This came out in 2005 — or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
“I’ve got ways to make you see I’m so much better than before,” promises Kathleen Edwards on Back To Me. Any fool could tell she’s not kidding.
The alt-country singer-songwriter — who burst on to the scene to near-universal acclaim with 2003’s Failer — has indeed taken her songcraft to the next level on this striking followup. Like Lucinda Williams, Edwards is a tough-talking cookie whose bravado conceals a heart that’s been bruised by an endless string of small-time hoods, bad breaks, broken promises and drunken regrets. And while her band support her with shimmering, rangy roots-rock midway between Blue Rodeo and Crazy Horse, Edwards spends most of this 11-song set examining the shards of fractured romance, knowing she ought to just pick up the pieces and move on instead of trying to hold it together until it inevitably crumbles into dust.
Somehow, though, like the woman fleeing a burning home in Pink Emerson Radio, you know Edwards is gonna get away in the nick of time. “I got 20 bucks that says I’m gonna make it,” she challenges in her dusky drawl.
Only a fool would take that bet.
