Katheleen Edwards – Asking for Flowers

Asking for Flowers ‘ Katheleen Edwards

BY CHRIS PEKEN

Getting past the back cover picture that shows this Canadian singer-songwriter looking like an Amish Celine Dion took but an instant: the first instant she opened her mouth and sang. A gentler Lucinda Williams, a stronger Emmylou Harris and a woman who could/would be great friends with Patty Griffin. Not that Asking for Flowers is an immediate hit; it is an album with a wide palette but firm country roots. Sometimes those roots are planted in the middle of the country road ‘ Buffalo, I Make the Dough, You Get the Glory and the title track ‘ and at other times she braves the dustier, more alternative trails. This is the third studio album from Kathleen Edwards – who has opened for everyone from Jane Silberry and Richard Buckner to The Rolling Stones – and with seasoned production and players she continues to grow in terms of sound and songwriting. Next to a playful wit ‘ “Here comes my softer side / And there it goes!” ‘ is a woman not afraid to tackle uglier topics. Alicia Rose is the albums most beautiful and touching moment, a song about the murder of a teenage girl ‘Inside of this moment there are thing I wish I could know / Like my rings size, your ring size, and the hour I was born / My dad’s middle name, your favorite song / was your darkest day as dark as this one” By the time Kathleen Edwards closes the album with Goodnight, California ‘ a song the slides along on a seductive snake-hipped bass line ‘ you are thinking you need to hear the whole thing over again.

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