Born to an artistic Arkansas family, singer/songwriter S.J. Tucker took inspiration from Joni Mitchell, Jeff Buckley, and Ani DiFranco when she began performing in 1997. She formed her first band, Skinny White Chick, in 1999; after playing a series of festivals in 2002 and releasing her first album, Haphazard, Tucker decided to become a full-time musician in 2004. That same year, she met fire spinner Kevin Wiley. The two hit it off immediately and formed the performance troupe Fire and Strings, which performed at ~Burning Man in 2005.