From an article by Paul Jarvey on the compilation album, Acoustic Alliance, Volume 1, which appeared in Datebook: The Sunday Telegram's Arts & Entertainment Guide, May 15, 1994.
She grew up in Long Island, N.Y., and started playing the guitar in the fourth grade. She didn't know she wanted to be a musician, though, until just a few years ago.
"No one ever encouraged me to find what I wanted to do," Kessler said. "I was the kind of kid that needed encouragement. I sometimes think that if I was encouraged at a younger age, I might already have had a hit record. It's so much what I wanted to do."
She wasn't sure exactly what kind of career she wanted to pursue when she graduated from Cornell University 10 years ago, but she didn't think it would include music.
That began to change in 1985 when she went to a folk festival in Arlington and was blown away by Rory Block.
She was still a long way from performing, though.
"It has been a gradual decision," Kessler said. "When I started writing songs and performing at open mikes, I don't think I decided that's what I want to do. I was gathering enough confidence to say, 'This is what I want to do.' It was in the last two years that the confidence made it so that I could pursue (a career)."
She has started to wean herself off her day job as a health educator-counselor and has become more reliant on her music.
Now, she is trying to get used to the demands of her career.
"I'm trying to find a rhythm in terms of being on the road, performing and writing," Kessler said. "Being in the car is actually one of the best times for writing. I don't have a car radio. I have long stretches of silence. That's where ideas formulate. I get a song idea with a melody and lyric intact. I do actually bring out a pad and write while I'm driving. It's a little perilous. I don't break out the guitar, though."