Gutsy singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards has some Petty issues "do you think your boys' club would crumble/just because of a loudmouthed girl?" - kathleen edwards, "hockey skates" kathleen edwards is one of those girls who's a lot like one of the boys. when the canadian singer-songwriter came to the three rivers arts festival in the wake of her 2003 debut, "failer," she spiced the end of an already rocking set with thrashy covers of ac/dc and black sabbath. the time before that, she rolled into little club cafe, where, in addition to playing a stunning set, she jokingly sparred with some talkative guys in the back, played two songs about hockey, tossed off a word for the female anatomy that people just don't use and left the crowd with one other thing to talk about. "i remember that little club," she says in a phone interview from toronto, her new hometown. "i remember there being a lot of crazy lesbians there. didn't i do some party trick, like, 'hey, i can take my pants off without undoing them'?" yeah, she shimmied out of them. very impressive. but her deeper skills are in writing and singing, as she's now displayed on a second record, "back to me," that brings the 26-year-old to sold-out dowe's on saturday night. "back to me" is another set of pretty and gutsy songs from a young, outspoken woman who's on the move, trying to find a place called home and a good man to share it with. on "failer," edwards came off as the tough-talking, hard-drinking promiscuous kind, writing of an affair with a older, married man on "westby" and, on "12 bellevue," blurting out, "no, i don't want to be your friend/just take off your clothes and get into my bed." if "back to me" has a little less of that brash attitude, it's because, during the writing process and amid the 200 shows she played after "failer," she tied the knot with her crack guitarist, colin cripps, formerly of crash vegas. "it definitely occurred to me that i wouldn't have this starting and ending of relationships of my own life to feed off of and be the sources of songs," she says. "at the same time, i'm kind of happy that i'm not always writing relationship songs. i think it's challenged me to come up with songs that aren't always about the boy and the girl. i think 'pink emerson radio' was a good test of songwriting ability, to write a song that wasn't about that. i am very proud of that song and i can still write a song like 'in state' and delve into that relationship world without it coming from my life specifically." "in state" opens "back to me" - much like "six o'clock news" opened "failer" - with a romance tangled up in a crime story. on "six o'clock news," a man gone berserk with his gun is shot by cops in front of his pregnant girlfriend. on "in state," it's another criminal and another girl, but this time, she's threatening to turn him in, saying, "i know where the cops hang out. i know when you're going down." it came out, she says, as a kind of prequel to "six o'clock news," and it's far removed from her personal experience. 'that's what i do on the road," she says sarcastically. "i write to convicts and then put them into songs." the reality, she adds, is that "i like writing songs that are stories about life, and it might not be my life, but i think it's somebody's life. maybe for some people it's repetitive because i already wrote 'six o'clock news,' but i also know that i got some e-mails from people saying stop writing these songs about stalkers and crazy ex-boyfriends, because i feel like it's just perpetuating my situation. in some ways i'm sympathetic with the people it's striking a chord with; at the same time, i think that's obviously happening to people if i'm getting this response. it must be accurate, so in a twisted way, it's kind of a compliment." a few listens to "back to me" reveals it as a record with a strong sense of movement and dislocation, of lovers coming and going, and not always connecting. it had something to do with her moving from a rural town north of ottawa, where she was born, to the big city life of toronto. "someone joked the other day about how the record is all about moving away and i called it 'back to me.' i left my hometown in the period of time when i started touring and i feel in a way like i got plucked out of my life. i don't think a lot of people sit down and think thematically that their whole record is going to be 'These kinds of songs,' but all that stuff that was happening in my life carried over into the songs i was writing. the worst thing i could ever think of would be writing 10 songs about how i want to go home, i'm-sick-of-being-on-the-road kind of thing, and i don't think that's what the songs are about. it's more about getting used to a new lifestyle that i hadn't had, or any exposure to growing up." with her slightly lazy drawl and rootsy backup, it's still rare to see her name without alt-country diva lucinda williams' attached to it somewhere. "i've always felt like it was a huge compliment," says edwards, who performed with lucinda once. "i understand that it's an easy comparison to make. i think it's a bit of a lazy comparison. i think the assumption is that i was influenced by her and that i'm the next lucinda williams or that i'm trying to follow in her footsteps. i totally respect her. i'm not trying to be the next her. she is already her, and she's alive and well and on top of her game. it was awkward being pushed as that, because it's not coming from me, it's coming from other people, and yet i sort of have to accept that's how i'm being perceived. i think it's insulting more towards her than me." plus, there's another influence that she swears she wears on her sleeve - tom petty. organist benmont tench's name on the credits of "back to me" is just one hint that edwards has a thing for the heartbreakers. and yet, at least one critic approached the record by writing "country singer kathleen edwards..." "it's kind of funny these days how anybody who is a songwriter who has a roots-leaning band or sound is considered americana and alt-country. if tom petty came out today that's what he'd be called, and yet he's not considered that. he's considered a pop-rock fm radio band with a roots-rock based sound. i think that's definitely where i'm coming from. he's one of my biggest influences, so i kind of look at him as a baromter for that kind of thing. i'm shelved as country in europe in stores and i think there are so many people who have country-based influences, mostly because country has a great history of songwriting." audiences on her last tour may have been surprised that the kathleen edwards who showed up rocked more than she did on the record and let the band drive the songs into extended jams. that was a factor, she says, of not making the record with a touring band. "when we actually formed a touring band it wasn't the same guys who played on the record, but also we got into more of a pocket as a touring band. colin joined the band and he's an amazing electric guitar player, so he brought so much of his flavor to it, it sounded a lot different than what the record sounded like." and, while "back to me" doesn't rock considerably more than "failer," it does have more of a band feel to it. "a lot of the tracks were the touring band, so i think you write songs differently when you know what the musical arrangements behind it will be. there were songs i wrote knowing the arrangements would be a lot more full, supported by a band rather than just being these solo acoustic songs." she was thrilled to have a real live heartbreaker join the proceedings, and he added some great atmosphere and tension with his keyboards. petty's guitarist, mike campbell, she didn't need quite as much, given that she has her own stud on guitar. "i'm packin'," she says. "it would be totally a thrill to meet him and play with him, too," she says of campbell. "but i feel like i have an amazing group of musicians, so anything beyond that would be like 10 layers of icing on top." as edwards is talking she starts cracking up about a guy walking down the street in toronto smoking a big joint. 'There's like a cloud of smoke following him," she says, laughing. "it might as well be legal here." when the subject turns back to toronto, the maple leafs come up, and edwards, a big hockey fan, lets loose an f-word-laced rant about the nhl players not going to work this year. 'These guys get [bleepin'] so much money to do what they love in life. there are so many musicians who grind it out for decades and don't get a quarter of what these guys make in a year, and i'm like, 'you guys should [bleepin'] count your lucky stars and shut the [bleep] up; you're only here because people come see you play and you guys have [bleeped] everyone who has supported you and the industry for so long. it just kind of leaves a bad taste in everybody's mouth. i think, anyway. i think people take things for granted." scott mervis post-gazette.com				Album reviews Feature articles Interviews Show reviews