BREAKOUT: Lizzie West

Let's hear it for late bloomers. Singer-songwriter Lizzie West didn't pick up a guitar until she was 23, but she's made remarkably rapid progress since then. In the past five years, the 28-year-old New Yorker made the leap from busking in the subway to scoring a deal with Warner Bros., which will release her debut album, ''Holy Road...Freedom Songs.'' ''I think I got from the subway to here by pursuing my vision honestly, without any pause or fear,'' says West, a New Age kind of gal. You can get a first taste of her wonderfully plangent, lyrical songwriting (think the second coming of Natalie Merchant) on her four-song EP ''Lizzie West'' (listen for her song ''Chariots Rise'' in the feature film ''Secretary''). ''It took a long time to give myself permission to be who I wanted to be,'' says West. ''But I'm on my way.'' We bet plenty of folks will follow. (April)