Gerson, who is a singer/songwriter from New York City, graduated from Princeton in 1992 and toured as an opening act for Dave Matthews, Suzanne Vega, Steven Wright and Roger McGuinn. An abusive relationship led to the very personal songs on This Can't Be My Life, which she completed in 2007 but held back until 2010 so she could care for her daughters, who were ages 5 and 2 at the time. Gerson told us: "'Hazel' is a song about my younger daughter and may be my favorite song on the album, mostly because of work Dave Amels did on it (keys). I think, as an artist, sometimes listening to your own work and enjoying hearing it back can be a challenge. When I listen to 'Hazel' I can stay in the moment of the song and just hear it, it's beautiful, and expresses everything I wanted it to." (Ruth's website is ruthgerson.com.)