Bryden graduated from Amherst Regional High School, and deferred going to college for a year to skydive on a drop zone in Arizona, study Italian and opera in Manhattan and eventually travel to Australia for three months of backpacking, where she bought her first guitar.

A classically trained musician (she studied the cello for ten years), Bryden dreamed of becoming an opera singer before hearing Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin for the first time.

Disillusioned with the music business, she travelled to New Orleans to write a new album, inspired by the jazz, roots and blues influences of the Crescent City.

Bryden began recording with producer John Hill, but after the project ran out of money they returned to New York with a half-finished album.

After coming across a Milton Avery painting during an attic clear out (a gift from her father), Bryden auctioned the piece and received a substantial amount for it.

In 2008, following a chance meeting with a US Army colonel at SXSW in Austin, Texas, Bryden flew to Iraq to play for the Armed Forces.

Bryden collaborated with British guitarist and songwriter Patrick Mascall, with whom she began writing songs that reflected their mutual admiration for the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris.

Following the success of the first single "Buildings & Treetops" (which was a top 20 airplay hit), "Sirens" was released on 10 September 2012, and spent three weeks on the BBC Radio 2 A-list.

Following the release of "Sirens", Bryden was approached by Take That lead singer Gary Barlow, who asked her to join him as the support act for his UK tour from November to January 2013.

[5] Bryden released her record Wayfarer, a double CD that included both the original and acoustic versions of the album, on 28 July 2014 through Absolute.

For the song "Thought I Was Meant For You," director Rhys Davies created a cinematic video that told the story of a gay older couple, one of whom suffered from Alzheimer's.

She launched the new material live on BBC Radio 2 when she took part in the Comic Relief Special with Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman.

The show was an hour-long dedication to music born out of New York and featured some of the artists who had inspired Bryden as songwriter, as she grew up in the city.