Let’s be clear: Kathleen Edwards is not Ryan Adams, although there are some similarities. On her latest album, Edwards signed up Jim Scott, the producer from Adams’ former band, Whiskeytown, which is the band that inspired Edwards to get serious about writing music in the first place. But unlike Adams, Edwards is not pumping out albums every three months or so. Her just-released Asking for Flowers is the first new album in three years. And unlike Adams’ latest three or four, it’s good. Edwards rose out of the singer-songwriter morass with her much-inked 2003 debut, Failer (Rolling Stone named her among 10 artists to watch that year), and has a tendency to either rock out or write songs appropriate for shower solos. Now the Ottawan returns to Alexandria with new tracks that are somewhere in between: lush, sonic songs about the classics—hope, death, love—and Canada. Kathleen Edwards performs with Dan Wilson at 7:30 p.m. at the Birchmere, 3701 Mt. Vernon Ave., Alexandria. $22.50. (202) 397-7328.