EDMONTON -- Here's a scoop for you. Falling in the cracks between the lumbering giants of the Big Valley Jamboree, Summersault and the Folk Festival is one of the greatest and yet most underrated female singers in Canada.

Playing tonight in the Joint, Sass Jordan has been making the transition from Janis Joplin-esque rock shouter to serious pop artist. It ain't easy, man, as she might say.

From her breakthrough Racine album, containing such kickass tunes as I Will Make You a Believer, she released Ugly in 1994, an angry musical spleen-venting inspired by a breakup with her heroin-addicted boyfriend. Great work from great pain. Fans were then shocked to hear '97's Present, a smooth about-face into more adult contemporary realms.

As she said in 1998, "I find when you're labelled a rock chick, there's only so far you can go. And after a while it's like 'you're a rock chick and HOW old are you?' Come on.''

While less "painful'' in general, both her writing and vocals matured on Present. She clearly had the makings of another Bonnie Raitt or Sheryl Crow (perhaps a combination, with a dash of Janis thrown in, to complete our musical recipe), but, alas, no one bought it.

That's why Jordan's next album is so "critical,'' as Aquarius Records' Keith Brown puts it. He says that Hot Gossip, due out in either October or the new year (depending on business climate), is much along the same lines as Present.

"It's more pop than rock,'' Brown says. The first single, So Long, has just been serviced to radio. Now all that remains is to find a radio station to play it.

Meanwhile, hear what she's up to at the show. Tickets to Sass Jordan are $13 at the door.