[ATTENDED: September 25, 2021] Kathleen Edwards
I’ve enjoyed Kathleen Edwards’ music for years. Her album Voyageur is just stunning.
But when that album came out back in 2012, I wasn’t really going to many shows. It wasn’t until a few years later that I got the concert bug again and put Kathleen on my “gotta see” list.
But Kathleen had other ideas. After Voyageur, she took a break from music. In 2014, she launched a coffee house in Stittsville, Ottawa called Quitters. And it seemed like she might never play again (even though she said she would). So I left her on my “maybe, someday” list.
Then in 2019, she played the WXPNFest (the same weekend that we were going to the Newport Folk Festival–I was a wee bit surprised she didn’t play Newport too). I kind of assumed that it was a one-off return and that would be that.
But an album soon followed. And then earlier this year it was announced that she was playing The Met Philly. But as an opening act for Jason Isbell, who I did not want to see. [It’s one thing going to a show for the opening act, but it’s another if you don’t actually like the headline]. So, again, I was out of luck.
But then she announced a show in New York City at Le Poisson Rouge. And even though LPR is hugely inconvenient for me and it cost extra in tolls and parking, I’m so glad I went to the LPR show rather than the other two. If for no other reason than the other two shows were all of 9 songs while this one was 16. And the LPR crowd were there to see her! And they sang along, and she was pretty tickled with us all.
Her band was excellent. Her drummer Peter von Althen is a Canadian grade school teacher who took off a few weeks to tour (how cool is that if he is your teacher?). Her bassist was Darcy Yates. She had two guitarists. A real character was Jim Bryson on rhythm and keys. Her lead guitarist was Colin Cripps. In 2004 Edwards married Cripps. They divorced in 2011. But she loves his playing and clearly had a great time with him on stage. She said how one of the great things about playing again was getting to play with him.
The show started fairly early and I kind of assumed (hoped) that we’d get a hugely long set. Especially when, mid-set, she commented on how happy she was that so many people knew the words. But it was still a great show and worth the wait. I only wish she had played “I Make the Dough, You Make the Glory.”
She has a new album out (which is very good) and she played six songs from it. She opened with the great “Options Open” and I was thrilled at how perfect her voice sounded.
She made several jokes about being a woman of a certain age (she’s all of 43) and being allowed to wear the pants she was wearing (red plaid).
I was super excited when she played “Change the Sheets” from Voyageur and even more so when she played ‘Six O’Clock News,” (the song everyone sang along to). She told us that the day her (debut) album came out she was scheduled to play Late Night with David Letterman and that it was a mind blowing experience (and Colin Crips was there with her).
After 7 songs, the band left and she played a solo song, “Empty Threat.” She had joked that when she wrote the song, moving to America was, indeed an empty threat, but that she recently bought a house in Florida (why Florida??). She also joked that she had released her album Total Freedom and was selling shirts with that printed on it. She also had hats from Quitters, which were a giant Q with a drop in the middle of the letter. But between the shirt and the giant Q, she knew she couldn’t sell the hats in New York.
The next song was about her recently deceased dog. She was accompanied by mandolin. She told a story about her Ice Cream stand outside of Quitters, which she had named after her dog. Someone shouted “I was just there!” and she blushed and muttered, “thank you for visiting by ice cream stand?”
Then band came back for a few more songs and then she started playing Supertramp’s “The Logical Song.” There was some tittering but she shut that down and played the song in a slightly different arrangement and it was spectacular. Sometimes a song that’s been around for so long you don’t pay attention to the words, but her version really emphasized how good they are–and the chorus went from quietly to intensely loud in a magnificent way.
Somewhere near the end of the set (I lost track), she played “Hockey Skates” and told us that a few months after playing on Letterman, Dave was sick and Regis Philbin was guest hosting. They needed a musical guest and she was nearby (driving to a show in Philly). She says she wasn’t a first choice, but she was close, so they whisked her to New York where she and Colin played “Hockey Skates” and the hair person said “you were just here…that doesn’t happen.” They played the song [jump to 38 minutes in this video] then Letterman limoed her to Philly for that night’s show.
She ended the set with the rocking new song “Hard on Everyone,” and then left for a brief break.
She came back and said she didn’t understand why “Asking for Flowers” was so popular since it’s such a bummer song. But it was an we all sang along. She ended the set with “Back to Me” and introduced the song by saying that it’s her dad’s birthday. He’s 75 and you know in the song the line
I’ve got ways to make you run
And my daddy is coming for you
Well, he’s 75 and he’s a great guy. But he’s not coming.
The song was great with an awesome ending. Her drummer was heading back to school the next day and he went a little crazy before throwing his sticks up in the air.
It was a small venue and I thought she might meet and greet afterwards, but no. Nevertheless, I did get a signed album (with a legible signature) and even made it back home by midnight–quite a good thing.
- Options Open ¥
- In State ⇐
- Simple Math ¥
- Change the Sheets √
- Six O’Clock News ⊕
- Birds on a Feeder ¥
- Goodnight, California ∇
- Empty Threat (solo acoustic) √
- Who Rescued Who (solo with mandolin) ¥
- Glenfern ¥
- Copied Keys ⇐
- The Logical Song
- Hockey Skates ⊕
- Hard on Everyone ¥
encore - Asking for Flowers ∇
- Back to Me ⇐
⊕= Failer (2002)
⇐ = Back to Me (2005)
∇ = Asking for Flowers (2008)
√ = Voyageur (2012)
¥ = Total Freedom (2020)
Leave a Reply