Model Citizen: Tristan Prettyman

TRISTAN PRETTYMAN LOOKS like the girl next door — if the girl next door was a former Roxy clothing model and an established singer-songwriter.

And despite her careers, she acts like the girl next door, too.

Prettyman semi-regularly updates her blog, which offers a very personal look into her life. The blog offers her musings on life on the road, recording, photo shoots and yoga.

But it's not just what she writes about, but how the modern-day folky does it.

Prettyman doesn't hold back — she even wrote an entire blog about how she fears her record label, EMI, could go bankrupt any day. The blog was a response of sorts to a delay in the release of her latest album, "Hello ... X."

"It's funny, because when I wrote that blog I was like, 'F--- it, I don't care. I'm going to write what I want,'" Prettyman said. "And I asked my manager and he said, 'OK.' Its' not any secret — [EMI] knows. And that's the thing: It's not anybody in the company [that I attacked] ... it's really s---ty right now. I look at that and I'm like, 'Crap, my label is falling apart and some company bought it.' And I've been through two A&R people and three presidents and it's really annoying sometimes.

"What it really reinforces is you can't rely on anyone to get your success and reach your goals," Prettyman continued. "At the end of the day, I can't just sit back and expect everyone else to do it for me."

Despite her fears, the 26-year-old Prettyman said she has faith in her fans to keep her afloat if things do turn sour.

"There's times when I start to freak out but then I think about how I have such a great touring foundation so it will be OK," she said. "I have fans who are my fans because they found me not because it was the No. 1 single or it was sold to them. I feel like I have fans who grew with me."

Prettyman, who was first inspired to pick up the guitar after getting Ani DiFranco's "Puddle Dive" album in 1993, said she's been blogging since around the time she started performing, going back five or six years ago.

"I feel my fans grow with me more that way," she said. "They see me as more of a normal person then something else. It keeps everything mellow and down to earth. I think, for me, music was always something I related to and I felt comfort in and I was like, 'Oh, someone else is feeling the same way.' The blogs, in a way, are a lot like the songs: what I can't put into a song I can put into the blog. I learn a lot about myself that way."

But in the same way, Prettyman doesn't use her blog as a soapbox to preach to her fans. She's eco-conscious, but she's not going to force it on you — she's just going to do it on her own.

"I try to do everything little," she said. "I know a lot of people preach it, but I just feel like I can do it."

Prettyman drives a Toyota Highlander hybrid, carries around an aluminum water bottle wherever she goes, doesn't use plastic grocery bags and uses biodegradable toilet paper. She's not Sheryl Crow, but she's living green anyway.

"I grew up in San Diego, in the beach area," Prettyman said. "We were always raised to recycle. ... I guess as I traveled I just realized the impact of buying plastic bottles and every time you get take-out there's so much waste."

Oh, and if you keep up with Prettyman's blog and are wondering if she stuck with the yoga she talked about doing in her April 14 post, she has an answer for you.

"No, I keep forgetting — I do do a lot of stretching," she said with a laugh.

» Iota, 2832 Wilson Blvd.; Fri., 9 p.m., $15; 703-522-8340.

Written by Express contributor Rudi Greenberg

Photos courtesy EMI