Kathleen Edwards is a 29-year-old Canadian singer-songwriter with a taste for rock 'n' roll, folk and especially country music. Given her country of origin, it's no surprise that her songs find metaphors in hockey skates and border crossings, instead of red dirt farms or the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Edwards has made two very good records, but on Asking for Flowers, she steps up her game even further. Every song seems honed — her vocal phrasing, her harmonies, her arrangements. Edwards' lyrics suggest stories much bigger than can be contained in a three- or four-minute song, and which tend to resonate long after the music stops.

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