“Edwards stepped back from the music scene in 2014, launching a coffee house in Stittsville, Ottawa called Quitters… She insists that she is not leaving music but just taking a break.”[1] Well it’s 2019 and the Canadian singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards is still missing from the music scene.
I remember hearing “One More Song The Radio Won’t Like” on the radio in 2003 the year Edward’s first album “Failer” burst onto the scene. The songwriting was filled with stories of lawless boyfriends (“Six O’Clock News”), adultery (“Westby) and doomed relationships (“Hockey Skates). Her songs could also be delicate and simple (“Mercury”). These were subjects not normally covered by female singer songwriters, and certainly not so directly.
An early appearance on David Letterman boosted her visibility.[2]Edward’s second album “Back to Me” came in 2005 and continued the themes of the first album with songs like “In State” and “What Are You Waiting For”. Towards the second half of the album a sense of melancholy began to creep in with songs like “Copied Keys” and “Somewhere Else”.
I went to see Edwards on this tour with my wife and my good friend “Concert Pete” at the Canal Room in New York City. Edwards’ first two albums were greatly enhanced by her guitarist (and husband) Colin Cripps. Cripps added subtle textures and crunchy guitar lines to the studio and live versions of the songs. One of the things I really liked about Edwards’ recording were her use of space. Many of her songs feature extended instrumental codas. The music was as important as the lyrics in creating the feeling of the song. Cripps was to Edwards what Mike Campbell was to Tom Petty. It was hard to imagine one without the other. On the EP “Live at the Bowery Ballroom” Cripps’ solos at the end of “National Steel” and “Hockey Skates” unfold slowly and seem to hang in the air like heat lightning on a summer night.[3] In concert Edwards would also roll out some interesting covers like AC/DC’s “Money Talks” (also on the EP) or Neil Young’s “Unknown Legend” (her tribute to a fellow Canadian).
“Asking For Flowers” followed in 2008 and though critically acclaimed I found this record didn’t click for me like the earlier two. It was a darker record despite some brief injections of humor like “I Get The Dough, You Get The Glory” about the hockey player Marty McSorley. This was also the first album to feature session players instead of her touring band. Pete and I saw her again on this tour at Irving Plaza and I got the sense that something had changed.
The critical reception was again strong for the 2012 release “Voyageur” but by then I had pretty much stopped following Edwards. Produced with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Cripps was gone by now (they divorced in 2011), and the players were mostly session musicians and guest vocalists.
Then came the announcement in 2014 that Edwards was “taking a break” from music.[4]What happened? Despite being the critics darling she was still playing relatively small halls and commercial success was elusive. Couple that with the endless cycle of touring, recovering and writing the next record and maybe something had to give. The music business was just starting to embrace streaming and touring was the only way to make money. Maybe she saw the future and decided to call time out.
Perhaps the Eagles captured it best with this line from their 1975 song “After The Thrill Is Gone”:
“What can you do when your dreams come true and it’s not quite like you planned?”
Edwards’ web site says she is writing songs for the long awaited fifth album. Let’s hope so. There was some real magic on those first two albums and the live EP.
ARTS ROUNDUP
Televison – “Sneaky Pete” Season 2 (Amazon). Marius Josipovic’s (Giovanni Ribisi) impersonation of his former cellmate Pete Murphy takes a turn for the worse in the second season of this crime drama. Two hired thugs who are looking for the $11 million that Pete’s mother Maggie stole three years ago kidnap Marius. The money belongs to a Montenegro gangster named Luka. Luka is a very bad man who has given Marius 48 hours to come up with the money or he will kill him and Pete’s family. The problem for Marius is that he has no idea where to find Maggie. Meanwhile the aftermath of the crimes from Season 1 are still playing out for Marius’ adopted family.
Books – “Dark Matter”, Matt Crouch. Equal parts science fiction, thriller and love story this novel poses the question: What if alternate versions of our lives are playing out in a multiverse? That is the premise of this engrossing novel (I read it in less than a week). Coming out of a Chicago bar one night Jason Desson is kidnapped into an alternate version of his life and now must figure out a way to get back to his wife and son in his old life. Soon to be a movie. Highly recommended.
Music – Amazon Echo. Admittedly I am, again, a late adopter of technology. The Echo is a smart speaker that connects to Alexa (digital assistant). It is linked to Amazon Music and can even access Spotify. I never really had the desire for these kinds of devices until my son gave me one recently. You can’t beat the convenience: “Alexa play John Coltrane” and voila The Trane’s sax fills the air. It is also useful for the occasional recipe. I’m sure Amazon is spying on us but it seems a small price to pay.
[1]Source: Wikipedia
[2]Letterman was a big supporter of new artists.
[3]Also check out Cripp’s closing guitar break on “12 Bellevue” from “Failer”. It rips.
[4]Check out this YouTube interview done in her coffee shop. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdNCHQV2Ub4