JONATHAN EDWARDS
''TOMORROW'S CHILD''
JUNE 16 2015
45:47
**********
01 - Down in the Woods 04:04 (Malcolm Holcombe)
02 - Tomorrow's Child 04:45 (Marcus Hummon)
03 - Sandy Girl 04:31 (Jonathan Edwards)
04 - Mole in the Ground 04:06 (Jonathan Edwards)
05 - The Girl from the Canyon 03:29 (Jonathan Edwards)
06 - This Old Guitar 04:01 (Jonathan Edwards)
07 - Mamaw 05:21 (Jim Wann)
08 - Hard Times 03:42 (Stephen Foster)
09 - Gracie 04:12 (Jonathan Edwards)
10 - Ain't Got Time 03:45 (Jonathan Edwards)
11 - Jonny's Come Home 03:46 (Jonathan Edwards, Jon Vezner)
**********
Shawn Colvin/Harmony
John Cowan/Vocals
Bryn Davies/Bass (Acoustic), Cello, Vocals
Jerry Douglas/Dobro
Sarah Dugas/Vocals
Jonathan Edwards/Guitar, Harmony
Vince Gill/Harmony
Alison Kraus/Harmony
Kenny Malone/Drums, Percussion, Vibraphone
Dirk Powell/Banjo, Concertina, Fiddle, Mandola, Piano, Vocals
Darrell Scott/Banjo, Bass, Bouzouki, Dobro, Guitar, Mandola, Pedal Steel, Piano, Vocals
Odessa Settles/Vocals
Joe Walsh/Arranger, Mandolin
Grace Eden Young/Vocal Ad-Libs
**********
REVIEW
Jon Sobel, www.blogcritics.org
His name recalls the early American preachers of olden times, and Jonathan Edwards has often reached back to essential spiritual themes and reflected on the natural world. His big hit from 1971 was ostensibly about a bad boss, but its complaint felt right in tune with the iconoclastic ethos of the times – and it was called, of course, “Sunshine.”
Edwards’s new folk-Americana album Tomorrow’s Child begins with a cover of Malcolm Holcombe’s gritty “Down in the Woods.” Wisely, rather than trying to emulate Holcombe’s grittiness – really an impossibility for the grittiest among us – Edwards emphasizes the prayerful aspects of the song with its appeal to perhaps the most primitive theme of all: the human relationship to the mysterious forested world in which we evolved.
The nature theme arises again in Edwards’s own piano-centric “Ain’t Got Time,” whose narrator hears “Mother Earth…calling out my true name…Open up your arms to me, green pastures.” And the related devotional feel persists in the sparkling title ballad, written by Marcus Hummon and featuring Alison Kraus on harmony vocals. When the narrator sings that he “will always have faith in tomorrow’s child” he means an actual child who is bound to grow up and make her own life. It’s a lovely piece of music but a touch too earnest for my taste.
However, despite the feel-good hippie vibe in Edwards’s voice, these songs don’t usually overreach in that way. The bright, smooth-cruising “Sandy Girl,” with Vince Gill on harmony vocals, brought James Taylor, CSN, and Dave Cousins all at once to my mind.
The crisp energy of the album’s expertly performed acoustic arrangements, produced by the great singer-songwriter and all-around instrumentalist Darrell Scott, makes the songs feel both timeless and timely, even the traditional “(I Wish I Was a) Mole in the Ground” (listen at The Bluegrass Situation) with its traditional banjo-driven arrangement and mandolin solo by none other than Joe Walsh.
Like the songs I mentioned at the beginning, “Mole in the Ground” evokes mankind’s ancient and eternal connection to the rest of nature. With its rainbow of vocal parts it suggests a chorus of men calling on the spirits of the natural world. Again, this connection to the natural world goes all the back with Edwards. Recalling the genesis of that big self-titled album from 1971, he has written that “I just went out in the woods every day with my bottle of wine and guitar, sat by a lake near Boston and wrote down all those tunes, day after day.”
