While she began piano lessons at the age of four, the Kansas native grew up in a strict Pentecostal household with a father who banned television and secular music, though her mother would sometimes allow indulgences in pop culture. Penhaligon rebelled by majoring in music in college, then immigrating to London, England in 1998, where she took classes at Saint Martins in hopes of finding kindred spirits and means of expression. It was there that she joined Adrian Morris in the synth pop outfit Vic Twenty, which toured the U.K. and Europe in support of legendary duo Erasure in 2003. Her band split later that year, and Penhaligon signed with Truck Records. Her 2004 Piney Gir debut, Peakahokahoo, contained a mishmash of styles and featured like-minded Irish musician Simple Kid. She again toured in support of Erasure, this time as Piney Gir, and issued a remix of the duo's U.K. Top 20 hit "Don't Say You Love Me." Her sophomore LP, Hold Yer Horses, a collaboration with new band the Piney Gir Country Roadshow, was a more focused, feel-good country record. It had a full band sound similar to that of Cambridge contemporaries the Broken Family Band, with whom Penhaligon had co-written the witty "Alone in the Make-Out Room" for 2006’s Balls. She soon began work on another solo album, this time with production help from the Age of Reason. Meanwhile, the Schla La Las, a short-lived, all-female garage pop outfit for which she played guitar, were also getting coverage in the U.K. music press. Her third solo long-player, the self-released The Yearling, eventually appeared in 2009 and offered a style-hopping, indie-centric song set, while 2010's Jesus Wept was another Country Roadshow release. The solo album Geronimo! followed in 2011 via Damaged Goods, and was supported by her debut performance at the CMJ Festival in New York City, as well as a set at Glastonbury Festival, where she was joined on-stage by former Schla La Las bandmates. Mixing electric guitar reverb, melodic percussion instruments, and vintage and contemporary synths, her sixth album, Mr. Hyde's Wild Ride, arrived in 2015, also on Damaged Goods. ~ Marcy Donelson & Rovi Staff