ITHACA, N.Y. -- Singer/songwriter/guitarist Edie Carey is the featured performer for year's Lauren Pickard '90 Emerging Artist Series in Cornell University's Willard Straight Hall Memorial Room Monday, April 14, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. The concert is free and open to the public.

Using her graceful, soaring voice and an undeniable skill for carving everyday images in almost startling detail, Carey's songs draw listeners in, and what she says in between them is what keeps them there. As much a part of her show as the music itself, Carey's wry and often self-mocking humor, coupled with her ability to tell a great story, leaves listeners feeling as though they have just spent an evening with a close friend.

With performances at the Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City and on Ed McMahon's "Next Big Star" program, as well as with songs featured on the WB's "Charmed" and MTV's "Road Rules," Carey has garnered much critical acclaim. She recently opened for Melissa Ferrick on her fall 2002 tour, and she has shared the stage with such artists as Leo Kottke, Ani DiFranco, Lucy Kaplansky, Karla Bonoff and Sandra Bernhard.

The special guest opening act for Carey's April 14 concert is Cornell junior Aaron Raitiere.

The Lauren Pickard '90 Emerging Artist Series was created in memory of a 1990 Cornell graduate who died suddenly after suffering a seizure a few years ago while living and working in Paris. At Cornell, Pickard had been an active student employee and volunteer at Willard Straight Hall who loved the student union's weekly coffeehouse series and was a poet and an activist. The series was created through an endowment established by Pickard's mother and it sponsors one or two programs each academic semester at Cornell featuring bright young artists.

Carey is the third artist to perform in the annual series, which is sponsored by the Lauren Pickard '90 Emerging Artist Fund and the Office of the Dean of Students.

For more information about Carey's concert, or about the Lauren Pickard Emerging Artist Series at Willard Straight Hall, contact Catherine Holmes at (607) 255-4311 or cah4@cornell.edu .