For a lot of Victorians, a ride on BC ferries is a laborious non-event.

But former Victoria resident Tara MacLean, a simple ferry ride managed to change her life.

MacLean was spotted by two employees of Vancouver's Nettwerk Records while singing and playing guitar with some friends during a routine BC ferry trip to Saltspring Island. She was scooped up and eventually signed to Nettwerk, where she joined a stable of musicians that includes Sarah McLachlan, ginger, Mystery Machine and Wild Strawberries. The label has scince put out her stunning debut CD, silence.

After leaving her home province of Prince Edward Island, MacLean spent her junior high and high school years in Victoria, attending Reynolds and Mt. Doug, thus giving her the opportunity to experience the coveted West Coast way of life.

"When I was 14, I moved out to B.C. to meet my father and ended up really liking it," MacLean said. " I kind of didn't fit in back east. I was kind of weird and eccentric, I guess."

" I found a lot of really eccentric people when I moved out here so I decided to stay awhile."

Much like fellow Nettwerk sirens McLachlan and Kristy Thirsk (formerly of the Rose Chronicles), MacLean finds a seemingly natural way of combining etherel vocals and emotive lyrics. Although she makes it sound easy, things haven't always been that way for Nettwerk's Next Big Thing. A little prodding persuades MacLean to talk about one particularly disheartening experience.

" I was hired years ago to sing and dance in the Butchart Gardens nightly stage performance but they fired me before I even got on stage," MacLean said. " They said I couldn't sing."

Although the experience of being rejected has since driven her to succeed in far bigger and better things, MacLean was nonetheless damaged by the experience.

" The manager of the show made me feel like I was useless...he told me I couldn't sing, he told me I couldn't dance...and totally shattered my confidence," MacLean said. " I was devastated. I could barely leave my room and I was empty inside.

" I am thankful for that experience because it gave me something to kick against."

And boy, has she kicked!

Along with recently playing a World Vision benefit show with Tom Cochrane, where she sang with the veteran rocker, MacLean will soon be touring the U.S. with stateside favorites Ron Sexsmith and The Barenaked Ladies.

MacLean's moment in the sun, literally, will come when she plays Sara McLachlan's outdoor all-female summer festival, Lilith Fair. MacLean will play alongside such industry favorites as Jewel, Tracy Bonham, the Cardigans, Tracy Chapman, Indigo Girls and of course, McLachlan herself. The tour hits Vancouver's 30,000-seat venue, Thunderbird Stadium, on Aug.24. After her string of live dates, MacLean will hit the studio for her second album.

"It's funny. I don't feel a whole lot of pressure to write because Nettwerk is such a patient group of people," said MacLean, who was signed to the label for one and a half years before she eventually put out Silence.

" Sarah's (McLachlan) writing process is painfully slow, which is how a lot of artists work, so they don't lpressure me at all."

In what was probably a perfect learning ground for an artist a mere 23 years old, MacLean only recorded one song in her first six months with Nettwerk and has bee working on Silence's success for well over a year. It's been a gradual process, to say the least, but a process that will benefit MacLean in the long run.

"If you see me play live, you'll see that I have a lot more confidence now and I have come so far as a preformer and as a singer," said MacLean. "Half of my live set is new songs so I feel that I'm ready to make a new record."

MacLeans fans should be ready, too. She has only played in Victoria twice in the last year and both appearances were during her opening sets for Tom Cochrane and the Dave Matthews Band.

"I'm sorry I haven't been there for a while but you can have a chance to see me in August at Lilith Fair," MacLean said.

The fortunate few that catch her Vancouver performance will have a chance to see both Sarah McLachlan, one of North America's brightest stars, and what could very well be a star in progress: Tara MacLean.

MacLean's debut CD is in stores now and also has songs on Nettwerk's Slowbrew and Lit From Within compilations.