Edwards looks outside, gets back in music game Kathleen Edwards is happily married, but she says she wouldn't mind a night out on the town with Tom Petty. He's her musical hero, she's quick to add, and the reason she fell in love with music and songwriting. "'Wildflowers' was the soundtrack of my teenage years," Edwards said, referring to Petty's 1994 album. "He's somebody who always stands up for himself and risks a lot of things in doing it. He's still an inspiration for me." The stars began aligning for the Canadian singer-songwriter in 2003 with the release of her debut CD, "Failer," which was followed in 2005 by another successful disc, "Back to Me." However, Edwards was in no rush to make a third album. Besides, she had run out of songs. Instead, she settled into married life with guitarist/producer Colin Cripps, learned the piano, worked at a winery, gardened, started jogging, played random concerts and sung on some friends' albums, including a terrific duet with John Doe on his song "Golden State." "I was pretty burned out," Edwards recalled during a conversation from Kingston, Ontario, where she was preparing for a concert. "And I couldn't record songs that I hadn't written. So I stayed home and figured out what direction I was going in. I wanted to resume my life where I had left off a few years ago." Now, Edwards is back with "Asking for Flowers," a collection of songs in which she reaches outside of her own life experience for inspiration, coming to the realization that in songwriting there are only so many times you can look inward before it gets repetitive. 'this time around, I was a little more fearless in making certain musical decisions," Edwards said. "I started looking into stories about other people's lives that are in a sense ordinary but to them are extraordinary." Edwards wrote the song "Alicia Ross" in the voice of a 25-year-old Toronto woman who was murdered in a moment of rage by her neighbor. "I wrote it for all the people who go missing and the mothers who don't get to say a final goodbye," Edwards said. She describes another song, "Scared at Night," which she wrote for her late father, Len Edwards, as an "intense experience." "It had a lot to do with getting older and reflecting on childhood memories," Edwards said. "Understanding that in my life there were some pretty significant moments in which my parents were trying to teach me about life and how death is part of the entire cycle." She met Cripps when he served as a replacement guitarist in her band. An ace player, she thought he was out of her range financially but he hung around and became affordable. They married in 2004. Edwards has come to realize that being married can make songwriting more challenging when it comes to personal feelings. "It's hard for that other person to be your muse and your whipping post," Edwards said, laughing. "When I was younger, I was writing songs about those impulsive moments in life. But marriage is a positive and grounding experience. I think now I have more reason to write about love." Mary Houlihan Chicago Sun-Times				Album reviews Feature articles Interviews Show reviews