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For six months while she traveled the Indian subcontinent, exploring out-of-the-way villages and studying yoga and meditation, Jessica Segall kept returning in her mind to the band that formed at her going-away party.

It began at the behest of Brian Sakonchick, who grew up on the same block as Segall and whom she had known since they were 2 years old. Over the years, their paths continued to cross as they migrated to the Big Apple and its underground roots and folk music scene, and as she prepared to leave for India, he suggested putting a group together to perform.

"We played a couple of times before I left, and the whole time I was there, I kept thinking about it," Segall told The Daily Times this week. "I think it was something about being in India. Artwork in India has a completely different context — it's based on spiritual and communal life and not on ego. In New York, art is based much more on individual ego. The music scene is a much more communal experience, so in that sense, when I knew it was time to come back and do more personal work, I kept thinking about music."

Thus began Segall's journey from the visual to the musical arts. Exposed to old blues and bluegrass by her folk musician father, she grew up in upstate New York, home to a healthy bluegrass scene and appreciative of traditional country and roots-oriented folk. For Southerners, the idea of rootsy, Appalachian-style Old Time music being made in the concrete jungles of New York City may seem like an oxymoron, but for Segall, it's all about connecting with something real.

"I feel like music is universal, and I feel like I'm attracted to good music," she said. "In another sense, I feel like my attraction comes from listening to early American music when it wasn't so processed. It's a sound that's authentic and nutritious for everybody, and that's the attraction for me."

Until three years ago, Segall studied painting, but her travels to India led her back to the folk music she used to play with her father and the rest of her family. Upon her return to the States, she and Sakonchick tapped a number of other musicians with whom they had crossed paths over the years, and the Younger Sister Band was born.

"It was a gradual thing, something we all put effort into," she said. "Everyone has their own individual artistic pursuits, but we all remain committed to music."

The band recently released "No Desire," its debut album. Of the 20 songs the members had chosen from their repertoire, 16 made it on — and with a combination of folk, jazz, swing, Old Time and bluegrass in the mix, it's a rollicking affair that should motivate dancers when the band performs Saturday at Patrick Sullivan's Saloon in Knoxville's Old City.

"With four songwriters, it's still a very communal process in deciding what to record," she said. "One of us will bring in a song, and everyone will add their own individual elements to it. That's what makes it so unique."