Born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, Merlene began taking violin lessons in the fifth grade. Songwriting began faor her after learning to play the guitar at age 12. Through Junior High and High School, her songwriting was most influenced by singer-songwriters who exposed their innermost feelings within their work. People like Carol King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon and Tammy Wynette.

After moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1987, she took up the fiddle and once again began concentrating on her music and songwriting.

She joined the Tulsa Songwriter's Association (TSA) and the Country Songwriters of Oklahoma (CSO), which allowed her to get her songs out in front of an audience.

After meeting and becoming friends with Tere Kelley (co-writer on Dancing on the Moon and City Blues), they began performing as an acoustical duo act in local clubs, TSA Writer's Nights, Mayfest, The Bluegrass and Chili Festival and other local events.

At the Tulsa Songwriter's Association she met D.J. and Dianna Burrup (with Caslon Productions), and efforts were soon underway to record "City Blues".

The completed project features 10 Oklahoma songwriters, Tulsa musicians and vocalists, and was recorded in Broken Arrow. The CD was mastered at Masterfonics and pressed at MediaWorks, both in Nashville, Tennessee, and took two and a half years to complete.

Four of the eleven songs were written or co-written by Merlene. Another four were selected from publishers in Nashville. Two others were written by local writers from Tulsa and, of course, Nights in White Satin is a remake of the original hit single by the Moody Blues.

When Merlene sits down to write a song, she doesn't necessarily look for the clever or cute way to turn a phrase she looks for the best way to express a feeling.

City Blues was written about a little girl who really wasn't where she wanted to be, whereas Dancing on the Moon was about a young woman who was exactly where she wanted to be. It shouldn't come as a surprise that Cowboy Junkie was written after coming home from a rodeo in Claremore.