Though Shara Worden and Earl Harvin both studied music at the University of North Texas, only Harvin – who became known locally for his work in Ten Hands, rubberbullet and the Earl Harvin Trio and is now in demand internationally as a touring and session drummer – is likely to be a familiar name to readers.

Worden, however, should be on your radar screen, like, now. As the linchpin of My Brightest Diamond, she took her operatic training from UNT and applied it to her idiosyncratic songs, which are both unique and highly listenable (she even does her own string arrangements). She also has one of the more interesting opening sentences I’ve seen in an artist bio:

My Brightest Diamond is Shara Worden, granddaughter of an Epiphone-playing traveling evangelist, fathered by a National Accordion Champion, and mothered by a church organist.

After touring with Sufjan Stevens and releasing 2006’s “Bring Me The Workhorse” (which featured Harvin on drums), Worden got to writing again and recently spent time recording with Harvin in Berlin (the city he now calls home) in sessions that will likely end up on her next record.

Worden now lives in New York City (like another, slightly-better-known ex-UNT music student) but apparently has family in North Texas, so perhaps a swing back through the area is in order soon.

As a primer, “Dragonfly,” one of the standout tracks from “Bring Me The Workhorse”: