The 9th Annual Houston Women's Festival begins next week at Jones Plaza. The downtown location is a perfect fit for the festival offering great food, plenty of restrooms and most importantly, a great view of the stage from just about everywhere.

And a good view is required to see the eclectic blend of performers slated to rock the stage this year.

Among them is singer-songwriter Doria Roberts. Compared to Ani DiFranco, Tracy Chapman and every other "girl with a guitar," Roberts is one of a kind.

She successfully meshes the social commentary of folk music with a deep, driving soul strong enough to carry the message. Her lush, tightly woven songs communicate and breathe instead of resorting to the heavy-handed proselytizing of some sociopolitical rock.

Expect the best of DiFranco's early political-folk merged with the earthy, sensual soul of Erykah Badu.

Even with that undeniable talent, Roberts wasn't always intent on making music a career. She was on stage throughout her life performing in plays and musicals.

She studied at the University of Pennsylvania focused on translating her Business degree into a career in Japan when she began questioning her life's direction, she says.

"Studying the Japanese culture, I found so many things that informed my artistic side and I asked myself, 'What's been the most important thing in my life?'," Roberts says.

Her answer was performing. She discovered guitar was a Taoist exercise and began playing as a form of meditation.

By chance, Roberts was heard playing and was invited to perform at a show. She hasn't looked back since.

"I wasn't understanding how it was going to move," she says. "But it was moving without me, so I just followed along."

Not knowing anything about the music industry, Roberts jumped in headfirst relying strictly on instinct.

"It worked, and that's the beauty of it," Roberts says. "Eastern philosophy taught me to trust the intent of what I was doing. If that's where it should be, then things should fall into place."

And fall into place they have. Roberts has five releases under her belt, each one more innovative and masterful than the next. As she proclaims in the track "Iguana," she's a "pissed off, rock 'n roll, dyke-nigger-bitch."

But don't let that fool you. The deliciously charismatic Roberts wraps her lyrically tight manifestoes in a warm blanket Ñ soothing and seducing all the way.

Listeners get the feeling that if George Bush, Jerry Falwell and their ilk heard Roberts letting her vocal honey flow all over feminism, gay rights and the abortion issue, she'd persuade them to come around to our side.

The tracks on "Alive and Well," her latest release, are buoyant, genuine and infectious. Houston Women's Festival attendees should find themselves thinking about her deeper message days later.

This is the kind of music that gets under your skin. And that's a good thing.

The inception of Roberts own record label, Hurricane Doria, was an answer to a static industry that was unresponsive to artists that didn't fit a mold. Keeping her music authentic and being an independent artist go hand in hand.

"I look at independent art as a form of alternative media because we're not censored by our record companies, publicists and managers," Roberts says. "We get to say what we want to say, and whether we're right or wrong in our presumptions, we're able to say it."

Roberts' unflinching dedication to remaining true to her art hasn't always been easy. Being a lesbian isn't an advantage in an industry that emphasizes image over substance.

"When I was considering being on a major label, most of the conversations I had after, 'Your music's great, and your look is great' was, 'Let's talk about this "she" pronoun,' she says.

"I had to ask myself whether editing myself was an option. What I don't think they understand is that's what draws people to my music [is] my honesty. I refused to tamper with my music."

Gutsy, provocative and downright groovy, Doria Roberts is a rare treat in an industry that so infrequently produces anything of real weight.

MORE INFO
Houston Women's Festival
Oct. 25, noon to 10 p.m.
Jones Plaza
Louisiana St. at Capital St.
www.hwfestival.org

Doria Roberts
3 p.m. to 4 p.m.
www.doriaroberts.com

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