Renowned folk-rocker, singer-songwriter Jonathan Edwards comes to the Mainstay in Rock Hall, Maryland on Friday February 7 at 8:00 pm. Admission is $25. For information and reservations call 410-639-9133.
The word “legend” is often used to describe veteran folk/rocker Jonathan Edwards, whose 1971 million-selling song “Sunshine” (“go away today…”) brought him instant fame. However, he is one veteran performer who is neither grizzled nor nostalgic. Edwards is a vital and relevant artist in today’s folk and Americana scenes. He is more likely to be found looking forward rather than back. Still, the journey is worth revisiting.
Edwards was born in Minnesota, raised in Virginia, went to college but quit to pursue a music career in the Bosto area. His first band toured all over New England playing cover tunes as well as their own country blues originals. When Edwards left the band to pursue a solo career he found himself opening for national acts, including the Allman Brothers Band and B. B. King. This exposure attracted the attention of Capricorn Records, and he signed a recording contract with them.
“We took about a year recording the first album – different times, different studios, different sounds, different techniques,” he recalls. “Recording [methods that were] new in ’69 and ’70. There was a song on the album called ‘Please Find Me,’ and for some reason the engineer rolled over it. It got erased. We spent hours looking for it. We fired the engineer and put ‘Sunshine’ in its place.”
Like most of the songs on the eponymously titled album “Jonathan Edwards” (1971), “Sunshine” was written in the period after Jonathan left the band. “I felt really fresh, really liberated,” he remembers. “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.”
A fierce proclamation of protest and independence set to deceptively upbeat music, “Sunshine” resonated with the thousands and thousands of frustrated and angry young men and women of the day. “It was just at the time of the Vietnam War and Nixon. It was looking bad out there. That song meant a lot to a lot of people during that time – especially me,” Edwards says. It got its start on a Boston radio station and quickly made its way to the top five on the national charts, earning him a gold record in 1971.
The song has had a long life. It was later covered by Paul Westerberg and included in the 1995 release of “Friends”, a compilation of music for the hit NBC-TV show. It was heard in the 1994 Will Ferrell film “Anchorman” and included on the soundtrack. It was also the anthem playing behind a Jeep Heritage commercial a few years ago.
When asked about the possibility of being known as a one-hit wonder he said, “If I never play another note but that song, and left that as a legacy I’d be satisfied. I still hear at the shows how much it meant to someone going through a hard time, or a great time, or people who were in Vietnam when it came out and how it helped them kind of understand that they weren’t in this alone. So I love the fact that the song chose me to have one hit with.”
In the years since, he sought a quiet life in Nova Scotia, moved back to the US and revived his career after recording back-up vocals on Emmylou Harris’s “Elite Hotel,” recorded the bluegrass album “Blue Ridge” with the Seldom Scene and continued to write and record his own songs. His 1987 children’s album, “Little Hands” a charming mix of American folk songs and whimsical original compositions, has been honored by the National Library Association as a “Notable Children’s Recording” and remains a top seller in its field to this day.
Edwards celebrated 30 years of “Sunshine” with a “First Annual Farewell Tour” with Kenny White on piano in 2001. “First Annual” was prophetic, since he is touring now more than he has in years and shows no signs of slowing down. He has made several recordings since and has a new one in the works.
His varied career has included theater, commercials, record production, and 2 movie soundtracks. He narrated and performed in the Media Artists series “Cruising America’s Waterways”, which started airing on PBS-TV stations in 2001. Media Artists released a 90-minute documentary of his career, titled “That’s What Our Life Is”, which is available for purchase at shows and on his website. He had a role as the reformist preacher Reverend Perly in the 2009 release “The Golden Boys,” a film starring David Carradine, Bruce Dern, and Rip Torn, a film that featured a Jonathan Edwards score.
“I’ve been a very lucky guy,” he says, “and I’ve seen it all–black limos, red carpets, blue nights and green money. Success is being able to sing your heart out no matter what else is going on in your life and to follow each song to where it may lead without regard to category, market niche or radio format.”
As an artist who has measured his success by his ability to attract and take good care of an audience for four decades, Edwards maintains that it is the feedback he receives after his shows that keeps him going. “Sometimes, in our darker moments, we imagine our music not finding receptive ears, unable to reach open hearts. So it is really gratifying to hear [someone say], ‘Your stuff has meant a lot to me over the years.’”
Now into his fifth decade in the music business, Edwards continues to make good on that promise he made all the way back in 1971: “Sunshine, come on back another day … I promise you I’ll still be singing.”
The Mainstay (Home of Musical Magic) is the friendly informal storefront performing arts center on Rock Hall’s old time Main Street. It is a 501(c)(3), non profit dedicated to the arts, serving Rock Hall, MD and the surrounding region. It is committed to presenting local, regional and national level talent, at a reasonable price, in an almost perfect acoustic setting. Wine, beer, sodas and snacks are available at the bar.
The Mainstay is supported by ticket sales, fundraising including donations from friends and audience members and an operating grant from the Maryland State Arts Council.
For information and reservations call the Mainstay at 410-639-9133. More information is also available at the Mainstay’s website https://www.mainstayrockhall.org.
Mary Lou Troy, Publicity for The Mainstay, Rock Hall, MD
Email: [email protected]
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