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\u201cI think it\u2019s an age thing. I think I\u2019ve gotten less caught in, \u2018What if this isn\u2019t good, or is it?\u2019 And now I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh, nothing is a waste of time on the creative front. Everything has a purpose.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd even if it\u2019s a song you work on for days and it doesn\u2019t get recorded, it\u2019s still a creative idea that sort of solicited something else either before or after, so I\u2019m sort of definitely in a much more liberated stage of my writing life,\u201d she says over the phone from her St. Petersburg, Fla. home where she is prepping for a three-day drive with her two dogs (a golden retriever and a labradoodle, both 13) to her parents\u2019 home in Ottawa. She will leave the dogs with her mom and dad, pick up her band and hit the road for a month.<\/p>\n
Edwards has returned to making music full time after calling it quits in 2014 following the release of four albums of well-received melodic Americana that earned her a global fan base. She retreated back to the Ottawa area she got her musical start in, and opened a coffee shop called Quitters in the community of Stittsville just outside the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n
The time off was a much-needed mental-health break for Edwards, who had been grinding it out on the road for more than two decades since releasing her debut EP, Building 55, in 1999.<\/p>\n
She opened a coffee shop (which she sold in 2022) because she knew the ins and outs of the business from working at a Starbucks as a teenager; and besides, there wasn\u2019t a place to get a decent cup of joe in Stittsville, she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe coffee shop was truly some of the best years of my adult life in terms of experience, and just growing as a person and being, and building something at home,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I moved to Stittsville it was at a time when I was really kind of depressed and really needing to find something sort of grounded and home feeling. Then it turned into something way more than I could have ever imagined. It was really special.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Getting away from life on the road also provided Edwards with some new lyrical inspiration. Instead of writing fictional stories, or tales about how she believed other people were living, she got to meet a variety of people every day, hear their stories and live a life outside of a touring van.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t digest life\u2019s nuances when you\u2019re just backstage at a club every night. You have go and be living a life in other facets and taking time off. I mean it was (work), I actually worked harder running my coffee shop than I did playing music, but I think it\u2019s one of the things I think we forget: we put all this pressure on artists to put out, for lack of a better word, the word that\u2019s used these days all the time is content. Content content content content, and it\u2019s like, what are you making that\u2019s worth sharing with the world as an artist if you\u2019re in such a hurry?\u201d<\/p>\n Edwards was drawn back into writing music in 2017 by American songwriter Maren Morris, who asked to collaborate with her.<\/p>\n Not wanting to head into the Nashville sessions empty-handed, Edwards went through some of her archives, listened to recordings on old hard drives and went through notebooks filled with lyrics and ideas. There she found a demo for the song Good Woman, and rewrote it with Morris.<\/p>\n That was the spark Edwards needed to realize she did miss making music \u2014 not all the parts that make up the profession \u2014 but the creative aspects and challenges that come with finding that perfect chord structure, lyric or melody.<\/p>\n \u201cI loved trying to tell a story and write a song and structure it and figure out what words are the most appropriate and how it can mean something to her (Morris) and I just immediately went, \u2018Oh my God, I need to go back to this. I love it,\u2019\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Edwards got down to writing and recorded her fifth album, Total Freedom, which was released in 2020, the same year she married property developer Sean McAdam.<\/p>\n She was ready to hit the road again and support the record, but the pandemic shut everything down, so any momentum Edwards had was snuffed.<\/p>\n When the world opened up again, she recorded a EP of cover songs by the likes of Bruce Springsteen, the Flaming Lips, Tom Petty, Supertramp and Jason Isbell\u2019s song Traveling Alone, which featured an appearance by the acclaimed musician, who had asked Edwards to open some of his shows in 2023.<\/p>\n When it came time to record Billionaire, she reached out to Isbell \u2014 one of the musical highlights of last year\u2019s Winnipeg Folk Festival \u2014 for advice about who she should hire to produce it. He offered his services, and together with his co-producing partner Gena Johnson, a plan was hatched.<\/p>\n Isbell\u2019s backing band the 400 Unit appears on the album and his distinctive guitar solos are featured on several songs.<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\tWinnipeg Gardener<\/p>\n Monthly<\/p>\n What you need to know now about gardening in Winnipeg. An email with advice, ideas and tips to keep your outdoor and indoor plants growing.<\/p>\n
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