Failer

Failer is the title of the debut album by Kathleen Edwards. But the 24 year-old singer/songwriter's striking lyrics and innate musicality never fail her over the course of these ten songs-and the end result is one of the most auspicious debut albums in recent memory.

Edwards sets sharply etched narratives ("Six O'Clock News," "Westby") alongside atmospheric mood pieces ("National Steel"). Through plainspoken poetry and some indelible hooks, Failer maps an emotional landscape that may be hopeful or despairing, mocking or affectionate. "Westby" examines the qualities of attraction and repulsion in an affair with an older (married) man; "Sweet Lil' Duck," with Kathleen's voice perfectly framed by acoustic fingerpicking and ghostly pedal steel licks, achieves a heart-rending tenderness and beauty. On "12 Bellevue" and "Maria," her tight-knit studio band locks in behind the singer like a junior Crazy Horse, sailing through jubilant choruses and incandescent guitar solos.

"Edwards seems to hold nothing back in her music," wrote one reviewer. "It is warm and gut-wrenching, her sometimes breathy voice reaching out like a familiar hand and twisting your heart until it hurts."

Kathleen Edwards was born in Ottawa, Canada to parents in the Foreign Service, and spent portions of her youth in Korea and Switzerland. At age five, she began classical violin studies that continued for the next twelve years. (Kathleen arranged and played all the string parts on Failer.)

"A lot of my classical training was by ear, and I think that played a big part in my being able to play guitar and write melodies," she says. "My mother was a piano teacher and my dad is a great singer-in fact, they met in a choir. So my older brother and I were both thrown into playing music almost from birth."

As an adolescent, Kathleen went through a typical teen-pop phase. But when the Edwards family moved overseas, away from the North American commercial mainstream, she was drawn to her brother's record collection. "A lot of my music came from what he was listening to, although he's only two years older. He was really into Neil Young and Bob Dylan, and he bought me my first record, a Tom Petty album."

By the time Kathleen had graduated from high school and had decided not to go to college, she was playing acoustic cover tunes in local clubs. "I probably got into it during my last two years of high school. Ani DiFranco was a big influence-I'd try to learn her guitar parts by ear, that very percussive style."

Whiskeytown's 1997 album Strangers Almanac remains a personal favorite to this day ("I have two copies at home in case I lose one"). The example of Ryan Adams and company also sparked Kathleen's determination to write her own songs, which she began to do in earnest after leaving home and moving into her own small apartment.

"I had a lot of time to myself. I didn't have a TV or even much of a kitchen, so I just played all the time. I wrote some songs and hooked up with some people in Ottawa to play with. I didn't think that what I was doing was very good, but I liked doing it."

In 1999, Kathleen recorded a six-song EP entitled Building 55 and pressed up 500 copies. By fall 2000, she was on tour across Canada, booking her own dates and driving herself in an old Suburban. "I slept in the back of the Suburban and made enough for gas money to get from one gig to the next. Somehow I made it from Point A to Point B, even if sometimes I played to five people."

In a few months over the summer of 2001, while going through a breakup with an old boyfriend, Kathleen wrote seven of the ten songs on Failer. "I had moved from the city to the country, to rural Quebec. Suddenly all these distractions didn't exist. I didn't have TV or the Internet or a coffee shop down the street, and it was very easy for me to focus."

"To be honest, only two of these songs are about the breakup that led me to move to the country. There are many songs on this album that aren't necessarily about me. Something in my experience triggered the song, but the song isn't necessarily autobiographical or at least not entirely so."

To record Failer, Kathleen returned to Little Bullhorn Productions in Ottawa-the same funky analog studio where she recorded her first EP-and co-produced the sessions with studio owner Dave Draves. One key player was guitarist Jim Bryson, himself a singer/songwriter who for several years has encouraged Kathleen's writing. ("He gave me a lot more confidence than I had on my own," she says. "His feedback has been great to have.") Other supporting musicians included bassist Kevin McCarragher, drummers, Dave Dudley and Peter von Althen, and Fred Guignon on pedal steel and slide guitars.

In early 2002, Kathleen Edwards played SxSW in Austin, Texas and NxNE in Toronto, Ontario; This fall, she commenced her first U.S. club tour supporting Richard Buckner and began to establish herself as one of the most compelling female live performers on the scene today. Failer will be released on Zöe/Rounder Records January 14, 2003.

