Also this issue: The Big Con Why Philadelphia bands play the CMJ festival. -Patrick Rapa Tropical Impressions Caetono Veloso tells the truth. -A.D. Amorosi suitespot -Peter Burwasser on Classical Back to Basics Which in The Divine Comedy's case means less rock, more baroque. -Sam Adams Flute Awakening -Peter Burwasser Right On Time -Sam Adams Kim Richey -Sam Adams Jack Johnson -Chris Parker

November 7-13, 2002

musicpicks

Catherine Irwin

In case you've downloaded the album off the Internet or simply don't like opening booklets, we present, as a public service, the entire credits for Catherine Irwin's Cut Yourself a Switch (Thrill Jockey): Catherine Irwin, guitar and vocals; Dave Gay, bass. OK, that's not quite true -- a fiddle crops up here and there, and one track even features drums and backing vocals -- but by and large, the first solo album by Freakwater's Irwin is a spare, bone-dry affair. (Gay is also a Freakwater mainstay.) Irwin's Kentuckian voice breaks in all the right places, like a modern-day Hazel Dickens, whether tackling originals (about half the album), standards (a lovely, raw "You Belong to Me") or songs by the Carter Family and Roger Miller. At times, you might wish for a little harmony to liven the proceedings, but from the way Irwin drives home a line like "That was now, this is then/ That was bourbon, this is gin" (from "Swan Dive"), she sounds perfectly comfortable being alone.

Tue., Nov. 12, 9 p.m., $10, with Jim White, The North Star, 27th and Poplar sts., 215-922-LIVE.

—Sam Adams