Jonathan Edwards, photo by Sayer BremarEdwards leads a fuller chorus of male and female voices in his ecstatic take on the iconic “Hard Times (Come Again No More),” a peak of the album’s musical imagination. As other greats have done before, he takes Stephen Foster’s 160-year-old song and turns it into a gospel sparkler,
The imagery isn’t always so symbolic. In Edwards’s “The Girl from the Canyon,” a chestnut he recorded with Emmylou Harris in the 1970s (and that Johnny Cash later covered), the focus narrows onto a wounded outlaw thankful to a woman who’s taken him in, just like in an old movie.
Less effectively, “This Old Guitar” is a well-played but rather self-indulgent bluesy love song to the singer’s instrument; like poems about poetry, it doesn’t convince me. Fact is, it’s awfully hard to get away with a song about the songwriter’s musical life – many of the best have tried and failed. Much more touching are “Mamaw,” a paean to the memory of a beloved grandmother from the score of Pump Boys and Dinettes, sung with Shawn Colvin, and Edwards’s own “Gracie,” where the singer’s soft prismatic tenor shines like Don Henley’s.
The spare but theatrical “Jonny’s Come Home” closes the album with another family portrait, this one on the theme of adoption, carrying both a happy ending and a tinge of sadness. It’s an impressive artistic statement both musically and lyrically, and a fitting coda to a set of songs realized with top-notch arrangements and musicianship, and recorded, as the liner notes say, with “No click track, no autotune, no effects and very few overdubs.” Which just goes to show that solid songs and great musicians are all you need.
**********
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
Jason Ankeny
Best remembered for his crossover hit "Sunshine," country and folk singer/songwriter Jonathan Edwards was born July 28, 1946, in Aitkin, Minnesota, and grew up in Virginia. While attending military school, he began playing guitar and composing his own songs. After moving to Ohio to study art, he became a fixture on local club stages, playing with a variety of rock, folk, and blues outfits, often in tandem with fellow students Malcolm McKinney and Joe Dolce.
Please Tell a Friend
In 1967, Edwards and his bandmates relocated to Boston, where they permanently changed their name to Sugar Creek and became a full-time blues act, issuing the 1969 LP Please Tell a Friend. Wanting to return to acoustic performing, he left the group to record a solo album. Near the end of the 1970 sessions, one of the finished tracks, "Please Find Me," was accidentally erased, forcing Edwards to instead record a brand-new composition. The song was "Sunshine," and when it was released as a single the following year, it quickly became a Top Five pop hit.
Honky-Tonk Stardust Cowboy
With the release of 1972's Honky-Tonk Stardust Cowboy, Edwards' music began gravitating toward straight-ahead country; his label was at a loss as to how to market the record, however, and over the course of two more albums, 1973's Have a Good Time for Me and the following year's live Lucky Day, his sales sharply declined. Soon, Edwards dropped out of music, buying a farm in Nova Scotia.
Elite Hotel
In 1976, Edwards' friend Emmylou Harris enlisted him to sing backup on her sophomore record, Elite Hotel; the cameo resulted in a new record deal and the LP Rockin' Chair, recorded with Harris' Hot Band. Sail Boat, cut with most of the same personnel, appeared a year later. Another layoff followed, however, and when Edwards resurfaced -- with an eponymous 1982 live record -- it was on his own label, Chronic.
Blue Ridge
After touring the nation with a production of the musical Pumping Boys and Dinettes, Edwards joined the bluegrass group the Seldom Scene, issuing the 1983 LP Blue Ridge. After a 1987 solo children's record, Little Hands, Edwards moved to Nashville; his 1989 album The Natural Thing generated his biggest country hit, "We Need to Be Locked Away." A follow-up, One Day Closer, appeared in 1994. Two years later, Edwards followed up with Man in the Moon. He released two concert albums during this time, including 2007's Live in Massachusetts and 2010's Rollin' Along: Live in Holland. In 2011, Edwards returned with the studio album My Love Will Keep.
