Kathleen Edwards - In State

Sting believed "If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free", but my favourite coffee shop owner Kathleen Edwards had a completely different view and wanted to send them to prison for twenty years !

Kathleen Edwards was another artist I discovered through a magazine CD sampler, which included the peerless "In State". This was from her second album, and I had completed missed her well-received debut "Failer". Edwards has a good line in self-depreciating titles, as it included "One more song radio won't like".

For "In state" she has fallen for a bad boy - a habitual criminal ("The last job you pulled was never big enough"). She had naively thought that her pretty face and love could reform him, but that could never happen, as she recounts his shortcomings and evasions "You wouldn't even be yourself if you weren't telling a lie".   

So she is poised to take her revenge, revealing that she knows his hideaway and the local cops. He is dangling by a thread, as she controls his fate "I know when you're going down".

It is a great scenario, a spurned girlfriend and a recalcitrant offender, worthy of a 1950s film noir or a Sopranos episode. Edwards had already walked on the wild side, as her first single "Six O'Clock News" involved the shooting down of a another delinquent boyfriend. Like Aimee Mann, many of her songs deal with unhappy and messy relationships, but veer clear of self-pity .

Kathleen's vocals are perfect for this song, a rough and powerful drawl that can still reach the high notes, and I love her elongation of the doooowwwwwnnnnn.  The backing is great too, a great melody from a tight band of  guitars, drums and organ, and a catchy chorus.

  

I have often seen her music in the country section of music shops, which does her a disservice, as she can flit between alt country, Americana, folk, singer songwriter, and with another favourite "What Are You Waiting For?" even rock..

After her fourth album in 2012, Edwards stepped away from the music scene, opening a successful coffee shop named "Quitter" (again with the self-depreciation) in her native Canada. 

She has been a sad loss to music, but there were reports that she has been recording again, so we can just hope that 2020 will bring new releases by Bob Dylan and Kathleen Edwards. We need it.

Hear Now -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el6AZ5QEU5I

Hear Next -  I have really enjoyed all her four albums, but would recommend starting with the second album "Back to Me".



** The book of "Song from a Quarantine" is now available  on all Amazon sites in paperback and ebook formats.