2008/04/08  Rex Theatre; Pittsburgh, PA Music review: Edwards stunning at the Rex Three great records into her career, it's a shame to find Kathleen Edwards playing to a couple hundred people in a club, as she did Tuesday night at the Rex. Maybe she's an iPod commercial away from a theater tour. Maybe there's little demand for a sometimes "loud-mouthed girl" who seems like she wants to be fronting Tom Petty's Heartbreakers. Edwards hit the stage Tuesday night wearing a T-shirt and tight jeans, her wavy hair already tousled. She also wore an acoustic guitar and a harmonica rack - a rare but welcome sight on a female singer-songwriter - as she wearily sang "Wanna go get high?" the opening line of the gorgeous song "Mercury." Edwards and her four-piece band, a cross between the Heartbreakers, Whiskeytown and Crazy Horse, hit plenty of highs through the course of their 90-plus minute set. They stayed in a mid-tempo gallop for the first part with songs such as "In State" and "What Are You Waiting For?" before catching fire on the extended "Copied Keys" and "12 Bellevue," showcases for the blistering guitar work of her husband, Colin Cripps. Edwards is no slouch on guitar either, and one of the set's most powerful moments was her solo electric version of "Alicia Ross," a ballad about a murdered teen sung with beauty and passion. Later in the set, she picked out a gentle pattern on the acoustic for "Scared at Night," a tender tribute to her father (who's very much alive, contrary to reports in No Depression -- she made a joke about that). The latter half of the show also featured two stunning rockers: "Six O'Clock News," a fan favorite about a boyfriend with a gun, and "Back to Me," on which Edwards boasts of her feminine wiles. Of course, Edwards, clearly in an upbeat mood, hit on hockey, too, with "I Make the Dough, You Get the Glory" and the more wistful "Hockey Skates." The Ottawa Senators fan, playing on the eve of the Pens-Sens playoff series, sniped that "Canada is still [angry] that you got Crosby. What an injustice to our country. Pittsburgh, whoa, you get Lemieux and Crosby?!" The adoring crowd was not inclined to argue with a performer who was leaving it all on the stage. A colleague of mine, whose tastes lean more avant-garde, questions how Edwards "[stands] out from the 100 other singer-songwriters" played on WYEP. And, yeah, when she came along with the still-brilliant "Failer" it was clear that Edwards was a Lucinda Williams disciple. But with her lovely voice (and looks), her narrative writing, endearing one-of-the-boys stage presence and readiness to rock, Kathleen Edwards rises above the pack - kind of like her favorite Canadian hockey players. Scott Mervis Pittsburgh Post-Gazette				Album reviews Feature articles Interviews Show reviews