Alt-country musician Kathleen Edwards adds spunk to her twang

Alt-country singer Kathleen Edwards, who performs Saturday in Norfolk as part of the Discovery Music Series, doesn't like to mince words.

A personal ad for her might read, "Turn-ons: music, hockey. Turn-off: B.S."

The personal

Edwards, 30, is from Ottawa, and her parents are Canadian diplomats who had her traveling the world at an early age, spending a great deal of time in Korea and Switzerland. She started playing the violin as a kid but now performs on guitar and harmonica.

When she hit college age, she enrolled in the university of building a career in music. In 2004 she married guitarist and bandmate Colin Cripps, and they live in Hamilton, Ontario, when they're not on the road.

Her first album, 2003's "Failer," made her lots of fans. The follow-up in 2005, "Back to Me," landed a single in the Cameron Crowe young-love movie "Elizabethtown."

The music

That debut album prompted Rolling Stone magazine to call Edwards one of the year's most promising new acts, and it was praised by Blender and The New York Times.

She has been nominated four times for Juno Awards, which you might call the Canadian Grammy Awards.

Her latest album, "Asking for Flowers," earned her a 2008 Juno nomination for adult alternative album of the year and put her on the short list for Canada's Polaris Music Prize.

She tells stories with many of her songs, and they reflect a worldly, seize-the-day perspective. Words like "wit," "spunk," "candid" and "funny" are often used to describe her style. The New York Times once wrote that her songs can "pare situations down to a few dozen words while they push country-rock toward its primal impulses of thump and twang. "

A recent review from Ottawa did not mention any thumping or twanging, but it praised Edwards' show to the skies.

 The hockey

She's a big hockey fan, coming to the game later in life because she spent little time in Canada as a child. One of her music videos features NHL stars, and hockey references are common in her songs.

She told the Chicago Tribune: "It's so romantic, endearing and innocent, kind of like staying 12 forever. There's something fun about watching adults follow hockey. I love seeing guys check the sports reel and picking pools during the playoffs. It's the most pure Canadian cultural experience - playing a game of shinny (pickup hockey) and going to the bar afterward and getting (drunk)."

The trip

In December she finished off a big year by traveling to Afghanistan to entertain troops from Canada and other NATO countries.

"It was a life-changing trip," Edwards told the Metro News in Ottawa. "I have a whole different outlook and understanding of what people in the military do and the commitment they make, the sacrifices they go through....

"I thought about the fact that if I had been in Afghanistan seven years ago, I would have been arrested and shot for what I do and who I am, just for having a guitar. It's a pretty significant thing to think about."

Dan Duke, (757) 446-2546, dan.duke@pilotonline.com