Kathleen Edwards: Back To Me "failer" follow up fails to fall into difficult second record cliché. i've got to put kathleen edwards up there with lucinda williams and gina villalobos at the forefront of female country rockers - the songs can't be described as anything other than generic and so therefore it is what differentiates them from the mass that is important.  in this case it is the superb performances, her voice adept and adaptable whether it's on the straight ahead rockers, 'back to me' or having that catch in her voice on her slower songs 'pink emerson radio' that snare you and draw you in like she's whispering in your ear alone, her breath tickling the tiny hairs, that with the sympathetic playing, hooks you right in. she can really wrap her vocal chords around a syllable on 'independent thief' - door and more become sensual and almost glottal, covered with the viscera and still warm from her throat. when she slows things down as on 'old times sake' she is definitely at her best, her voice seeming to bar hop around town like the ghost of lucinda williams trying to track down her past. those of you who love cat power but are exasperated by her tendency to meander will be ecstatic to greet 'away' accompanied by just acoustic guitar, the unaffected and untreated vocals raw and sweet, innocent and weary, and when you add in the bent steel notes that chime in to underline the devastation, you've hit upon something special. this record could easily have been too produced or suffered from being underwritten but she's made a virtue of simplicity and integrity and it is all the better for that.  rating: 7 [out of 10] david cowling americana-uk.com				Album reviews Feature articles Interviews Show reviews