Shara Worden, aka My Brightest Diamond: "I am a serious person, but I definitely have a playful side as well."

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Shara Worden's voice pours beauty, spurs imagination and warms the body.

It's operatic, epic and worth savoring, like a Sonoran summer's breeze.

This is true whether she's singing her own material onstage with her act My Brightest Diamond or covering Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" during karaoke in Brazil.

"Oh, geez," she said during a phone interview from New York City.

Worden was unknowingly filmed during a sushi bar performance and uploaded to YouTube.com at the end of May. What becomes quickly apparent in the video is that Worden is no freshman to a karaoke mic.

"In college, literally, I wouldn't have any money," she said. "And there was this sports bar that would give away $100 if you won their karaoke. So a couple times I'd go down, like when I was sick of donating plasma."

Worden, 33, studied music at the University of North Texas before moving to New York City to focus on opera, while forming bands that mixed orchestra with rock. She befriended indie-wonderkind Sufjan Stevens at an open-mic in the city and later joined his tour for the 2005 album, "Illinois."

Worden comes to Tucson opening for the cello-rocking Rasputina at Club Congress after releasing her first album, 2006's "Bring Me the Workhorse," and its remix record, 2007's "Tear It Down."

For this tour, she will be playing without her band, just she and a guitar.

And a sharp sense of humor.

Why go out alone on this tour?

"Because I don't want to go in debt? Is that a sufficient answer? Here's my other answer: 'Well, really, you know, it's like playing in different formations brings out different qualities in your music. It just really strips it down to focus on different aspects, you know?' "

Get closer to the audience, right?

"Yeah, a more intimate vibe (laughs)."

"Oh, my God, it's going to be brutal! What was I thinking? I'm going to go buy a personal air conditioner. Wait, that's bad for the environment. A Chinese fan?"

People seem surprised you're not as dour or serious in person or in interviews as your work might imply sometimes. Why do you think that part of you comes out in your work?

"I don't know yet. I think it's a challenge to me to find the playful part of myself in my work. I am a serious person, but I definitely have a playful side as well."

Do you know what state Sufjan's doing for his next album? (Stevens has said he plans to make 50 albums, one for each state)

"(Laughs) I don't know, man."

You're not going to tell me?

"Nope, not allowed (laughs)."