"I was so naïve when I decided to put this record out at the same time as Lilith [Fair]," says singer Sarah McLachlan of her new album, "Surfacing," which will arrive in stores one week after her all-woman package tour touches down at Mountain View's Shoreline Amphitheater July 8. "I really had no idea the fantastic press I'd be getting for Lilith would be this great vehicle to promote my record."

The media has been pounding on McLachlan's door since it caught wind of Lilith, a project developed by the Canadian musician and her managers in contrast to the testosterone-heavy lineups of other summer festivals. "I didn't do it just to be reactionary against [Lollapalooza]," McLachlan explains. "But it [lidid[lf help that their lineup was very male-dominated. It made me realize that this is a very good thing to do, to offer people an alternative."

In January McLachlan began inviting musicians and sponsors to join Lilith Fair, and by June she had a rotating roster of more than 50 acts, including Tracy Chapman, Suzanne Vega, Jewel, Fiona Apple, Sheryl Crow, Shawn Colvin and Emmylou Harris, on her hands. While many women were eager to sign on for Lilith -- named after the Biblical first wife of Adam, who was banished from Eden for insisting on equality -- sponsors have been reluctant. So far only a few, including 9 West and Borders, have stepped up.

McLachlan introduced the concept of sponsorship categories like wellness, spirit, shelter and education. "We didn't want it to be a big, loud, blatant corporate sponsorship so we tried to soften the idea by putting them under different categories," McLachlan explains. The only reason she wanted sponsors at all, she says, was to bring money which could be donated to woman-friendly charities including the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), LifeBeat and organizations which support breast cancer research and the prevention of eating disorders.

In addition, McLachlan hopes to enlighten those who take issue with women in rock. When her last album, "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy," was released in 1994, cuncurrently with Tori Amos' "Under the Pink," many radio stations refused to accommodate both. "[They] were pitting us up against each other, forcing this competition. [They] were like, 'We added Tori this week so we can't add you.' It was very marginalizing that we were being forced into this 'oh, you're women, so you all sound the same.'"

"Surfacing," due out July 15, is being released to a very different climate. Last year was hailed as the Year of the Woman in music, with guitar-toting females coming out of the woodwork. "It's been a very quick turnaround for radio stations and the music industry in general and I'm very thankful for that," McLachlan says.

However, writing her latest work was a difficult process, she says. After two and a half years touring in support of "Fumbling," "I just strayed so far from my center and had no idea how to get back. I kept suppressing everything." After an eight-month period of writer's block the new material finally began to come.

The first single, "Building a Mystery," with lyrics like "You wear sandles in the snow/And a smile that won't wash away," deals with McLachlan's emotional suppression. "[It's] about trying to create a facade for yourself that you find interesting to hide insecurities or vulnerabilities in yourself. Building up walls, protection. And the rest of the album is sort of about tearing all those walls down," she says with a laugh.

Another song, "Angel," contemplates the dangers of heroin addiction. Moved by the overdose of Smashing Pumpkins keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin, she says, "I've never done heroin but I've been in that place where you're so lost -- it's like, Christ, give me [lianything[lf to take me out of this place I'm in right now. For a while I thought the song was about him... but I realized it was completely about me."

Although some react negatively to the candor in the music of women like McLachlan, she says it's all for the best. "A lot of women are angry. A lot of [lipeople[lf are angry. But it's great that it's coming out. It has to come out."

Emotional honesty is a driving force behind Lilith Fair and McLachlan's career."I totally believe that both men and women have had a real s--- time of things," she says. "You carry around all this baggage and you don't know how to deal with it. I think when we all start looking at that stuff, and dealing with healing ourselves, that'll get a lot better in every element of life."

This article was originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle.