Singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards speaks her mind

Kathleen Edwards, the smart, scrappy, hockey-loving, Canadian singer-songwriter, was in town recently promoting her third album, "Asking for Flowers," set for release on Tuesday. She'd just come from shopping at Pike Place Market when we sat down at a Starbucks near her hotel.

"I was hanging with Leslie Feist recently," she said, referring to fellow Canadian singer Feist. "I know it sounds funny, dropping her name, but we've actually known each other for a long time. And she was talking about how she bought a new place recently and had got a lot of treasures on the road to put in her house. And I realized I should be doing that more. So I actually found this amazing rug at this little antique store."

She stirred her tea and said, laughing, "I've been doing way more shopping than working." She sighed. "But I'm sure I'll be back to work for it soon."

Her stay in Seattle included performing live on KMTT-FM/The Mountain. She'll be back in the spring for a show here but wasn't sure where, now that the Crocodile, where she previously performed, is gone. Last time she was there, she joked about Seattle not having an NHL team.

"You ought to get the Nashville Predators," she said. "I don't know why Nashville has a hockey team. No one gets hockey in Nashville. It'd be great here."

"Hockey Skates" was her breakthrough hit in Canada in 2003. She revisits the sport on the new CD with "I Make the Dough, You Get the Glory," about NHL player Marty McSorley, whose job was to protect hockey great Wayne Gretzky on the rink.

"McSorley was one of the most disgraced hockey players," she explained. "He basically ended his career by committing a pretty awful penalty. And most people will only remember him for that. But he was basically Wayne Gretzky's bodyguard on the ice. He took all the hits for Gretzky."

The song is a witty, clever take on human frailty. "You're Chateauneuf, I'm Yellow Label," she sings, "You're the buffet, I'm just the table."

"I think it's one of my most genius moments that was purely accidental," she said. "I just got lucky with that one."

Another song, "Oh Canada" — not to be confused with the Canadian national anthem, "O Canada" — talks about the darker side of the nation, with references to racism, gangs and crime.

"I think Canadians put themselves on a pedestal a lot of times," she explained, "sometimes deservedly and sometimes not. I can't write songs about what's lame about America. I don't think it's my place. But as a Canadian citizen, I want to participate in my country, and see it become a better place.

"I think a lot of Americans have this idea that racism doesn't exist, and all the bad things about America don't exist in Canada, but they do. We just have a lot fewer people to commit them, so it's not as prevalent. But it's true."

She said she was "advised" by some that the song would not go down well in her homeland. But frankness and honesty are traits of her songwriting.

"I can't put on a face," she said. "If somebody doesn't like my record, I'm not going to try to talk them into liking me. I don't have it in me. But if I'm bothered by something, I certainly go at it."

"Asking for Flowers" sets a new standard for Edwards. It's her most ambitious, most varied recording, with heartfelt, funny and feisty songs.

"I think I've shed a lot of fear," she said. "I'm not afraid about the commercial consequences of writing music that I believe in. I've been on a major learning curve for the last few years. I just kind of got thrown into something. I just made a record in my hometown [Toronto] with friends and all of a sudden, within the year, I'm playing on late-night TV shows and getting publishing offers and touring the world.

"Sometimes there are some pretty awful pills you've got to swallow in the business of music. But I'm at the point now where I'm starting to really let go of things that bother me, and really feel good about the music I'm making."

Patrick MacDonald: 206-464-2312 or pmacdonald@seattletimes.com