She left as a teenager in search of greater opportunity elsewhere, attending high school in Palmer while living with relatives, then moving to Anchorage after graduation. As a folksy singer/songwriter with a penchant for matter-of-factness, Hill attracted a dedicated following around town playing the local bars and cafes before she left for Portland, Ore.

A little over three years later, Hill is set to release her third full-length album, and Alaska gets first dibs.

After a private show at a friend's house Wednesday, her homecoming kicked off in earnest last night with a set at Tap Root.

Just a few weeks ago she was wrapping up a month-and-a-half-long European tour with English singer/songwriter Jack Stafford. Before that she and cohort Bryan Daste embarked on a month-long, whirlwind tour of North America that covered territory from Toronto to Miami to Los Angeles.

All that jet-setting caught the attention of National Public Radio, particularly because the North American tour included actual jets. A piece on "Morning Edition" described the popularity of airliner Jet Blue's All You Can Jet pass.

The tickets sold for a flat rate and provided one month of unlimited travel on a network of Jet Blue routes. Hill and Daste thought it might make for a cheap way to tour and bought two tickets. The story of their tour ended up opening that radio segment.

"It was amazing to cover so much ground in so little time," Hill said in an e-mail sent from Amsterdam. She was also quick to stress that the experiment probably wouldn't have fallen into place had it not been for previous, tortoise-paced tours.

"This definitely wouldn't have (worked) for a group who has never toured nationally before because we totally depended on our previous connections almost everywhere we went."

Those connections also dictated where they flew. Between the time they booked their tickets and the departure of the first flight, they had two weeks to work out logistics. As far as the tour-booking business goes, that would typically be about six weeks too late.

That meant they had to improvise. They played on the roofs of bars, on the decks of boats and in people's living rooms. "The tour was all about the people we met and their generosity towards us," Hill said. "We didn't stay in one single motel, and we only had to rent a car to get around twice."

Hill also benefitted from having a bare-bones approach. "You couldn't make it happen and still have it be so cost efficient with a full band. You'd start paying luggage fees, etc. We had it down to a science."

On her albums, Hill is backed by her band, the Gentlemen Callers, of which Daste is also a member. Light percussion, some gentle plucking and occasional string arrangements are often as dressed up as her songs get.

Instead, Hill's direct, personal lyrics and alto vocals take center stage. "I'm a brutally honest person, and that comes out in my lyrics," Hill admits.

The sparse arrangements also make the recordings easy to translate as a duo. The All You Can Jet tour was just her with an acoustic and Daste on steel guitar and other knickknacks. That's the lineup she's sporting on a string of Alaska dates.

At each show she will have copies of her new album "Meet Me at the Moon," which won't be available in the rest of the country until Valentine's Day.

Atlanta-based Shut Eye Records is releasing the record.

Label exec Pete Knapp, who's also a panelist on the Americana Music Festival's selection team in Nashville, Tenn., sought out Hill after hearing her submission for the festival The new album is her first not to be released on the Hill family-run Kuskokwim Records.

Hill said the stripped-down arrangements and duets are still present on the new album, but that this time around there's more of a full band sound than on her previous records.

With that record already in the pipeline, Hill claims she has already written half of another. The creative tear might give pause to those who aren't comfortable with becoming potential songwriting fodder. "People surrounding me do have to deal with being in my songs," Hill warned. "A lot of people like it. I'm sure a few exist that don't. I'm not going to stop writing this way because I couldn't be who I am if I did."

Emma Hill

Today: 9 p.m. at Maxine's Glacier City Bistro, Girdwood, free, 21 and older.

Sunday: 6 p.m. at Vagabond Blues, Palmer, $10-$15, all-ages.

Online: emmahillmusic.com