A few years ago, she lost an entire fully completed album due to record label restructuring. Last summer she was the victim of a brutal gang attack in LA. And this summer (July 21) she releases a great new album, A Little Happiness, which she recorded in Indiana while taking a break from California. And, most importantly, her song On Vacation is on our New Music Sampler.

Aimee Allen dropped by the Carter Subaru Mountain Music Lounge to introduce herself and play a couple of songs. Listen to the entire session here and you’ll hear her talk about whistling, how she got nominated for a Grammy for a song she sang in the musical Hairspray, her attack, and why her songs are sunny-on-the-outside, dark-on-the-inside.

And here’s a shot of me with Aimee and her bandmates Scott (left) and Andrew (right):

Oh yeah, and I’d also like to point out that she signed a poster for me and said I was her “treasure.” I can live with that: