Edwards’ ‘Failer’ a success
by Kurt Meyer
The buzz surrounding Kathleen Edwards and her debut album, Failer, is a study in the phenomenon of overnight success. Six months ago, the 25-year-old, Canadian, alt-country singer/songwriter was an unknown and could be a pleasant surprise. But now that she’s played Leno and Letterman, now that she’ s been hailed by Time, Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly, there are big expectations.
Six months ago, Kathleen Edwards, the 25-year-old, Canadian, alt-country singer/songwriter, was an unknown.
“It’s just not in my control,” Edwards says in a phone call from Los Angeles, the day after performing on the Craig Kilborn show. “I just kind of try to dismiss that. But I’m definitely very conscious that there are some people thinking I’m going to be superwoman onstage.” Soft spoken and polite, she seems uncomfortable with the limelight, not at all the sassy hell raiser chronicled by other publications. Edwards’ upcoming performance on Thursday at Birdy’s comes directly after a performance in London, England. “The positive press enabled me to go to the U.K. and play in places I’d never been to,” Edwards says. “I’ve sold as many copies [of CDs] in Europe as I have in my home country. I think the Europeans romanticize the Americana and roots movement.” Edwards plays a brand of country guaranteed not to be heard on modern country radio (Failer even includes a rollicking nod of resignation to life on the music industry fringes titled “One More Song the Radio Won’t Like”). The press has responded to Failer for its moody, emotional journey into the lives of barflies and criminals, casual — even desperate — sexual encounters and lonely musings. Delivered with unapologetic frankness and occasionally foul language, critics have interpreted Failer as a confessional, but she says they’re missing her lighter side. “I don’t see myself as that party girl they’re writing about in the press,” Edwards says. “People assume that I write songs that are autobiographical. From that has come a media-created persona. I even did an interview with someone who expected to hear Celtic drinking songs. So it’s hard to figure what people expect. I probably don’t have as much humor in my album as I do in my live show. The live show presents a different view of me.” The humor is there on Failer, yet it’s been misinterpreted by music journalists who prefer the age-old thematic attraction of country/rock bad boys and bad girls. The music press has largely described the tongue-in-cheek song “Westby” as a dark story of a manipulative sex kitten tossing out her empties. But it can also be seen as dark humor. In it, a young woman sings to her older, married lover, “If you weren’t so old, I’d probably keep you / If you weren’t so old I’d tell my friends / But I don’t think your wife would like my friends.” But it isn’t just music journalists hyping the bad girl image. Promotional shots from Rounder Records have her looking like a typical jeans-clad 20-something. But two months after Rolling Stone labeled her one of the 10 artists to watch in 2003, the magazine included her in a fashion spread using up-and-coming stars as models. She’s pictured sitting in a bar in skin-tight jeans with pre-Raphaelite hair, offering the camera an alluring, “buy me a drink?” stare. The shot reveals her stunning beauty — and at the same time depicts her much like a character in one of her songs. Edwards insists she has no interest in a Nashville-style makeover. “First off, that’s not going to happen with the people I’m working with. Rounder isn’t that kind of label. I have to be honest with you, I declared from the beginning that that’s not who I am. It’s not something I intend to do.” I told her I’d burned her haunting song of loneliness, “Mercury,” onto an assortment CD amid the likes of Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Whiskeytown. Edwards said she liked the company, but would add her current favorite, Josh Roush, and her biggest musical influence, Aimee Mann. “Sonically, Mann may not sound much like an influence, but her music has had a big effect on me.” Our conversation turns to Ryan Adams and the storm of positive press for his second solo album, Gold, and then the storm of negative press about his subsequent arrogant behavior and rude treatment of fans. Can she weather the spotlight better? “I think it’s very easy to become that person,” she says, “and lose a sense of why you’re acting that way. To be honest, there are probably people around him encouraging him in his behavior. I think the difference for me is I’m not pretending I have something important to say. It’s been a lot of hard work and long days for me and I’ve suddenly gotten a lot of recognition. But it doesn’t change who I am.”
