Album Review: Asking For Flowers by Kathleen Edwards

Kathleen Edwards' 2005 album Back to Me was the sort of record that grows and reveals new secrets each time you gave it a listen, so it's tempting not to trust immediate impressions after three spins of her next set, 2008's Asking for Flowers. But if one has to leap to a relative snap judgment, Edwards' new record sounds just as strong as its fine predecessor, and shows that she is gaining strength and confidence as a songwriter, qualities she hardly lacked before. Produced by Jim Scott and featuring a handful of top-notch American studio players (Benmont Tench, Greg Leisz), Don Heffington) alongside members of Edwards' Canadian road band (Colin Cripps, Jim Bryson), Asking for Flowers shows a broader range of colors than her first two albums (both lyrically and musically) than her earlier work.

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I have always felt ambivalent about Kathleen Edwards. Like a lot of Canadian songwriters, she’s a household name (at least if you read NOW’s concert listings), but it’s hard to recall her music at all. Yet her fourth album comes as a pleasant surprise, arguably tough country at its finest. Her clear, pristine vocals convey longing, heartbreak and the sexiness of the working class with honesty and grace.

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