In 2002, Mary Lee's Corvette scored a surprise hit with Blood on the Tracks, a typically fearless song-for-song reinterpretation of Bob Dylan's 1975 classic of the same name. While the Dylan-inspired disc helped to substantially expand Mary Lee's Corvette's audience, longtime observers recognized the irony, since it's the artfully crafted, deeply felt original compositions of Mary Lee Kortes-MLC's founder, lead singer and sole charter member-that have long been the band's calling card.

Listeners only familiar with Mary Lee's Corvette via Blood on the Tracks will be pleasantly surprised by the emotional depth and melodic mastery of the group's new Bar/None release 700 Miles. In her liner notes, Mary Lee calls the 12-track collection "an album about journey, transformation and freedom-the freedom to be who you really are." Indeed, Kortes' new songs survey thorny emotional territory with depth and nuance, as well as a classic pop sensibility that lends buoyancy to her lyrics' darker insights.

Such deeply personal yet effortlessly accessible tunes as "The Nothing Song," "Out from Under It," "More Stupider" and "Give It to the Needy" consistently mine a vibrant balance of sweetness, melancholy and humor, simultaneously embodying a sophisticated urban sensibility and folk music's organic storytelling tradition. The latter element is underlined by Kortes' impassioned reading of Townes Van Zandt's classic ballad "No Place to Fall."

Mary Lee Kortes' gifts as singer and songwriter were first revealed on her first two independent releases, Mary Lee's Corvette (1998) and True Lovers of Adventure (1999). Those discs' distinctive bend of substance and songcraft that won her a loyal live audience, first on New York's downtown club scene and subsequently throughout a touring base that's grown to encompass Europe. Early on, she won numerous well-placed press admirers, including Billboard's late editor in chief, Timothy White, and Rolling Stone's David Fricke, who wrote that "The bright bite in Mary Lee Kortes' voice (has) the high-mountain sunshine of Dolly Parton, with a sweet-iron undercoat of Chrissie Hynde." She also found support from cutting-edge radio stations like WXPN and WFMU, where listeners instantly responded with enthusiastic call-ins whenever her songs were played.

Kortes originally released Blood on the Tracks-recorded live during a one-off gig at the East Village club Arlene Grocery-as a limited-edition labor of love on her own Leonora label, hoping to sell a few copies on her website and at live shows. But word about the project quickly spread across the internet and in Dylan fan circles. The album became a genuine grass-roots phenomenon, leading Bar/None to step in and it a wider release, further raising her media profile and building anticipation for her next album of original material.

700 Miles' recording process was a journey of self-discovery, much like those depicted in Kortes' songs. She recorded the bulk of the album with producer and real-life husband Eric "Roscoe" Ambel at his Brooklyn studio, Cowboy Technical Services, with frequent Corvette cohorts guitarist Andy York (guitar), Brad Albetta (bass), Joe Chiafalo (accordion), and Graham Hawthorne (drums), as well as additional guitar work from Dan Petty, Kevin Salem, and Rod Hohl. But the project's birth cycle really began much earlier, in Mary Lee's East Village apartment.

As she explains, "I had a batch of songs, but then Eric got hired as Steve Earle's guitar player, and I fell into a bit of a panic over how and when I was going to make my next record with Eric away on tour." The absence of her studio-vet partner forced Mary Lee to take the bull by the horns and assume more of a hands-on role. Learning her way around her Roland VS-1680 digital porta-studio, she began demoing her new songs and experimenting with various sonic ideas. The experimentation opened new creative horizons that are reflected in 700 Miles' broader sonic pallette.

"Once I got the basics of the Roland in my brain, I discovered my inner mad scientist. I started loving the process-recording when I was in the mood, adding a stroke of percussion here, a string line there. I started playing these recordings for people, and got a fantastic response. When Eric got home, we decided to use these recordings as the basis for the record. Then we went into the studio with the band to add bass, drums, guitars, real strings, etc. I think the result is a record which, for better or worse, has a lot more of me on it."

The solitary home-studio environment was well-suited to the intimacy of 700 Miles' songs, which resonate with the private trials, small victories and random strangeness of real life. For example, the poignant title track was inspired by the fascinatingly precise diaries kept by the artist's late grandmother-excerpts of which are included in the CD package's liner notes. Meanwhile, she explains that the album's opening number, "The Nothing Song," "came about after I experienced a severe case of envy so painful that all I could think was 'I just wish I didn't want anything at all.' I wrote it in the middle of the night, laying in bed; it pretty much unfolded completely while I was half-awake."

Kortes also names 700 Miles' penultimate track, "Portland, Michigan"-whose plainspoken yet richly detailed narrative underlines the artist's spiritual ties to the folk tradition-as a personal favorite. "It's about a girl who grows up in a small town, survives some fairly severe family trauma, and escapes to the city. But she realizes she's inextricably bound to her roots no matter where she goes, and that that temptation to go back and try to get it right is always going to be there."

The song's themes are particularly appropriate for Mary Lee, who says, "I've been a writer since I was a kid, writing songs and poetry. And I'd always had music in my family, so it was always something I turned to for comfort and self-expression and fun."

After growing up in Whitefish, Montana and spending a few years moving around the midwest with her family, Kortes moved to Manhattan with the intention of pursuing a career as a book editor. Although music had been in her blood for much of her life, she initially didn't regard it a realistic career option. Yet, before long, Mary Lee found steady work as a session vocalist, and found her talents as a tunesmith in demand. Amy Grant scored a hit with her composition "Everywhere I Go," while she was enlisted to lend backing vocals to such notable albums as Freedy Johnston's Never Home, Laura Cantrell's Not the Tremblin' Kind and When the Roses Bloom Again, and the Blood Oranges' alt-country cult classic The Crying Tree.

Her recent success have allowed Mary Lee to continue exploring new creative horizons. For instance, she's written a short piece of fiction for Storyteller, a forthcoming collection from Avalon Books that also features contributions from fellow singer/songwriters Ray Davies, Joan Jett and Lou Reed. And Mary Lee and band recently shot a musical appearance in the forthcoming Anthony LaPaglia/Eric Stoltz film Happy Hour.

"As vague as it probably sounds, I'm always trying to find something new in myself, some new motivation or angle on making music," Kortes states, adding, "I believe in the power of the unconscious for true inspiration. If it doesn't knock down your door and say, 'You must write me, you must sing me,' then maybe you should just leave it alone."