Kathleen Edwards performs onstage during the 25th Annual Americana Honors & Awards at Ryman Auditorium on Wednesday in Nashville, Tennessee.Terry Wyatt/Getty Images
Kathleen Edwards released her first album nearly a quarter-century ago, was nominated for Songwriter of the Year at the Juno Awards for the first time way back in 2004 and once took a long hiatus from the music business to open a coffee shop in suburban Ottawa. That she called the place “Quitters” is an example of her acerbic humour and not an indication of her character.
Clearly, because the folk-rock singer-songwriter finally made her Massey Hall headlining debut on Friday, at the age of 48. There is no quit in her, and none in her fans either. “I think there are a lot of people in the room tonight who I love a lot, and a lot of people who love me,” she said early in the 17-song performance.
The red-haired spitfire took the stage a few seconds behind her crack five-piece band to warm applause. The Fleetwood Mac song Everywhere, written and sung by Christine McVie, played on the house PA system as she arrived: “I’ll speak a little louder, I’ll even shout / You know that I’m proud and I can’t get the words out.”
The music of Edwards falls under the general heading of roots rock or, in today’s jargon, Americana. She played a fiddle more than once. Her high, silvery soprano voice excelled in the tender ballads (such as the heartbreaking A Soft Place to Land) and stood up to the heartland rock of When the Truth Comes Out, off her latest album, Billionaire.
I imagine she’s been compared to Sarah Harmer over the years. They share a taste for evocative melodies and excellent guitarists. At Massey, Gord Tough, who has played with Harmer in the past, showed a knack for electric solos that were equal parts wicked and empathetic.
There’s a tinge of melancholy to Edwards’s delivery even when she rocks. A fan of John Prine, she is able to be clever and sad simultaneously: “You can get blisters from your favourite shoes,” she sang on Say Goodbye, Tell No One, also from Billionaire.
The title track to the album is an expression of grief in monetary terms over the death of a young friend: “If this feeling were a currency, I’d be a billionaire.”
In a 2020 interview, when she returned to the music business full-time after selling Quitters, Edwards spoke with me about the cost of what she does. “Basically, I emote professionally,” she said. “That’s what I do for a living, and it really takes its toll.”
She began the concert with Glenfern, the opening track to her 2020 comeback album, Total Freedom. It’s a softly rocking song of gratitude to her former husband and bandmate, Blue Rodeo guitarist Colin Cripps.
Edwards performs on the mainstage at the Winnipeg Folk Festival in July.Matt Duboff/Reuters
Like, we had a tour bus with a bed in the back
We bought a rock and roll dream, it was total crap
We toured the world and we played on TV
We met some of our heroes, it almost killed me
Edwards has graced the Massey Hall stage previously, notably so in tributes to Joni Mitchell (performing You Turn Me On, I’m A Radio in 2013), Gordon Lightfoot (Carefree Highway, 2024) and Neil Young (Comes a Time, 2025).
The seven-time Juno nominee arrived to her headlining engagement at the historic venue as her career swings upwardly, particularly in the United States. Last week she performed at the Americana Honors & Awards gala at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. Billionaire, co-produced by alt-country superstar Jason Isbell, was nominated for top album but lost out to Tyler Childers’s Snipe Hunter.
South of the border, the Florida-based Edwards receives airplay on adult album alternative radio and on public radio. Canadian radio host Raina Douris has featured Edwards more than once on NPR’s syndicated music program World Cafe.
On the live side, she’s on the client roster of High Road Touring, founded by high-powered American booking agent Frank Riley. In July, Edwards made her Newport Folk Festival debut one day and opened for Patty Griffin at the famed 92nd Street Y the next. On Oct. 8, she’s one of the artists paying tribute to Prine at the Chicago Theater.
At Massey, the encore set consisted of Goodnight, California − “I could go all night, but they’re turning up the lights” – and a cover of Neil Young’s Powderfinger. Edwards, who has more than one hockey song in her catalogue, was presented with a mock Stanley Cup by her bandmates. The drummer is a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who haven’t won the real trophy since 1967. Edwards knows something about long waits.
Ken Yates opened the night with a short set of thoughtful soft-rock balladry. The Creemore, Ont.-based singer-songwriter said he was pulled over on the way to the concert for driving 30 kilometres over the speed limit. He explained to the policeman that he was on his way to perform at Massey Hall and was let off with a warning.
The thing is, Yates is only 37 years old. What was the rush?