TORONTO - As Sarah McLachlan happily watched her Lilith Fair festival grow into a concert giant in the late 1990s, she simultaneously became a bit irked by the reputation her fest was getting.

Lilith Fair was suddenly shorthand for acoustic guitars, Birkenstocks, and crunchy granola. And McLachlan didn't like it.

"We got dubbed as the 'white chicks folk fest,"' McLachlan said in a recent telephone interview from Vancouver.

"It was so frustrating to me because I had to defend it every day. I'd say, 'We ask everybody. We ask artists from all genres and this is who said yes."'

Well, when Lilith Fair re-launches beginning with a show Sunday in Calgary, it appears as though McLachlan might not have to worry about defending her all-female music fest.

This year's lineup, in fact, boasts the sort of diversity that McLachlan hungered for then.

Sure, there are your more typically Lilith stars -- returnees Sheryl Crow, the Indigo Girls, Martina McBride, Suzanne Vega, Emmylou Harris, for instance.

But there's also R&B superstar Mary J. Blige, country legend Loretta Lynn, powerhouse "American Idol" pop vocalist Kelly Clarkson and -- for one night only -- Barbadian R&B star Rihanna.

Thus far, however, the tour has been hobbled by cancellations -- Phoenix and Nashville shows have both been axed -- while shows in Vancouver, Edmonton and Montreal have been moved.

Also on the tour will be Toronto new-wave rockers Metric, R&B crooner Erykah Badu, Disney teen-popper Selena Gomez, Nashville new country duo Sugarland, plus a litany of buzzed-about critical favourites including Janelle Monae, Hannah Georgas, Anjulie, Lights and Sia.

"This time out, the wealth of diversity to choose from was massive," McLachlan said. "And it was a huge struggle to fit everybody in who wanted to be a part of it.

"So it was really great. And I think there's just a lot more to choose from."

Added Emily Robison of the Dixie Chicks: "It's really eclectic, which I think is great. It's not just folk chicks out there, it's everybody."

Robison and her sister, Martie McGuire, will play 13 Lilith dates with their new outfit, Court Yard Hounds.

They carry fond memories of playing the last Fair with the Dixie Chicks, back in 1999. Though they were two-time Grammy winners and mainstage mainstays at that point, they hadn't yet reached the lofty ranks of country music's biggest stars, so they were surprised at the warm reception they received from their Lilith tourmates.

"We just have the best memories from that first Lilith Fair," McGuire said. "It's just a different kind of music festival. We didn't know until we got there, but artists were inviting us into their dressing room, and they wanted to work on one of our songs (or) they wanted us to work on one of their songs.

"It felt so strange to have artists the stature of Sheryl Crow and Sarah McLachlan and the Indigo Girls really interested in what you were doing, and so supportive of other females. I think females get pegged as -- there's always (supposed to be) infighting and catfighting."

"At Lilith, there was this camaraderie that you don't find on a lot of concerts. We hope that still lives from the first time around."

Chantal Kreviazuk was similarly starstruck when she first played Lilith Fair in 1998.

"I can remember, you know, standing next to Sheryl Crow and chatting and thinking: 'Oh my God, I'm standing next to Sheryl Crow, chatting!"'

When she plays five dates on this year's Fair circuit, meanwhile, Kreviazuk figures it might be a bit different.

"Now if I bump into Sheryl, I go: 'Hey, Sheryl,"' Kreviazuk said casually, with a laugh. "Everything's a little bit different now."

That goes for the record industry as a whole, which has plummeted to unthinkable lows since the booming '90s, when Lilith boasted headliners like Jewel who had albums selling well past the 10 million mark.

But looking at today's fractured musical landscape, the legacy of Lilith isn't too hard to spot. For one thing, Kreviazuk notes that a revitalized Lilith will shine the spotlight back on musicians who value substance over style.

"It's a tough time to just be a singer/songwriter with authenticity and genuineness and all that crap," Kreviazuk said. "It's hard because everything is rather glitzy and glamorous and it's a little bit more jam-packed with candy right now. It's difficult to be a simple act.

"(Lilith) is presenting an opportunity to get out there and remind people that simple, authentic music is also really, really powerful and there's a place for it."

Frazey Ford will make her official Lilith debut this summer, though she participated in the first round of festivals in her own way -- her former group, the Be-Good Tanyas, busked outside a Vancouver date on Lilith Fair's 1999 tour.

Living in her early 20s during the first three years of tours, she said Lilith Fair had an impact on her.

"It was definitely a coming together of female power, musically," said Ford, who will release her first solo album, "Obadiah," on July 20. "It made a pretty strong impression on a lot of young people.

"I just knew there was something powerful about it."

And the artists involved with the relaunched Lilith hope that it retains that power, for the benefit of a new group of female artists navigating an increasingly difficult music industry.

"I think music is very cyclical in terms of what people's tastes are," Robison said.

"I'm glad that Lilith is back now, because at the time we did it earlier, it seemed like there was this big groundswell of support for female artists and singer/songwriters, and that seemed to be lost for a few years.

"I hope that this means that it's coming back."

With files from Canadian Press reporter Michael Oliveira in Toronto.