Kathleen Edwards: 'Asking for Flowers'

I had the same visceral reaction to Kathleen Edwards' new album, "Asking for Flowers," that I did when I first heard Emmylou Harris' "Pieces of the Sky," Rosanne Cash's "Seven Year Ache" and Lucinda Williams' "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road."

I loved Edwards' first two albums, "Failer" and "Back to Me," but they didn't punch me in the gut the way "Asking for Flowers" does. Edwards has matured as both a singer and a writer. More importantly, she's learned to tap into the raw emotions that everyone shares. On the new album, she's bitter, indignant, vulnerable and melancholy.

The characters that Edwards draws are vivid and poignant, especially on "Alicia Ross," the story of a young woman who was murdered. You'll also find diatribes against the government and laments about broken relationships.

Edwards sounds happy, too ... and goofier than ever. On "I Make the Dough, You Get the Glory," one of the album's best songs, she compares herself to Elvis in the '70s, a Ford Tempo and hockey tough man Marty McSorley while comparing a bandmate to John Fogerty, a Maserati and Wayne Gretzky.

And though I admire her lyrics, it's Edwards' vocals and the music that hit me the hardest. Some of the tunes are stark and haunting; others sound like Rosanne Cash is fronting Wilco at its feistiest. In both cases, Edwards could have conveyed her message if she'd done nothing but hum.

A few years from now, Edwards won't have to endure comparisons to other singers. Writers will be using her as a benchmark.