Sarah Quintana is an unsung singer in New Orleans, with a haunting voice and an ear for a pretty melody. A NOCCA grad schooled in jazz guitar, she sings original folk-jazz compositions and French chansons. An album of her work is much overdue, and Quintana hopes to change that with her current Kickstarter campaign, looking for funding to record an album “about love and life in Louisiana”.

Already lined up for recording sessions at Oak Street Recordings are James Singleton on bass, Simon Lott on percussion, and Ingrid Lucia as producer. Quintana needs $7,000 for studio time, paying the band, and mixing and mastering the recordings. Costs for the producer, album art design, pressing, and packaging aren’t included in the $7,000 goal, so she’s looking to go beyond the goal on Kickstarter, needing about $11,000 to cover all costs related to the album.

As for the Kickstarter backer perks, a dinner ride on a riverboat accompanied by Quintana’s singing is already sold out, but you can still have a song written personally for you ($1,000), the dress Quintana wore on stage at the 2010 Voodoo Experience ($1,000), a serenade par telephone ($100), or just a copy of the album to-be ($20). For those smitten by Quintana’s charm, she’ll even go to dinner with you in the dress she performed in at the 2009 Jazz Fest ($1,000).

In this video, she sings an original, “Mama Mississippi”, on the river’s bank in the Bywater. In her Kickstarter video, she explains that the coffee cup she plays belonged to her Cajun great-grandmother. It was the only thing she took with her after Katrina, and is a reminder of her Louisiana roots—the theme to run throughout the songs she hopes to record for her album.