A lot of listeners are describing Ottawa-born singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards's sophomore effort as sounding like Lucinda Williams fronting Crazy Horse, which is fair enough. I was doing the "name that tune/band/influence" thing too when I first heard Back to Me, especially its first track, "In State". There was something familiar about the song that nagged at me for a week until I finally figured it out: its chord progression and chiming guitars are like a tougher version of "Barricades of Heaven", the standout number from Jackson Browne's Looking East. Which pretty much sums up Edwards's appeal: she's not doing anything innovative or even particularly individualistic, but she steals from the best and writes tunes that'll stick in your head like perfect-day memories.

Back to Me is stronger and more coherent than her 2003 debut, Failer, thanks in part to producer/bandleader/husband Colin Cripps's assured fretwork but even more to the singer's own increased confidence and maturity. The title track, in particular, is a feisty romp that finds Edwards simultaneously celebrating and laughing at her newfound celebrity status. Still, she's not afraid to get all frail, as she does on "Pink Emerson Radio", a mysterious little song-story about nostalgia, domesticity, and decisions made in haste. What would you take if your house was burning down?

Unsurprisingly, most of Edwards's lyrics are about arrivals and departures; her Web site reveals that she's played more than 200 shows since her hit debut's release. How she managed to find time to write these new songs is a wonder, but it suggests that even if she's never home she plans on being around for the long haul.