Kathleen Edwards

Kathleen Edwards

Kathleen Edwards (born July 11, 1978 in Ottawa, Ontario) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Her blend of country, folk and pop music made her a favourite of music critics, and a rising star on radio in 2003 with her debut album, Failer, made popular by her hit singles "Six O'Clock News" and "Hockey Skates". Her style of music is sometimes placed in the music genre "alt country".

There is another Kathleen Edwards who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Because she also plays the violin and writes music, she has been mistaken for the Canadian Kathleen Edwards, including by official music publishing organizations. Despite these similarities, the American Kathleen Edwards' professional focus is not on music but on other aspects of audio for television and film, specializing in custom sound design and sound editorial.

History

Edwards, whose parents were diplomats, spent portions of her youth in Korea and Switzerland. At age 5, she began classical violin studies that continued for the next 12 years. As a teenager she lived overseas, away from the North American commercial mainstream. She spent much of her time listening to her brother Tim's Neil Young and Bob Dylan records, and he bought her first record, a Tom Petty album.

After high school she decided not to attend college instead opting to play local clubs to pay the bills. During this time she was influenced by Ani DiFranco. The music of Whiskeytown and its former member Ryan Adams inspired her determination to write music.

Edwards performing at the 2007 NXNE festival

In 1999, Edwards recorded a six-song EP entitled Building 55 and pressed 500 copies. By the fall of 2000, she was on tour across Canada managing her own gigs. In 2001 she wrote seven of the ten songs for her 2003 debut release Failer. Rolling Stone declared her one of year's most promising new acts and Blender said Failer's songs possessed "an indefinable pull that makes you love the characters they describe, no matter how fucked up they are." The New York Times praised Edwards as a writer whose songs can "pare situations down to a few dozen words while they push country-rock towards its primal impulses of thump and twang."

Edwards married musician and producer Colin Cripps in 2004.

In 2005, Edwards released Back to Me, which also garnered considerable critical acclaim, and led to the release of the singles "Back to Me" and "In State". The track "Summerlong" also featured on the soundtrack of the movie Elizabethtown starring Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst.

In 2006, she was nominated for Juno Awards for Songwriter of the Year and Adult Alternative Album of the Year for Back to Me. [1]

Discography

• Building 55 (1999)
• Failer (2003)
• Live from Bowery Ballroom (2003)
• Back to Me (2005)

Singles

• "Six O'Clock News"
• "One More Song The Radio Won't Like"
• "Hockey Skates"
• "Back To Me"
• "In State"

Music Videos

• "Six O'Clock News"
• "One More Song The Radio Won't Like"
• "Hockey Skates"
• "Back To Me"
• "In State"

External links

• Official Site
• Interview from Back To Me tour
• kathleenedwards.org
• Rounder Records Site
• Maple Music Site
• Kathleen Edwards discography at MusicBrainz

• The American Kathleen Edwards' company, Hear Kitty Studios