Kathleen Edwards’ path to the present wavered between the exotic and mundane. Having a diplomat father meant a youth partly spent in Korea and Switzerland. At age 5, she took classical violin plus listened to her brother’s Bob Dylan and Neil Young records. She discovered Whiskeytown as a gateway drug to alt country via a corporate playlist while working at Starbucks.

When she released her first album, Failer, in 2002 with a spin through SXSW and a trip to Letterman, Rolling Stone branded her one of the year’s most promising new artists. Her lyrics are like experiencing neighbours’ lives through an open window, with glimpses perfectly articulated in the vulnerable, messy moments. In 2012, Edwards released her fourth album then, racked with depression, vanished from music and opened the coffee shop Quitters in 2014.

Thankfully, she re-emerged with 2020’s Jim Bryson-produced Total Freedom, the luscious Lucinda twang fully intact in her voice, heart and stories. Edwards has stated that writing songs helped her save lots of money on therapists during her first 20 years as a songwriter. Lucky for us, she’s resilient enough to remain lyrically vulnerable while her songs are awash in mighty melody.

- Mary-Lynn Wardle