Songwriter's voice is finally heard

Singer-songwriter Matraca Berg laughs at the idea of competing with herself.

The singer half of Berg is releasing "The Dreaming Fields" (Dualtone), her first album in 14 years, on Tuesday. Her songwriter half will also have a high-profile release as Kenny Chesney will roll out his version of "You and Tequila," which Berg wrote with Deana Carter.

"The same thing happened with 'Strawberry Wine,' " says Berg, referring to the country No. 1 for Carter that came out around the time of Berg's "Sunday Morning to Saturday Night" album in 1997. "It all happens at once."

Berg, a recent inductee into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, doesn't see it as competition, of course, even though she has a version of "You and Tequila" on her album as well. "We go in two very different directions," she says. "His is like old California country -- very much a summer record . . . I lean more towards the melancholy, which I always do."

She says she is taking her return to recording slowly, as well as the performing that comes with it. One of her first solo shows in years will come Wednesday at a benefit for Housing Works in SoHo.

It's a good thing she's gotten over her intense stage fright. In fact, this summer, she'll be playing in front of 150,000 or so fans at the Glastonbury Festival with her friends in Wine, Women & Song.