Maria McKee’s New Edge Cuts a Bit Too Deeply

Maria McKee, L.A.’s queen of countrified roots rock, learns more each year about high drama. On Tuesday at the refurbished El Rey Theatre, the singer who brought the garage hoedown into the mainstream with Lone Justice moved two steps away from the country diva sound of her 1993 solo album, “You Gotta Sin to Get Saved.”

Dressed like a flamenco ballerina and accompanied by soaring, gothic keyboards, McKee backed away from any familiar Southern twang to emote from a place that’s deeper in her soul--and much harder to reach. By the dramatic conclusion of her emotional tryst “I’m Not Listening,” McKee was crouched on the floor with her back to the crowd, rocking to herself.

In the age of Alanis, McKee’s moody histrionics seemed de rigueur. But her concert fell into some of the same traps that turn her new album, “Life Is Sweet,” into a muddle of misplaced passion: In the process of trying to find an artist beyond that old, rootsy singer, McKee lost her audience.

After burrowing into her characters’ murky psyches, she finally came up for air with the new album’s title song, a breath of life and love in the midst of anomie. McKee might prefer to skate edgy, treacherous feelings than serve up a safe night of songs, but she’s at her best when she’s telling a down-to-earth story in a straightforward way.