It’s pretty hard for any female folksinger with even a touch of talent to escape the “sounds like Joni Mitchell/Joan Baez” trap, so let’s not even try.

Seattle singer/songwriter Katya Chorover does bear a vocal resemblance to these two folk divas, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Chorover has spent the last 15 years perfecting her talent and finding her own voice to add to the folk legacy.

She describes herself as living “with one foot in the city and the other in the hills,” and her lyrics bridge that gap, “weaving tender personal stories with wry social commentary.”

She performs April 22 at the Island Music Guild, with musicians Andy Stoller on bass and backing vocals, Zak Borden on mandolin and backing vocals and Dan Tyack on pedal steel, lap steel guitars and dobro.

Chorover moved from the city (Boston) to the country (Pacific Northwest) in the late ‘80s and began attracting fans in Olympia coffeehouses.

With a self-recorded basement tape — really, it was recorded in a basement studio — she toured the United States with guitarist Casey Neill, then traveled to Europe, sometimes performing on the streets and in small cafes from Prague to Dublin.

That kind of “street cred” is good for any budding musician, lending spice to her rich blend of music.

Her 1998 recording, this time on a CD, captured those traveling times as well as her relationship to her new Northwest home. She had begun collaborating with established musicians in the Northwest music community, including Cary Black, Zak Borden and Paul Benoit who are featured on the album, “The Clearing.”

Chorover’s musical profile grew with “Off the Map,” recorded in 2001, which caused the music magazine Dirty Linen to proclaim: “the arrangements are vintage Nashville . . . any of these originals could fill the vacuum that is the gaping maw of formatted radio.”

That recording boasted a growing list of backing musicians, including Irish flute player Hanz Araki.

A note about the tangled nature of the musical community: Araki has played two concerts at the Island Music Guild Hall, the most recent with Zak Borden on guitar, mandolin and backing vocals. Chorover can be heard singing beautiful harmonies on Araki’s last album, on which Borden also appears.

Borden and Araki have toured with Neill as the Casey Neill Trio. It goes on and on.

While Borden can pick a mean Irish jig on the mandolin, bluegrass is his bread and butter. (See sidebar for more on Borden.)

Chorover has stayed close to home in Seattle the last few years, taking time off from touring to start a family. She said she is now ready to record and tour again, and expects to have a new album out this year.

In the meantime, fans and soon-to-be fans can hear old and new favorites at her concert, 7:30 p.m. April 22 at the Island Music Guild Hall, 10598 Valley Rd., Bainbridge Island. The concert is sponsored by Music Community Resources.

Tickets are $12 adults, $9 seniors and students, available at (206) 842-5485 or at the door.

Borden leads pre-concert mandolin workshop

Seattle musician Zak Borden claims he had no choice — the Blue Grass Boys made him do it. Take to a life of picking bluegrass music that is.

Borden will lead a two-hour intensive mandolin workshop before the April 22 concert at Island Music Guild Hall with Katya Chorover, from 4:30-6:30 p.m. at the hall. Cost for the class is $40, or $30 if buying a ticket to the concert.

Borden said it is geared to beginning and intermediate mandolin payers, and will cover a wide range of subjects, from getting the most of practice time to correcting bad habits and learning new chords.

Borden has deep roots in Americana music, born in Cambridge, Mass. during the “folk music scare” as he puts it.

His uncle played in a bluegrass band, his sister plays banjo and his grandfather built guitars and fiddles.

But the scales tipped toward a musical life when, at 16, Borden saw two members of the legendary Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys playing on the street.

“In other words,” he writes in his third person bio, “Zak had no choice.”

He describes his songs as the “lonesome, longing kind . . . the sort that come from the fertile ground somewhere between homesteading and highway travel.”

As well as performing with a wide range of Northwest musicians, Borden fronts a band with the best name ever, “Zak Borden and the Lizzies.” Think about it.