Lilith fare

The Girls Room Tour

by Linda Laban

With rock taking yet another testosterone-heavy turn and pop getting fluffed up with cotton-candy teen idols, the absence this year of Lilith Fair is sorely felt. Teen-star tours are packing stadium terraces, and the Warped, Ozzfest, Tattoo the Earth, and MTV Return of the Rock tours have made the summer season a male-oriented affair. But there is one exception: the small but well-formed Girls Room Tour, a four-strong female bill that's been touring the country and will stop by Karma Club tonight (July 27).

Boston's Girls Room show brings together Lakeville native Amy Correia, Philadelphia-bred singer/songwriter Shannon McNally, and Canadian songstress Tara MacLean -- all LA transplants and relative unknowns signed to Capitol Records, which organized the tour. Labelmate Kendall Payne turns up on dates elsewhere, and in each of the 22 cities the tour visits, an unsigned local artist will expand the bill. In Boston, that'll be Aruna Abrams.

The inspiration for Girls Room is summed up in an official memo from Capitol Senior VP of A&R Perry Watts-Russell: "Rather than compete with each other for the attention of Capitol employees, the music industry at large, and the public in general, the Girls Room Tour is designed to showcase these new talents in a mutually collaborative and supportive environment." Like Lilith, the Stayfree-sponsored tour donates to local charities: in Boston the recipient is the Kim Patterson Leukemia Foundation.

"What we all found was that whether it's for your spiritual belief or for your gender or whatever, gathering for empowerment is essential," says three-time Lilith veteran Tara MacLean over the phone from her home in LA. "Women need to do that, and Lilith was a wonderful way to prove it."

In the mid to late '90s, much was made of women's success in the music business, with the likes of Sheryl Crow, Alanis Morissette, and Jewel grabbing a healthy share of the marketplace. Female artists still move units, but open disrespect from rap/rock bands and a number of disturbing physical assaults on women at concerts like last year's Woodstock are proof that all is not well on the rock-and-roll gender front.

MacLean acknowledges that the current climate is disappointing but remains philosophical. "Sometimes I don't know which way the tide is turning. I don't think human beings are that evolved for the most part. I think there are two kinds of people in the world: people who respect and people with no respect."

Many female artists are perplexed at the very idea of segregation. Amy Correia feels that Lilith and Girls Room are about enjoying music, not about gender. "Remember, there are lots of guys in some of these female artists' bands, and those musicians are a big part of it, too," she points out via e-mail. Correia, whose rich-textured voice brings to mind a mix of Edith Piaf and Ricki Lee Jones, will release her debut album, Carnival of Love, in September.

Shannon McNally, whose rootsy, blues-tinged debut, Jukebox Sparrows, won't be in stores until next winter, thinks that Lilith made the world a better place for all artists, not just women. She views Girls Room as a chance for her to grow as an artist. "It's proving to be a real testing ground," she says via e-mail from a tour stop. "I'm working on being a better musician, on being an intuitionist, a vibe reader. My band is helping me do that. They help me listen deeper and they listen to me in a way that is really exciting. The Girls Room Tour is a good place to try things out."

MacLean, whose sophomore album, Passenger, was released last January, doesn't seem to think that women have lost any ground in the music business of late, though she is annoyed by the typecasting of women artists and Lilith as "folkie." Of her stint with Lilith, she says, "I saw Erykah Badu, I saw the Pretenders, I saw the Dixie Chicks; I saw people who were diverse and blew my mind, people you wouldn't point out as singer-songwriters."

Of course, it's not just male artists that the Girls Room performers are up against in the current pop world -- it's also the female trinity of Spears-Aguilera-Lopez. What does Girls Room offer by comparison?

"Well, none of us can dance, so don't expect any smooth moves," MacLean laughs, then adds, "I have a lot of respect for those girls, they work really hard, but there's something to be said for people who write their own music. We're all little storytellers: we'll make you laugh, we'll make you cry."

The Girls Room Tour comes to Karma Club this Thursday, July 27. Call 421-9595.