SOUNDTRACK: KATHLEEN EDWARDS-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #211 (May 19, 2021).
Kathleen Edwards is a wonderful songwriter with a fantastic voice. I discovered her from her 2008 album Asking For Flowers.
She put out one more record and then disappeared.
Struggling with depression, Kathleen Edwards opened a coffee shop called Quitters Coffee and lived a very different life. A handful of years later, in 2017, she was invited to Nashville by Maren Morris to write some songs. That Nashville visit sparked a new beginning and eventually the 2020 album Total Freedom, which birthed the four songs you hear in this Tiny Desk concert.
So Kathleen Edwards is back with a wonderful new album.
On this Tiny desk she is joined by Todd Lombardo and Justin Schipper on dobro (that slide guitar looking thing).
Kathleen’s voice sounds great and on “Glenfern.”
From a house in East Nashville, Kathleen Edwards sings about how thankful she is for those early aughts when she was praised with awards, television appearances, touring to packed venues — even if the tour bus with the bed in back was “total crap.” As she continues to sing “Glenfern,” the opening track to her first album in eight years as well as this Tiny Desk (home) concert, she remembers her former husband and collaborator.
After the first song she introduces the band and says I can’t sing through a mask so after this we’re going straight to to the COVID clinic.
Kathleen Edwards seems happy playing these new songs. They can be songs of sadness, sometimes filled with seething, such as “Ashes to Ashes,” but she’s also grateful for her everlasting love for a four-legged creature and the little catalpa tree where it’s buried.
There’s some beautiful interplay of guitars in this song. It’s amazing how great her voice sounds with no accompaniment, no effects. And afterwards she tells a delightful story about catalpa trees–I just passed one on a dog walk yesterday and absolutely want to try to grow my own this year.
“Hard On Everyone” is the song that’s been getting some airplay around here. It’s so catchy, I love it. And the lyrics are pointed and spot on. when the song is over she and Todd bump elbows and their guitars bump for a nice resounding thump.
I would love to see Kathleen Edwards live. She played one of her first shows after retiring at XPN Fest, unfortunately that was the year we went to Newport Folk Festival. Now I see she’s coming around again, but she’s opening for Jason Isbell, and I don’t want to see him, so I’ll have to hope she finds a smaller club to headline.
[READ: June 10, 2021] Losing the Girl
T. brought this book home from school and I though the cover looked pretty neat. When I looked inside I really liked the crazy drawing style(s) of it (S. did not like it at all).
The book opens on Nigel Jones, a boy with dreadlocks (his profile is always great, and MariNaomi uses these dreadlocks to express Nigels’ mood in clever ways). The book also uses simple things like arrows to convey movement in a panel, which I liked. One of the early ones shows a city block. We just saw Nigel get off a bus and the arrows and a tiny figure on a skateboard show which way he is going. This effect is used very well at a party later as we see the crowd move about the room in a static picture.
It’s through Nigel that we learn that nobody’s phones are working–this is a steady concern and a minor (or major) irritant throughout the story. We also learn that a girl, Claudia Jones, (no relation) has been missing for three days. Everyone has speculations about what happened to her.
Nigel lives with his mom (his dad has moved out) and Nigel is not too happy about the new arrangements–just because your parents separate doesn’t mean they fight less. In school the next day Nigel tells a joke to Emily. I found it very funny but Emily doesn’t seem to. She asks if that’s his way of flirting with her. A lightbulb goes off and he says yes (he’s had a crush on her for years). She agrees to meet him at the bleachers later.
In the hallway we meet Emily’s best friend Paula (I love that the characters look so very different from each other–so easily distinguishable) and her horrible boyfriend Darren. Later he yells at Nigel, “hey faggot kiss any boys lately?” And Nigel replies “I keep telling you Darren you’re just not my type). In the next scene Nigel has a black eye.
Nigel and Emily meet. They kiss. He has no really social clue, and asks if she is a virgin (she says yes). I guess they start dating, but when he tells her that he is going away for the summer he asks if she might like to not be virgin anymore. She demurs and when he says If you don’t think I’m the right guy to give yourself to then maybe I’m not the right guy for you at all. She agrees. And they break up
Part two follows Emily Hiroko Baker. I love that the story picks up chronologically right after chapter one but now we follow Emily. She is hanging out with Paula discussing Nigel. They dismiss Nigel because Emily wants to do it with Brett Hathaway. Later Paula, Emily and their friend Celine go to a party where Emily learns that Brett has liked Johanna for years, but that Johanna thinks of him like a brother. So Emily moves in.
I love the scene where Emily has ben drinking and starts talking to Brett. MariNaomi draws Emily like a lunatic–big eyes, bad teeth–just bonkers. Because that’s how she sees herself. Later when she is angry, Emily looks like a monster with sharp teeth.
Emily and Brett spend the day together. He is intellectual and really not right for Emily at all but she crushes on him too hard to notice that. They kiss and set up a date for another night Later, Nigel tells Emily that Brett is like an old man in a young man’s body. Emily agrees–he’s so smart and sophisticated. [That’s not what Nigel meant].
Meanwhile Paula has broken up with Darren and all of her girl friends immediately think he dumped her and when she says its the other way around they tell her that she could always get him back. Horrible little insults.
Emily goes to Brett’s house where they have sex (the drawing of it is really quite abstract and interesting). Soon enough Emily is pregnant. Her father finds out and freaks out–won’t let anyone see her until she has an abortion.
Part three follows Brett. He’s oblivious to what happened to Emily and actually went to talk to Paula about why Emily’s dad wouldn’t let him in the house. She reveals the pregnancy and Brett tries to be sympathetic to Emily but he really doesn’t know how to do that.
The fourth section follows Paula and we learn all about her insecurities and that something happened with Brett but she won’t reveal what. She decides that she needs to stop being friends with Emily–they’re not good together anymore.
As she is thinking things over she thinks that maybe she sees Claudia Jones in the diner with a mysterious glow.
The final chapter returns to Nigel. He and Paula share a moment which include a kiss, but that quickly ends when they seem to annoy each other. It’s possible that he saw Claudia with aliens as well.
It’s a wonderfully ambiguous ending and I cant wait for part 2.
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