**********
WEBSITE
**********
TO THE TOP
********************
''TOMORROW'S CHILD''
JUNE 16 2015
45:47
**********
01 - Down in the Woods 04:04 (Malcolm Holcombe)
02 - Tomorrow's Child 04:45 (Marcus Hummon)
03 - Sandy Girl 04:31 (Jonathan Edwards)
04 - Mole in the Ground 04:06 (Jonathan Edwards)
05 - The Girl from the Canyon 03:29 (Jonathan Edwards)
06 - This Old Guitar 04:01 (Jonathan Edwards)
07 - Mamaw 05:21 (Jim Wann)
08 - Hard Times 03:42 (Stephen Foster)
09 - Gracie 04:12 (Jonathan Edwards)
10 - Ain't Got Time 03:45 (Jonathan Edwards)
11 - Jonny's Come Home 03:46 (Jonathan Edwards, Jon Vezner)
**********
Shawn Colvin/Harmony
John Cowan/Vocals
Bryn Davies/Bass (Acoustic), Cello, Vocals
Jerry Douglas/Dobro
Sarah Dugas/Vocals
Jonathan Edwards/Guitar, Harmony
Vince Gill/Harmony
Alison Kraus/Harmony
Kenny Malone/Drums, Percussion, Vibraphone
Dirk Powell/Banjo, Concertina, Fiddle, Mandola, Piano, Vocals
Darrell Scott/Banjo, Bass, Bouzouki, Dobro, Guitar, Mandola, Pedal Steel, Piano, Vocals
Odessa Settles/Vocals
Joe Walsh/Arranger, Mandolin
Grace Eden Young/Vocal Ad-Libs
**********
REVIEW
Jon Sobel, www.blogcritics.org
His name recalls the early American preachers of olden times, and Jonathan Edwards has often reached back to essential spiritual themes and reflected on the natural world. His big hit from 1971 was ostensibly about a bad boss, but its complaint felt right in tune with the iconoclastic ethos of the times – and it was called, of course, “Sunshine.”
Edwards’s new folk-Americana album Tomorrow’s Child begins with a cover of Malcolm Holcombe’s gritty “Down in the Woods.” Wisely, rather than trying to emulate Holcombe’s grittiness – really an impossibility for the grittiest among us – Edwards emphasizes the prayerful aspects of the song with its appeal to perhaps the most primitive theme of all: the human relationship to the mysterious forested world in which we evolved.
The nature theme arises again in Edwards’s own piano-centric “Ain’t Got Time,” whose narrator hears “Mother Earth…calling out my true name…Open up your arms to me, green pastures.” And the related devotional feel persists in the sparkling title ballad, written by Marcus Hummon and featuring Alison Kraus on harmony vocals. When the narrator sings that he “will always have faith in tomorrow’s child” he means an actual child who is bound to grow up and make her own life. It’s a lovely piece of music but a touch too earnest for my taste.
However, despite the feel-good hippie vibe in Edwards’s voice, these songs don’t usually overreach in that way. The bright, smooth-cruising “Sandy Girl,” with Vince Gill on harmony vocals, brought James Taylor, CSN, and Dave Cousins all at once to my mind.
The crisp energy of the album’s expertly performed acoustic arrangements, produced by the great singer-songwriter and all-around instrumentalist Darrell Scott, makes the songs feel both timeless and timely, even the traditional “(I Wish I Was a) Mole in the Ground” (listen at The Bluegrass Situation) with its traditional banjo-driven arrangement and mandolin solo by none other than Joe Walsh.
Like the songs I mentioned at the beginning, “Mole in the Ground” evokes mankind’s ancient and eternal connection to the rest of nature. With its rainbow of vocal parts it suggests a chorus of men calling on the spirits of the natural world. Again, this connection to the natural world goes all the back with Edwards. Recalling the genesis of that big self-titled album from 1971, he has written that “I just went out in the woods every day with my bottle of wine and guitar, sat by a lake near Boston and wrote down all those tunes, day after day.”
