Showing her support Kathleen Edwards wants to wear her Ottawa Senators jersey when she sings the Canadian national anthem before tonight's NHL All-Star Game, but the stuffed shirts at the league's front offices iced that idea in a hurry. "They're afraid people will think I'm aligning myself with the East," says the alt-country singer-songwriter, who grew up in an Ottawa suburb. "Which, of course, is exactly what I want to do. What, I'm going to root for the West?" Edwards says she was thrilled to be asked to sing "O Canada" before tonight's game, but she's not traveling to Atlanta simply out of patriotism. She's also trekking south to fulfill a long-time desire: She wants to be photographed with former NHL coach Don Cherry, the star of "Hockey Night in Canada." "I'm a huge fan," Edwards says. Edwards' third album, "Asking for Flowers," is scheduled to be released on March 4. She calls it her most vulnerable album to date, which is saying a lot since many of the songs on her previous CDs, 2003's "Failer" and 2005's "Back to Me," feature characters who are emotionally wounded. "I have a hard time writing songs that I'm not invested in," Edwards tells The Score. "My songs are not all autobiographical, but many are based on people I know or people I've met. I'm a medium for other people's stories, for people who don't know how to tell them." That doesn't mean other people's pain always brings Edwards to her knees. "I'm sure every Toronto Maple Leafs fan will be mad that I'm singing the national anthem," says Edwards, who will appear at Irving Plaza in April. "But they can eat it." Hank Gola nydailynews.com				Album reviews Feature articles Interviews Show reviews