BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) – Recent lyrics by Burlington folk singer Rachel Bissex, who died of cancer Sunday at age 48, made the moon a metaphor for her emotional journey: “If I drive this road alone, she will bathe me in white light.”

Bissex recorded the song for her fifth album, “In White Light,” with accompaniment by the Vermont Youth Orchestra. She also performed with the classical ensemble at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts during the First Night celebration on New Year’s Eve 2003.

“Rachel had a strong local following and was perhaps even more highly regarded around the country,” said Jimmy Swift, First Night artistic director. “She was also very much a mentor to a lot of other musicians.”

A Massachusetts native who got her first guitar at 13, Bissex was a 1982 graduate of Johnson State College. Later that decade, she founded the Burlington Coffeehouse and was instrumental in organizing the Discover Jazz Festival.

Bissex often toured throughout the United States, in 2001 appearing at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She won several prizes from various folk festivals and songwriting contests.

“Her language has a poetic quality, suffused with vivid imagery,” a review in the Washington Post once said.

But no matter how far Bissex traveled, she always seemed to find time for local gigs and worthy causes.

“Rachel would volunteer to play at our annual Kids Day,” recalled Jane Sanders, who ran Burlington’s former city youth office and now serves a president of Burlington College. “She’d also sing for the Sunday brunches we had at the teen center.”

Bissex lived on the same New North End street as Jane Sanders and her husband, Rep. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. “Rachel used her talents to make the world a better place,” he said. “She was a good friend who played at our wedding in 1988.”