Jonathan Edwards, photo by Sayer BremarEdwards leads a fuller chorus of male and female voices in his ecstatic take on the iconic “Hard Times (Come Again No More),” a peak of the album’s musical imagination. As other greats have done before, he takes Stephen Foster’s 160-year-old song and turns it into a gospel sparkler,
The imagery isn’t always so symbolic. In Edwards’s “The Girl from the Canyon,” a chestnut he recorded with Emmylou Harris in the 1970s (and that Johnny Cash later covered), the focus narrows onto a wounded outlaw thankful to a woman who’s taken him in, just like in an old movie.
Less effectively, “This Old Guitar” is a well-played but rather self-indulgent bluesy love song to the singer’s instrument; like poems about poetry, it doesn’t convince me. Fact is, it’s awfully hard to get away with a song about the songwriter’s musical life – many of the best have tried and failed. Much more touching are “Mamaw,” a paean to the memory of a beloved grandmother from the score of Pump Boys and Dinettes, sung with Shawn Colvin, and Edwards’s own “Gracie,” where the singer’s soft prismatic tenor shines like Don Henley’s.
The spare but theatrical “Jonny’s Come Home” closes the album with another family portrait, this one on the theme of adoption, carrying both a happy ending and a tinge of sadness. It’s an impressive artistic statement both musically and lyrically, and a fitting coda to a set of songs realized with top-notch arrangements and musicianship, and recorded, as the liner notes say, with “No click track, no autotune, no effects and very few overdubs.” Which just goes to show that solid songs and great musicians are all you need.
**********
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
Jason Ankeny
Best remembered for his crossover hit "Sunshine," country and folk singer/songwriter Jonathan Edwards was born July 28, 1946, in Aitkin, Minnesota, and grew up in Virginia. While attending military school, he began playing guitar and composing his own songs. After moving to Ohio to study art, he became a fixture on local club stages, playing with a variety of rock, folk, and blues outfits, often in tandem with fellow students Malcolm McKinney and Joe Dolce.
Please Tell a Friend
In 1967, Edwards and his bandmates relocated to Boston, where they permanently changed their name to Sugar Creek and became a full-time blues act, issuing the 1969 LP Please Tell a Friend. Wanting to return to acoustic performing, he left the group to record a solo album. Near the end of the 1970 sessions, one of the finished tracks, "Please Find Me," was accidentally erased, forcing Edwards to instead record a brand-new composition. The song was "Sunshine," and when it was released as a single the following year, it quickly became a Top Five pop hit.
Honky-Tonk Stardust Cowboy
With the release of 1972's Honky-Tonk Stardust Cowboy, Edwards' music began gravitating toward straight-ahead country; his label was at a loss as to how to market the record, however, and over the course of two more albums, 1973's Have a Good Time for Me and the following year's live Lucky Day, his sales sharply declined. Soon, Edwards dropped out of music, buying a farm in Nova Scotia.
Elite Hotel
In 1976, Edwards' friend Emmylou Harris enlisted him to sing backup on her sophomore record, Elite Hotel; the cameo resulted in a new record deal and the LP Rockin' Chair, recorded with Harris' Hot Band. Sail Boat, cut with most of the same personnel, appeared a year later. Another layoff followed, however, and when Edwards resurfaced -- with an eponymous 1982 live record -- it was on his own label, Chronic.
Blue Ridge
After touring the nation with a production of the musical Pumping Boys and Dinettes, Edwards joined the bluegrass group the Seldom Scene, issuing the 1983 LP Blue Ridge. After a 1987 solo children's record, Little Hands, Edwards moved to Nashville; his 1989 album The Natural Thing generated his biggest country hit, "We Need to Be Locked Away." A follow-up, One Day Closer, appeared in 1994. Two years later, Edwards followed up with Man in the Moon. He released two concert albums during this time, including 2007's Live in Massachusetts and 2010's Rollin' Along: Live in Holland. In 2011, Edwards returned with the studio album My Love Will Keep.
**********
WEBSITE
**********
TO THE TOP
********************