Audio Mixer: Jim Scott.

Recording information: Catherine North Studios; Home, British Columbia, Canada; Phase One Studios, Toronto, Ontario, British Columbia,; Plyrz Studios, Santa Clarita, CA; Woodshed.

Rootsy Canadian singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards returns with the self-assured ASKING FOR FLOWERS, a solid country-rock set backed by an all-star band led by the Heartbreakers' Benmont Tench on keyboards and session star Greg Leisz on pedal steel. Written and produced by Edwards, the 11 songs feature a more outward focus, with a sharp political context on current events-themed songs like "Oh Canada" (not her national anthem, but a pointed response to the country's global behavior) and the scathing "Oil Man's War." These are interspersed among more familiar, personal songs like "Scared At Night" and "The Cheapest Key." Other highlights include the wry "I Make the Dough, You Get the Glory."

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. The playful wit of "I Make the Dough, You Get the Glory" ("You're cool and cred like Fogerty/I'm Elvis Presley in the Seventies") and "The Cheapest Key" ("Here comes my softer side/And there it goes!") is livelier than her previous work, but the gravity of "Alicia Ross" (based on a true story of a murdered teenager) and "Oh Canada" (a rant against social injustice in her homeland) cuts deep into the heart, and "Oil Man's War" is a tale of a draft-age man fleeing to Canada during the Vietnam War that's affecting and sadly relevant. The music is beautifully rendered and moves with the emotional peaks and valleys with surety and grace. And when Edwards sings about love, as she does often, it's with a naked honesty that's genuinely touching and reinforced by the rough but sweet tone of her voice. Back to Me was the work of a singer/songwriter well on her way to becoming a major artist; Asking for Flowers leaves no doubt that Kathleen Edwards has arrived and made an album that's funny, startling, poignant, and (once again) worthy of repeated play. ~ Mark Deming