Jenny Scheinman is one of modern jazz’s most respected violinists. Now, her dramatic transformation into a pop performer may make her a household name as well.

Best known for playing with jazz luminaries like Bill Frisell and boundary-crossing experimentalists like Nels Cline, violinist Jenny Scheinman has recently released two albums. Crossing the Field is a lush instrumental affair, while Jenny Scheinman is a rootsy blend of country and folk that for the very first time showcases Scheinman’s vocal abilities. The result is an intimate double portrait of a talented young artist on the cusp of the next phase of an already impressive career.

“I’ve always looked for the nearest cliff to jump off, and this was the tallest one I could find,” Scheinman explains of her transition from sideman to singer. “I just started singing more and more, got some encouragement I couldn’t ignore [from] Norah Jones, Rodney Crowell and Lucinda Williams, to name a few, and took the plunge.”

Considering that the encouragement came from some of the biggest and best vocalists in America, she was wise to heed their advice.

Jenny Scheinman opens with a line Bob Dylan first recorded nearly 50 years ago: “I was young when I left home/An’ I been out a-ramblin’ round/An’ I never wrote a letter to my home.” In a way, the album is Scheinman’s own letter home; as she puts it, the album is “a sort of re-giving [of] the gift my parent’s gave me.”

Watch a short documentary in which Scheinman discusses the composing process, layered over a live performance at Barbes in Brooklyn, N.Y.A recent transplant to Brooklyn, N.Y., Scheinman was born to a musical family in rural Northern California and began singing and playing violin at a young age. While she also studied jazz and classical music, she was raised to appreciate traditional roots music.

For her vocal debut, she chose to cover songs by American icons like Mississippi John Hurt, Jimmy Reed and Tom Waits. “The covers are songs I wouldn’t be here without,” she says.

Scheinman also crafted four autobiographical songs for the album—her first time writing lyrics—which hold their own alongside the selected covers.

After a recent East Coast tour, Scheinman is back to playing her weekly residency at the Brooklyn club Barbés. She also has a new album that “will be mostly originals, if not all originals” in the works. Considering the critical success of her vocal debut, it seems that it’s only a matter of time before her voice is as well known as her violin.

When asked about the possibility of becoming a crossover success, Jenny excitedly answers that “songs are gifts, and I want to give them to as many people as possible. Spread the love!”

From Lou Reed to Rodney Crowell, find out about Scheinman’s influences in her own words, and listen to samples from songs that have stuck with her through the years.