Exciting and good Canadian when it comes to quality music in the country segment you can often rely on artists from canada. kathleen edwards' second record back to me doesn't change this picture. the 26-year-old singer/songwriter kathleen edwards from toronto made it commercially usable with her debut album failer in 2003 where acclaimed music magazines such as rolling stone and no depreession topped each other in superlatives. following this she toured extensively and supported not exactly matching bands like rolling stones and ac/dc. on back to me edwards has received help from her band, alongside famous artists as benmont tench (tom petty and the heartbreakers) on keyboard and eric heywood (the jayhawks, son volt) on pedal steel. as a whole these musicians make this album a strong musical listening experience. but most credit should go out to kathleen edwards herself. she writes beautiful songs about rusty love and unfaithful men with both feeling and sincerity. she actually manages to sound credible as well in an excellent way. her voice can best be described as a mix between lucinda williams and a hearty sheryl crow. without it getting awkward. she has written all of the songs herself, either alone or together with producer colin sripps and peter cash (the cash brothers), except for somewhere else which she has got from the repertoire of songwriter and artist jim bryson. the song material is otherwise varied in the artistic expression. it changes from up tempo songs as the opening track in state and the title track back to me to low-key moments as for example pink emerson radio and old time sake. the song quality is of a very high standard. the dead spots are not totally absent, but luckily there are lots of time between them. to sum it all up back to me is an obligatory buy for the music lover of exciting and well performed countryrock. so while we are waiting for kathleen edwards to show up on a stage in norway, her great album is perfect to shorten the waiting period. rating: 5 [out of 6] dagfinn bergesen panorama.no translated by suzanna				Album reviews Feature articles Interviews Show reviews