Also this issue: In iPod He Trusts DJ Botany 500 inserts his brain into a little white box and rents it out. -Patrick Rapa Angelo Cho -Peter Burwasser Best to read it every week -Patrick Rapa Ed Harcourt -Andrew Parks Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra -Peter Burwasser Erin McKeown -Nancy Armstrong Electric Six -Paul Burress Tiësto -Sean O’Neal

June 12-18, 2003

musicpicks

Kathleen Edwards

Self-described "Canadiana" singer Kathleen Edwards is quite used to the Lucinda Williams comparisons. It's a "huge compliment" for the 24-year-old Ottawa native, but not one she completely understands. "I think I sound more like (Canadian) Lynn Miles or even Richard Bruckner for that matter," Edwards says by phone. "Lucinda's incredible, but she isn't really an influence." Instead, the much-heralded guitarist/singer -- whose years of classical violin training are put to good use on her stellar Rounder/Zoë debut album, Failer -- says it was alt-country pioneers like Whiskeytown and Wilco that really lit her fire. "I dug how they used conventional instruments in non-conventional ways," she explains, adding that her sense of Canadian pragmatism comes through clearly in her gritty, gripping songs. "We're not up here chasing the Great American Dream because we're not American," Edwards says. "The fact I'm finding an audience in the States is an amazing plus."

Thu., June 12, 8 p.m., $18.50, with Richard Buckner, The Trocadero, 1003 Arch St., 215-922-LIVE.

—Nicole Pensiero