Sarah McLachlan returned to the Edmonton Folk Festival Wednesday night, for a pre-festival concert the night before the official kick-off. (CBC)Thousands of fans welcomed Sarah McLachlan back to the Edmonton Folk Music Festival on Wednesday night, with the singer-songwriter calling the pre-festival evening concert "magical."

McLachlan, who last performed at the annual music event 20 years ago, headlined a bill that also included U.S. folks star Tracy Chapman and emerging Halifax singer Meaghan Smith. Proceeds from the fundraiser concert are earmarked for the festival's endowment fund.

Held the night before the festival's official Thursday kickoff, the Gallagher Park concert offered McLachlan a wonderful sight from the stage.

"[It was] just a sea of people — they had all these tea lights — and just beyond that a black sky. It was quite magical," McLachlan, who performed both old favourites and several new songs, told CBC/Radio-Canada later Wednesday night.

Currently working on her first album of new material since 2003's Afterglow, McLachlan said she has a handful of songs written, including tracks that reflect her personal life.

"Often it's just a cathartic process of working through whatever I'm dealing with. I separated last year from my husband and … the two new songs [I performed] were definitely about that. I'm sure there's going to be more about that," she said, adding that she plans to return to the studio this fall and hopes to begin touring by next summer.

Songwriting is often 'just a cathartic process of working through whatever I'm dealing with,' including her separation from her husband, McLachlan said. (CBC)"I've worked really hard just to look forward and be positive. I really try to have the 'cup is half-full' mentality. There's a lesson in everything. This happened to me to teach me something, or a number of things, and I can write about that. I can think about it."

Another project on McLachlan's plate is the revival of her influential Lilith Fair musical festival that was announced in April and is set to return in 2010.

"It will have been 11 years. I think 1999 was the last show here in Edmonton," she recalled.

"Since [then], there's been such an amazing new wealth of music being made by women out there, plus all the gals who were in it from the start. I think it is a fun time to bring it back."

Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, the Edmonton Folk Music Festival officially gets underway Thursday and continues through Sunday.