Country-rock singer Gigi Dover, who bills herself as Gigi, began performing in the Carolinas as a member of the Rank Outsiders in the late '80s. The group's second CD, Checkpoint (1997), helped expand their following well beyond their Charlotte, NC, base, allowing them to play as far north as New York. Gigi decided to go it alone thereafter, however, and began co-writing with various Nashville tunesmiths. In 1999, she cut a four-song EP produced by John Jennings and featuring Mary Chapin Carpenter's backing band. She went label shopping, but when no deal resulted, opted to finance her own debut album and recorded Unpicked Flowers at E Street Band bassist and producer Garry Tallent's Moondog studio in Nashville. In June 2002, she released it on her own Rockin' Ranch label. ~ William Ruhlmann