Sometimes you have to go away to appreciate where you came from.

That seems to be the story with roots singer-songwriter Leslie Alexander.

Alexander was born and raised in High River before relocating to Vancouver because of a grass is greener misconception.

"I love Alberta," she says. "Basically, the reason I left was because I had this idea that Vancouver was a more happening music scene than probably Calgary was.

"Years down the line, I'm finding out there's lots of great stuff happening in Calgary, too.

"Now I'm semi-established here and I found a husband in Vancouver, so it's kind of hard to move back.

"But I'm definitely a Prairie girl."

And you can tell from Alexander's spacious, open-sky folkie style.

Her roots will also, she says, be even more apparent, from a lyrical point of view, especially when she releases her new studio album, Savage Country, early next year.

The title track stems from the changing Canadian landscape, and specifically from the grain elevators which have been gradually disappearing from the Prairies.

Focusing her lyrics on subjects such as that are important to Alexander, who takes pride in her skills as a songwriter, a craft she learned from influences such as Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams.

"I got interested in music from a lyrical point of view first -- I was writing poems before I was writing songs," she says before laughing. "Mainly to compensate for my poor musicianship."

You can catch Leslie when she opens for Sean Hogan at Kaos Jazz and Blues Bistro on Monday night.