2007, Self-Released ,

Leaving Home was written in the midst of moving from the small town where Balke had spent most of her upbringing, to a bigger small town where she waited tables in order to move to another small town, even farther from home and much more desolate.

Recorded in two days in the home studio of Mike Adams (Husband&Wife, Crossroads of America Records), the sparse instrumentation and minimal production left plenty of room for Balke's songwriting to breath deeply of her sentiments surrounding small town Indiana.

CDs were packaged inside of a handsewn, screenprinted paper gatefold jacket displaying Balke's artwork. It was an edition of who-knows-how-many, usually made on the fly before a performance.