Kathleen Edwards - Asking For Flowers "Choosing my words carefully / has never been my strength," Kathleen Edwards sings, but she's being disingenuous. She can sound like a confessional singer-songwriter on her country-tinged ballads, but Edwards is a storyteller; each song on Asking For Flowers, the Canadian's third album, offers a window into a character whose life story is easy to infer from the details. A mother concerned about her about-to-be-married daughter, a daughter revealing to her mother that she was raped, a man fleeing north because he refuses to fight an "Oil Man's War," several more disillusioned women in various bad relationships. It's not a happy album, but the stories, similar to those of Lucinda Williams and Patty Griffin, are compelling. Edwards is often less convincing on the Whiskeytown-Tom Petty-style rockers than she is on the quieter numbers, but that's quibbling with songs this compelling. Rating: 3 out of 5 Steve Klinge Philadelphia Inquirer				Album reviews Feature articles Interviews Show reviews