Sarah Harmer kicks off a four-night stand at the Harbourfront Centre Theatre tomorrow night. (Michael Peake, Sun)

Sarah Harmer says recording her new bluegrass-soaked acoustic collection, I'm A Mountain, came easily and quickly after her recent tour in the Niagara Escarpment this summer.

"It just all kind of fell into place for two weeks in June," said Harmer, 35, in town yesterday at the Church at Berkeley where she was taping a performance for a U.S. satellite show.

Harmer organized an I Love The Escarpment tour to protest an application for an 82-hectare limestone quarry on the north bluffs of the sensitve Escarpment lands at the singer-songwriter's hometown of Burlington, Ont. She also had long wanted to hike the Bruce Trail because she grew up right across the road from it.

"To have a portable band and travel around with a little p.a. and to set up in different community halls and small theatres around southern Ontario just got our chops up," she said of her protest tour. "We had a great time. And when we went into the studio, there really wasn't a lot of discussion. It was like, 'All right, let's do what we did.' We were pretty warmed up."

Harmer is delighted to have the warm baritone of her father Clem on two tracks -- Oleander and the AIDS vigil song, Goin' Out. They have also recorded a duet, Spanish Eyes, that will be available soon on her website and itunes.

"He came into the studio while we were recording in August," says Harmer, who worked at Toronto's Reaction Studios. "Hopefully, we'll do some more of it, 'cause I think he really likes recording. It was great. He took the Go Train in. He enjoyed himself."

Harmer covered Dolly Parton's Will He Be Waiting For Me? on I'm A Mountain and she's still waiting to hear some feedback from the song's originator.

"We have the same publicist in New York and he gave her a copy of it last week," says Harmer. "I didn't hear anything back other than that. It is exciting."

In the meantime, Harmer is looking forward to her four-night stand at the intimate Harbourfront Centre Theatre --capacity between 400-500 -- beginning tomorrow night. She has five other musicians on the road with her -- Julie Fader (vocals, keys, flute, melodica), Spencer Evans (clarinet, accordion, piano), Chris Bartos (violin, harmonica, piano), Joey Wright (mandolin, guitar) and Jason Euringer (vocals, stand-up bass).

"We do most everything on the new album," says Harmer, whose previous solo outings were 2004's Juno-winning All Of Our Names and 2000's critically acclaimed You Were Here.

"We're kind of in Springsteen territory.We're doing two hour and 20 minute sets. There's no opening act, and there are so many of us and there is a lot of material now to choose from, so we're making a night of it."

Harmer says no decision has been made on the quarry application yet, but she continues to speak out about it. In fact, she'll appear at Mountain Co-op on King Street this Saturday at 1 p.m. to sing a few songs and talk.

"I really do feel optimistic about it, but not without a whole lot of work and not without a whole lot of getting the public onside and spreading the word.I think it's winnable. I don't think it's winnable without a lot of effort."

Harmer has contributed to social causes over the years -- she has a Toronto Hospital For Sick Kids benefit coming up on Dec. 14 at the Phoenix with Sam Roberts and others -- but nothing prepared her for her most recent experience.

"This is the first time I think I've been in the trenches as much and been going to meetings and writing agendas and doing more of that kind of work. So it is new territory for me," she says. "This last year has been really eye-opening. I've learned a lot."