FIFTEEN long years ago, Maria McKee freakishly had a number one with Show Me Heaven, the histrionic soundtrack theme from Days Of Thunder.
More often, her songs have tended to show you hell or the well travelled route there. Peddlin' Dreams, her rootsy sixth solo album, is no happier than her career peak of Life Is Sweet or 2003's emotionally fraught High Dive but the tempo is slower, the mood introspective if resilient, the settings rustic.
She has acquired spontaneity and intimacy, her country-soul voice leaping into the album's opening line before the guitar catches up, and her piano seeking solace in Neil Young's Barstool Blues.
For once with McKee, the storm is brewing but never bursts, the torch songs all the better for their insidious potency.
Updated: 09:14 Thursday, June 23, 2005
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