Here's what the press are saying...

Rolling Stone:
One of 10 Artists to Watch in 2003!
Instantly accessible, yet complex enough to sustain interest, this album establishes Edwards as someone to watch. It's a line waiting to be written, but it's no less true for that: Failer is a winner.
- Anthony DeCurtis, 1/23/03

TIME:
…she deserves a place at the table, somewhere between Lucinda Williams and Sheryl Crow.
- Josh Tyrangiel, 2/10/03

People:
Edwards is often compared to Lucinda Williams; the newcomer has more grit and less poetry, but here's one act that threatens to live up to the hype. The inaptly named Failer will put Edwards on the alt-country map.
- Kyle Smith, 2/17/03

Late Show with David Letterman:
Fantastic singing... I listened to this whole CD this afternoon and this is great stuff. This is the kind of stuff that makes you just want to get in your car and just drive all night. Heartbreak. Just kick-you-in-the-teeth, break-your-heart kind of stuff…beautiful music. Wonderful new CD. It's fantastic.
- David Letterman, 1/17/03

NPR:
Kathleen Edwards sings with the world-weariness of someone twice her age, but her music reflects much younger influences. You can hear strains of the late nineties alternative country band, Whiskeytown, on moody songs like "One More Song The Radio Won't Like," with its disaffected vocal melody and gently wailing guitar."
- Meredith Ochs, 1/14/03

Blender:
Whether she's rocking out or taking it achingly slow, Edwards's songs have an indefinable pull that makes you love the characters they describe, no matter how fucked-up they are.
- Ann Powers, Jan/Feb 2003

Mojo:
Resisting easy pigeonholing, mixing folk, country and rock influences, but with a unifying feisty attitude to the lyrics…Rootsy yet commercial - be prepared to hear this snaking out of radio and TV sets in your neck of the woods sometime very soon.
- Max Decharne, Feb 2003

Elle:
You'll fall in love with Kathleen Edwards's ballads of barflies and misfits on Failer. Her rowdy, rueful voice, backed by a Memphis-tinged mix of guitars, horns, and strings, make for an arresting debut.
- Jan 2003

USA Today:
Edwards is the kind of young artist most rock critics fantasize about: A rootsy minstrel who writes moody hard-luck tales and delivers them in a frayed, grainy voice that invites comparisons to alt-country favorite Lucinda Williams or a female Neil Young.
- Elysa Gardner, 1/14/03

Entertainment Weekly:
… she has an addictively gritty voice and a knack for emotional specificity.
- Rob Brunner, 1/17/03

Marie Claire:
Think Cowboy Junkies with an Alison Krauss twang. Failer's wholesome guitar licks and throaty vocals simply rock.
- Feb 2003

Billboard:
Edwards will surely battle comparisons to Lucinda Williams for her gently raspy, sleepy vocals-even if they're slightly more central-and because, with her vocals, these mostly acoustic-guitar-based, electric-guitar-driven songs recall few albums as instantly as Williams' masterpiece, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.
- Wes Orshoski, 1/18/03

The Washington Post:
Debut albums this impressive make you wonder where the artist has been hiding. With Failer,...Edwards is born wholly formed, with a distinctive style, a pleasing voice and polished skills...
- Buzz McClain, 1/15/03

Relix:
There's something immediately convincing about Kathleen Edwards' album Failer. First is Edwards' voice, whose slight rasp and life-worn tone complement her no frills, blue-collar lyrics…one gets the feeling that the tough woman grittiness isn't an act but simply Edwards' nature.
- Josh Baron, Feb/March 2003

The Boston Globe:
The real deal. Kathleen Edwards is an authentic music phenomenon, rootsy and unpretentious.
- Joan Anderman 1/12/03

New York Post:
On her debut album, Failer, 24-year-old Canadian singer/songwriter Kathleen Edwards takes a walk on the Lucinda Williams trail. Edwards' rootsy acoustic alt-country is musically, lyrically and stylistically influenced by Williams and it's often very good.
- Dan Aquilante, 1/14/03

The Dallas Morning News:
…destined to be one of the year's best debuts… Ms. Edwards sings in a halting, reedy voice that's wise beyond its years…
- Thor Christensen, 1/12/03