"Sometimes you have to be broken down to your core to get back to your essence," the pop-jazz singer-songwriter Melody Gardot reflected. "You have accumulated a crust from the world, and it needs to be destroyed."

For Ms. Gardot, 24, the breaking point was a near-fatal accident in 2003, when she was struck by a Jeep Cherokee making an illegal left turn while she was riding her bike in Philadelphia. She suffered multiple pelvic fractures and head injuries that left her bedridden for nearly a year. Unable to walk or to formulate words, she slowly regained her powers of language after a doctor suggested music therapy as a way to reconnect her neural pathways. While lying on her back in a body cast, she learned the guitar, and began writing songs inspired by her experience.