When Aly Tadros was offered her first paid gig, she had three original songs under her belt. The set called for two hours. She took it anyways.

That gutsy attitude is sewn throughout Aly's debut album, Things Worth Keeping. Recorded and produced by Duane Lundy (Ben Sollee, These United States, Vandaveer), Things Worth Keeping released August 22nd surrounded by a developing five month US & European tour that Aly, at the ripe old age of 22, is booking independently.

Spacious and melodic, salty and moving, Aly Tadros alternative folk stylings tempts each listener out of the vacuum-sealed sterility of every day life. Her classical guitar writhes on the floor of the mind, haunted by the honesty of her lyrics . Her influences range from the off-kilter Tom Waits, to the commanding Ani DiFranco, to the captivating Fiona Apple, leaving the listener to feel seduced, loved, left and wizened. In addition to her influences, Aly is frequently compared with the likes of Rachael Yamagata and Jolie Holland.

Before flamenco lessons and tennis tournaments, Aly jokes that she first wowed audiences as a Cardboard Fish in a community theater showing of The Little Mermaid in her home town of Laredo, Texas. She studied in Spain, Turkey and Egypt in high school and marched on to study middle eastern politics at Sarah Lawrence in New York before dropping out to pursue music full-time, playing over 200 shows in her first year alone. Aly may have soaked up her eclectic guitar style from Mexico to Egypt, but her words could only be born from the most deep and quiet places within her conscience. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.