is sung on the new live album, which is drawn from performances at the Oak Room and the Gardenia, a cabaret venue in West Hollywood.

You should know something else about Maggart: Her sister, three years younger, is Fiona Apple, a contemporary singer/songwriter whose metaphor-filled songs have reached a larger audience than Maggart's."She is my closest friend," Maude told me. "She is my truest confidant."

The truest confidant, in her own songs, speaks clearly, if often startlingly, of her sexual freedom. Maude embraces the same attitude but acknowledges that the work in the American Songbook often places women in submissive roles, roles that she rejects.Still, she sings those songs passionately, with abandon and dresses provocatively to underscore her statement.

Two sisters, venturing forth with entirely different musical aspirations.  How unusual and interesting. Amber, as she is called by intimates, will carry her songs all over the world. No nostalgist, Maggart is a remarkable anomaly, making the standards seem like they were written yesterday. Her audience is widening, please to receive this country's great musical gift to the world: the American Songbook.

Contemplate the words: "My funny valentine/Sweet comic valentine/You make me smile with my heart/Your looks are laughable, unphotographable/Yet you're my favorite work of art."

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