kathleen edwards

Arresting Storyteller
Kathleen Edwards creates captivating tales on new CD

By Tom Huntington Arts Correspondent
Barre Montpelier Times Argus, 03/21/08

After taking a much-needed break from touring and taking her time to create the compelling material on her mesmerizing new CD, “Asking for Flowers,” Kathleen Edwards is readier than ever to deliver her captivating compositions and distinctive vocals on a massive three-month tour that finds her returning to the Green Mountain State.

“I’m ready to work, and I’ve had so much time off that it really gave me some great perspective,” said Edwards, 29, recently in Country Standard Time magazine – which called “Asking for Flowers” “her delicately driven masterpiece.”

“I have such a second wind, I feel like I’m 20 again, and I’m excited to go out on the road,” she said. “I have a better understanding of how hard I have to work and how much energy I’m looking forward to putting into it.”

On Monday, March 31, the recently begun North American trek makes a stop at Higher Ground’s intimate Showcase Lounge, where the Canadian country-rock standout will be joined by her rootsy band and Toronto singer-songwriter Justin Rutledge, who opens the early all-ages show.

Rutledge was recently nominated for a Juno award (the Canadian equivalent of the Grammy) in the “Roots and Traditional Album of the Year: Solo” category for his CD, “The Devil on a Bench in Stanley Park.”

Dubbed “the next Lucinda Williams” by PopMatters, Edwards is an arresting roots-rock siren with breathy vocals and unblinking lyrics who “lures you in with melodic song-stories about hard-bitten lives, then holds you there with her gorgeously sweet voice,” said the Boston Globe recently, calling her “an artist at her peak.”

Edwards made her area debut at the original Higher Ground in 2003, at the end of an extensive tour in support of her widely lauded debut album, “Failer.” Featuring a vintage analog sound and standout singles such as the bittersweet ballad “Six O’Clock News” and the gorgeously elegant “Hockey Skates,” “Failer” earned her accolades as “a rare talent” (No Depression) and “an authentic music phenomenon” (Boston Globe).

Following another lengthy tour behind her solid 2005 follow-up, “Back to Me,” the unassuming Ottawa native decided to take a much-needed break from the road and refocus herself, both as a songwriter and musician.

The result is easily her best work to date. “Asking for Flowers,” released earlier this month, is a stunning set of captivating narratives and accomplished compositions that seals Edwards’ status as one of the finest roots-rock singer-songwriters around.

Featuring an all-star cast of studio session veterans such as roots-music secret-weapon guitarist Greg Leisz and keyboardist Benmont Tench (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers), the CD serves up a couple of instant country-rock classics: “The Cheapest Key,” a rollicking rocker that features some wicked harmonica work by fellow Canadian Paul Reddick; and the loping “I Make the Dough, You Get the Glory,” which soars on the strength of Edwards’ witty lyrics and Leisz’s tasty pedal steel work.

More subtle standouts include the spellbinding title track, the urgent and poignant “Oil Man’s War,” and the Neil Young and Crazy Horse-invoking moodiness of “Run” and the beautifully melancholy seven-minute closer, “Goodnight, California” (imagine a more subdued take on the Crazy Horse classic, “Like a Hurricane”).

“I wanted to write songs that tell a story – be it mine or someone else’s – with honesty and integrity,” says Edwards in her press materials. “These songs came from a very true place in my heart, perhaps the reason they took so long to write.”

Great article. Thank you, Lefty!