Raised in the tiny coastal community of Petrolia, Scheinman was the product of two musician parents -- piano player and classical music fan Ellen Taylor and guitar player Dick Scheinman. Her dad headed up the Mattole Orchestra, which included anyone in the community who had “ever touched an instrument,” according to Scheinman. She joined at age 5, singing harmonies with her father on the Beatles tune, “Do You Want to Know a Secret?”

“My dad's real talent and skill is something... you rarely find in anyone younger than him, and that's that he knows hundreds, if not thousands, of songs, and that he knows all the words to the songs,” Scheinman said.

After leaving Petrolia when she was 16 and attending Humboldt State University for a year, Scheinman said she went on a “college tour,” attending Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, University of California, Santa Cruz and University of California, Berkeley. She moved to New York in 1999 and spent the turn of the century in a circus tent, playing her violin with the Big Apple Circus.

The following year, Scheinman released the first of her instrumental recordings, “Live at Yoshi's,” with her quartet.

Each of Scheinman's releases -- six in total -- have featured a different lineup of musicians, dependent on how the songs for each album sounded in different live settings. Scheinman writes all of her songs.

Last year, Scheinman released two records -- “Crossing the Road” and a self-titled album -- simultaneously. The self-titled record was her first ever vocal recording, and was started sort of by accident, because of the encouragement of her friend, Norah Jones. The instrumental album was the one she was really focused on organizing when the vocal album came together. When the two were finished within the same month -- one recorded on analog tape in a friend's home studio, and the other recorded quickly in a big, fancy studio -- Scheinman decided they should both be released around the same time, showing where she was at, musically.

The past year has seen a lot of change for Scheinman. In the midst of touring for her two newest albums, she had a baby, Bellamy Dune, now two and a half months old.

”It's all really coming together in a very magical and appropriate way, to come back to Humboldt, not only with the two sides of my musical life, but more importantly and more excitingly, with the baby,” says Scheinman.

Scheinman said that when she signed on with her booking agency, the one place she told them she had to play, at any cost, was Arcata, so when the CenterArts date was solidified, she decided to fly out singer and guitar player Robbie Gjersoe. Unlike all of the other dates on the tour, the Arcata show will feature two sets of music: the first all instrumental and the second a showcase of Scheinman's vocal work.

Scheinman, Melford and Gjersoe will play Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Van Duzer Theatre at HSU. Tickets for the show are $25 general, $20 for seniors and children and $15 for current HSU students.

“I really wanted to come home and play for my friends and family and community that are there, and feel really still very connected and inspired by the culture up there,” Scheinman said. “I've been more excited about this gig than I think any gig I've ever done in my life.”