Kansas City, New York, Paris – it has been a long, rewarding ride for the softly-spoken and fiercely-talented Krystle Warren.

Warren has a lot of friends. Rufus Wainwright, for one, who invited her to join his band and dared to have her open for him, saying she is “formidable” . And scores of musicians rallied around when it came to ditching her label and recording her Love Songs double-album independently.

We talk to the very dry Warren about leaping off the major-label bandwagon, recording raw, making cover songs her own, how to deal with noisy crowds (hint: stand on the bar), and the torrent of praise.