Nowadays, the term \u201cbillionaire\u201d has taken on a negative sheen thanks to modern-day oligarchs like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. For singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards, who dubbed her new studio album \u201cBillionaire,\u201d it\u2019s high time to take that term back.<\/p>\n
The Canadian singer\/songwriter\u2019s\u00a0raison d\u2019\u00eatre\u00a0is rooted in the grief over losing Amanda, a young woman who passed away at age 26 from a brain aneurysm. A college student who started out working at Edward\u2019s Ottawa coffeeshop Quitters, Amanda eventually became a cherished friend, and the loss drove Edwards to write a song that found her rethinking what the term billionaire meant to her.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was pretty much the first song I wrote when I was dealing with a great amount of grief, sadness and shock over the loss of this woman who I was very close to,\u201d Edwards said in an early October interview. \u201cI think the thing that came out of it was this incredible sadness. She was such a gift to the world and I was just kind of caught up in the things she didn\u2019t get to do in her life. And all the people who didn\u2019t get to yet know her and all of those pictures of her that will last forever and stopped at a certain time in her life. It was this very, very deep end of the ocean that I felt grief in that was a volume of things that felt so cruel and unfair about her dying. I kept telling my spouse how much she changed my life and enriched me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kind of ended up one day saying this line which is, \u2018If this feeling were a currency\/I would be a billionaire,\u2019\u201d Edwards said. \u201cI don\u2019t mind provoking the conversation about the billionaire word that seems to have become this word that suggests greed, selfishness, narcissism and dysfunctional people in society.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now on tour promoting \u201cBillionaire,\u201d Edwards appears Sunday at Musikfest Cafe in Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
Edwards\u2019 first studio outing since 2020\u2019s \u201cTotal Freedom,\u201d \u201cBillionaire\u201d was produced by Jason Isbell and Gena Johnson, whose credits include John Prine, Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile and The Highwomen. Isbell also brought in members of his band the 400 Unit to back Edwards on these 10 songs.<\/p>\n
The match of producers and artist fits hand-in-glove and hits all the right spots, be it on the poignant title cut with its perfect juxtaposition of raw guitar and soaring strings or the ethereal twang that infuses the chugging \u201cSay Goodbye, Tell No One,\u201d which reflects Edwards\u2019 decision to walk away from owning a caf\u00e9 and returning to her true calling as an artist after a self-imposed exile. Elsewhere, Edwards penned \u201cFLA,\u201d a chugging nugget that is an ode to her new home of Florida, while closing cut \u201cPine\u201d is a ruminative confession that finds Edwards going through the process of moving on from heartbreak.<\/p>\n
\u201cBillionaire\u201d joins five previous full-length studio albums from Edwards, whose music has generally been considered alt-country\/Americana. But Edwards said her current live shows might alter that perception.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a rock and roll show,\u201d she pointed out. \u201cI have a six-piece band and I\u2019m really excited to play some of these songs on the record. I think the thing I\u2019m most excited about now playing live is playing with these guys. We\u2019re a tight band and they\u2019re all world-class musicians. We play a bunch of songs from my back catalog. One of the things that\u2019s weird is paring it down to a 90-minute show to be honest. It\u2019s hard to choose (the songs).\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the immediate future, Edwards is embracing the touring life, which was not always an easy thing for her to do. Along the way, she\u2019s learned how to balance the unpredictability that comes with life on the road with coming into her own as a live performer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so lucky because the guys who play with me I love playing with,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cI used to find live shows and touring to be challenging sometimes. I didn\u2019t have the experience to know how to make something out of a difficult situation sometimes. It might have been because I was tired, or the gig was crappy or the venue wasn\u2019t very good. Now, I focus on us knowing we\u2019re going to play a great show.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing in that headspace is really fun. Live shows and playing for people are an incredibly wonderful feeling. But I know it takes a whole lot of guts to do that. When I was young, I maybe didn\u2019t realize how gutsy that was because I was like, \u2018Out of my way, I\u2019m gonna take on the world.\u2019 Now I realize not everybody does that, not everybody wants to and not everybody can. The fact that I\u2019m prepared to show up, drive the band and still write songs and put my best foot forward \u2014 this idea between excellence and perfection \u2014 I don\u2019t have to worry about perfection.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dave Gil de Rubio is a freelance writer.<\/p>\n
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