Back to Me

1	In State 3:56
2	Back to Me 3:30
3	Pink Emerson Radio 4:25
4	Independent Thief 4:46
5	Old Time Sake 4:59
6	Summerlong 4:06
7	What Are You Waiting For? 4:43
8	Away 3:33
9	Somewhere Else 3:47
10	Copied Keys 5:07
11	Good Things 5:51

Barnes & Noble

Kathleen Edwards's second album finds the precocious singer-songwriting strengthening the talents she displayed on her dazzling debut, Failer, as the seemingly Beat-influenced scribe sharpens both her direct, ethically focused songs and her roots-inflected presentation. Back to Me roars out of the gate with the breathless "In State," all snarling, in-your-face guitars. The tune is a prequel to Failer's "Six O'clock News," and it finds Edwards fed up with a paramour who constantly runs afoul of the law and has at best an arm's-length relationship to the truth. Edwards is on her way to higher spiritual ground here, to a place where hope resides. This new mind-set is evident on the quiet meditation "Away," which finds Edwards employing her Lucinda-like drawl over the lonesome moan of pedal steel and her own delicate finger-picking as she looks toward a reunion with a long-sought lover. It's also palpable on the title track, when the band kicks in with some rock 'n' roll punch as Edwards asserts her intention to use all her charms, and then some, to get the man she wants. Brass and woodwinds lend a Beatles-like elegance to the lovely "Somewhere Else," and elsewhere she navigates confidently between rock and country-folk stylings, all the better to get her message across. That she does -- Back to Me marks three steps forward for this engaging talent. David McGee

All Music Guide

Judging from the songs on Kathleen Edwards' sophomore album, Back to Me, this is one gal who's had some unpleasant run-ins with Cupid over the years, and she's not afraid to talk about 'em. Back to Me comes charging out of the gate with "In State," in which a woman spits with no small amount of venom that she's glad her outlaw boyfriend has been sent up the river for 20 years, and the album doesn't get a whole lot more optimistic about affairs of the heart as it goes along. But Back to Me never comes off as bitter for its own sake -- sounding as if it were recorded under the influence of warm bourbon and a gray sky, the album is long on plain-spoken emotions and tough-talking guitars, but there's a fragile undertow beneath Edwards' flinty veneer that often rises to the surface, and the album's frequent bouts with bad karma are leavened by songs such as the sadly nostalgic "Pink Emerson Radio," the heartbreak of "Old Times Sake," and the title cut, in which Edwards shows her man she can give as good as she gets. Edwards' songs are well served by producer and guitarist Colin Cripps, and her road band gives the music plenty of rich sonic detail (and guest musicians Benmont Tench and Eric Heywood lend a valuable assist). Back to Me is a powerful and affecting album from an artist who is quickly establishing herself as a major talent. Mark Deming