Although born in Illinois on January 23, 1964, songwriter Jonatha Brooke later moved to Massachusetts, where she launched her career as a folksinger after meeting her bandmate, Jennifer Kimball, at Amherst College. The two began collaborating together as college students in the mid-1980s, performing in coffeeshops and local clubs as folk-pop duo called The Story. Hailed as contemporaries of The Indigo Girls, The Story signed with the New England-based independent label Green Linnet Records and released a debut album, Grace in Gravity, in 1991. Elektra Records reissued Grace in Gravity in 1992, and The Story remained with the label for 1993's The Angel in the House before splitting up. Jonatha Brooke launched her solo career the following year, releasing Plumb in 1995 and 10 Cent Wings in 1997. The latter album was issued by MCA Records, but Brooke's time on a major label proved to be short-lived, and she transformed herself into an independent, DIY-minded entrepreneur by forming her own label, Bad Dog Records, during the decade's final stretch. Bad Dog Records became the home for all of her subsequent work, including 2004's Back in the Circus (which featured covers of songs by James Taylor, the Beach Boys, and The Alan Parsons Project) and 2007's Careful What You Wish For. In 2008, she wrote and recorded "What You Don't Know," the theme song for the TV show Dollhouse. One decade later, she won "Overall Grand Prize" and "Best Female Artist" at the 15th Annual International Acoustic Music Awards. Both prizes were awarded in early 2019, and Brooke returned later that year with a new EP, Imposter. The Sweetwater Sessions followed in 2020.
