I wrote previously about Kathleen Edwards following her mid-April appearance on David Letterman. And now, I’ve got a treat for you all.

Quality well-recorded live stuff from Canada’s foul mouthed sweetheart isn’t an easy thing to find. In fact, with the exception of some Austin City Limits audio that was pretty far removed from the original broadcast, I’ve yet to hear ANYTHING really good, until now. And man, was it worth the wait.

(p.s. – if you’ve got some nice sounding stuff from Kathleen – contact me via email, and I’d love to hear it!)

The syndicated program World Cafe was the venue for 45 minutes of great conversation and live performances from Kathleen and her full band in support of her newest release Asking For Flowers.

Host David Dye and Kathleen move through a wealth of topics including an interesting look behind the meaning of the album title, working with producer Jim Scott (Tom Petty, Whiskeytown, etc,) and some of the star power that pitched in musically on the album.

“Tom Petty’s Wildflowers was the soundtrack to my young life.”

The live stuff is a perfect cross-section from Asking for Flowers – including the title track, album opener “Buffalo,” a haunting rendition of “Goodnight California,” and the prize of the set, a fun rendition of “The Cheapest Key,” which has evolved a bit in the live setting, first catching my ear when Kathleen and her band performed it on Letterman in April. Sadly, one of my favorite tracks from the album, “Scared At Night,” was not in the World Cafe setlist, but the music that is contained within this 45 minute performance, is golden.

The sound of this recording is typically excellent as you would expect from the World Cafe crew, and the recording capture of the broadcast is perfect. If you dig Kathleen Edwards (and now would be the perfect time to start digging it,) this World Cafe show is going to be your new favorite bootleg! This performance ranks with a Jayhawks World Cafe performance that I have from 2002, in my unofficial list of favorite World Cafe performances.

For the uneducated, this recording is the perfect primer for your Cliff Notes lesson on Kathleen Edwards, a talented artist that in my opinion has only just begun to share the best of what she has to offer.

Track listing:

1. Intro
2. Asking for Flowers
3. Interview
4. Run
5. The Cheapest Key
6. Interview
7. Goodnight California
8. I Make The Dough, You Get The Glory
9. Interview
10. Buffalo
11. Outro

Complete Zipped Download