attendance records in this little club, and people would bring their instruments and just hop on stage with us at any given time and just play. It’s unreal the connection we make when we lay our hearts on the table and let people into our world. It’s magical." Graduation found Melissa heading back to Nashville where she has lived for a year and a half now. Melissa is actively pursuing song writing and she continues to play at area colleges and local hot spots around Nashville.

Location Nashville, TN - USA

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