Sarah Olson, Alternative Folk

Call it folk music with an edge.

With soulful vocals and a universal message, Los Angeles-based singer songwriter Sarah Olson has found a growing fan base and caught the eye of established singer songwriters in California.

Her first set of songs, released on iTunes â in December 2005, rose on the folk chart immediately, landing her in the top ten along with Bob Dylan and Cat Sevens. Olson recorded her first album, "Maybe I Can Change", this summer. It includes three of the four original songs from the short album.

"This is my dream," Olson said. "I'm living it."

Olson grew up in Washington, D.C. and began writing music at age 13. She played in D.C. area clubs as a teenager, then lived in New York and Colorado, working as a nanny, bartender and housekeeper to support herself while songwriting.

She wrote one of her most popular songs, "Hold Me Now," at age 19, while strumming on her mother's guitar in the middle of the night.

She was discovered as an artist while cleaning the house of an owner of a Los Angeles-based record label.

Olson moved to Los Angeles in 2000 to start from scratch as a songwriter, where she released the live short album that rose on iTunes â . Since then, she has been playing for packed audiences and performing live on radio. She launches her first college tour this fall.

Olson earned a degree in guitar from the Musician's Institute in Hollywood, and owns the music publishing company Roadtrip Publishing.