Kathleen Edwards: The big break "it's been long days since december and it's been non-stop. but it's an exciting time" says kathleen edwards. she's on the road in the states, coping with the media explosion that occurred after rounder released her debut cd, failer, this january (it was released in canada by maple music last september). the first to call was the late show with david letterman, where edwards made her american debut in january. she was invited back in february. "actually, it was the woman who books for the show who first called, after hearing my cd. her name is sheila rogers. she loved the cd and passed it on to david. everyone on that show is really nice, and they are responsible for my big break," says edwards. since then, rolling stone has voted edwards one of the 10 artists to watch in 2003. time magazine placed her at the same table with sheryl crow, while the washington post declared her wholly formed and polished. while edwards is pleased with the response, she also recognizes the inherent danger of sudden fame. "part of me feels like it's too much, too soon but then, what's the alternative?" she says. "shovelling snow off my sidewalk instead of playing shows? it's a trade-off - the media hype opens doors and allows me to get out there and play my music." "once i got the attention from letterman and rolling stone, then canadians wanted to check me out." edwards had been playing across ontario for several years but the canadian media overlooked her until her american debut. "i am a perfect example of the canadian neurosis," she says. 'The media pinned me as another local act who couldn't hold her own on the stage. once i got the attention from letterman and rolling stone, then canadians wanted to check me out and the canadian media were suddenly interested. we seem to need that approval from the states first, but we are the first to bitch about it." there is also a certain irony in her success, considering one of her more popular tracks, "one more song the radio won't like," was written in response to a record exec who predicted success would elude edwards because of her lack of airtime. 'that song wasn't a song of revenge, but it was something i wanted to say to that executive who took me out for lunch. since i can never find the exact words until after the moment has passed, i wrote the song. it's also my reminder to myself that i am going to stay true and not just write songs for the top 10 lists." like most so-called overnight successes, edwards has been studying her craft for years. she comes from a predominantly musical family - her mother was a piano and voice teacher, her father was a diplomat who also sang. her parents met each other at choir practice. other girls wanted barbie dolls, but edwards asked for a violin. she started lessons when she was five, at the same time that her family moved to geneva. she lived abroad until she was nine and then her family returned to nepean, ont., leaving again several years later for a posting in south korea. edwards returned to canada for good at 17. while she was happy to be back, she found the adjustment from international school to public school difficult. "i didn't fit in with a lot of the kids," she says. at the same time, edwards' musical focus was changing. she still enjoyed classical music, but she couldn't reconcile herself to the idea of going to university to study performance. this was a period of exploration for her, when she began listening to bob dylan, neil young, tom petty, aimee mann and richard buckner to discover what interested her in their individual styles. but it was the potent guitar-playing of ani difranco that inspired edwards to take up the acoustic guitar. "i wasn't an accomplished player," edwards says, "but i felt more of an attachment to the guitar. it fit more into my idea of pursuing my own material, writing my own songs." "i slept in the back of my car many nights. but i learned a lot." she moved into a small apartment in ottawa and began writing her own songs as a novice who could play almost any tune by ear but knew nothing about writing music. she began by making connections with other musicians in the ottawa music scene and went about learning her craft. in 1999, she recorded "building 55" and in the fall of 2000, set off with 500 copies in the back of her suburban. she slowly made her way across canada, booking her own gigs along the way. "it was probably a crazy thing to do," she says. "i slept in the back of my car many nights. but i learned a lot." the experience deepened her commitment to songwriting and she returned home, but found she was craving a tranquillity that ottawa could not provide. "i have always had this longing to be in a rural area. why live in the city when i can live 20 minutes outside in the country? it was that need to be in the country that made me leave the bar scene. i wanted a lifestyle that was more reclusive." edwards moved to the town of wakefield, ont., and began writing the songs that would become failer. when she was ready to record, she returned to little bullhorn productions in ottawa, where she had done her first recording. she co-produced the songs that make up failer with studio owner dave draves. singer/songwriter jim bryson, who has been an important influence on edwards, played electric guitar and did backup vocals. joining them were fred guignon on pedal steel and slide guitars, bassist kevin mccarragher and drummers dave dudley and peter von althen. failer continues to receive praise from both the canadian and american media, and has assured edwards a place in the acoustic alt-country scene. she feels her canadian roots contributed to the cd's success. "last year i was playing at the south by south west music festival, and they were quick to recognize that a lot of the quality music is coming out of canada. there is an excellent environment up here to create because we have more freedom to do our own thing. we don't have this large, pulsating need to find another pop sensation. i'm proud to be a canadian and despite all the attention from the states, i feel like my music is about canadian people and the landscape. it's about the places, both urban and rural, that i have experienced." much has been made about the drinking element in failer. several reviews have even described the record as a work about barflies and drinking, with the implication edwards was writing about herself. however, she insists songs such as "six o'clock news," "maria" and "12 bellevue" are simply about people she knew at one point in her life. "i think there are people who find their community in the bars. things change so fast that it's hard to have any roots," she says. there is also a strong sense of displacement running through her lyrics. "each time we would go away and come back," she says about her childhood, 'There would be another development near our home, and there was this sense of the country disappearing. i think on an unconscious level, i was also thinking of my grandparents. my father grew up on a farm in saskatchewan - my grandfather was a wheat farmer. i remember how sad it was seeing my grandparents living in the city, and how the life they built was over in the space of a one-hour real-estate deal." in fact, failer is dedicated to her grandmother, also named kathleen edwards. edwards' combination of a tough veneer just barely hiding all that vulnerability also has critics describing her as the next lucinda williams. "being compared to lucinda is both a blessing and a curse," edwards says. "she is an incredible songwriter, and i take it as a great compliment to be in the same company. but on the other hand, there is this underlying insinuation that i'm a copycat and the music isn't mine or authentic." she says that when she wrote the songs on failer, she was trying to incorporate everything she loved about other musicians while maintaining her original sound. "i have an intuitive sense that tells me when something is uniquely my own." edwards is equally grounded about the pressure from the american music machine around sex appeal and image. "i know there is this element of me being young and perceived as pretty, which is funny for me, because i never considered myself a beauty queen. i didn't think it was going to be my looks that sold records. i'm just happy with what i produced, because it was true to myself." right now, the biggest seduction for edwards is the prospect of selling enough records to fix her beloved suburban and head home to write down all those new songs. shelagh mcnally socan.ca				Album reviews Feature articles Interviews Show reviews