KATHLEEN EDWARDS’ NEW ALBUM TOTAL FREEDOM OUT TODAY
LIVESTREAM ALBUM RELEASE CONCERT BROADCASTING THIS AFTERNOON
“CBS THIS MORNING” INTERVIEW AND PERFORMANCE TOMORROW
August 14, 2020—Acclaimed singer, songwriter and musician Kathleen Edwards’ highly anticipated new album, Total Freedom, is out today on Dualtone (an Entertainment One Company). Stream/purchase HERE.
In celebration of the release, Edwards will perform a special livestream concert this afternoon at 3:00pm ET/2:00pm CT broadcasting from her own coffee shop, bar and café, Quitters. Available to stream via Amazon Music’s Twitch as well as Edwards’ YouTube and Facebook pages, the event will also feature a conversation between Edwards and WXPN’s World Café host Raina Douris. Additionally, Edwards will be featured on “CBS This Morning” tomorrow speaking with Anthony Mason and performing songs from the new album as part of their “Saturday Sessions” series.
Co-produced by Edwards, longtime collaborator and guitarist Jim Bryson and Grammy Award-winning producer and musician Ian Fitchuk, the album marks a major return for Edwards, who took an extended step away from music in 2014.
Recent critical acclaim for Total Freedom:
“Edwards has the conversational vernacular and emotional eloquence of a great short-story writer…the most thematically panoramic album of her career”—The New York Times
“a work of art…these songs are like little poems, every detail is so beautiful and so well chosen.”—NPR Music
“the result of profound self-reflection from Edwards, who’s reached a place where her past trials, false starts, and wrong turns have begun to feel less like a burden and more
like a blessing”—Rolling Stone
like a blessing”—Rolling Stone
“an energetic guitarist and singer whose urgent vocals can cut to the heart or flash with sarcasm…Total Freedom is the work of a relaxed and confident artist.”—Associated Press
“a snappy and crisp reintroduction to her formidable gifts”—Entertainment Weekly
6 New Albums You Should Listen to Now—Pitchfork
“a welcome progress report from a musician who took the time she needed, and returns stronger and wiser than she was before, with a first-class collection of songs to prove it.”—Paste
“It’s great to hear Edwards’ soaring, rather angelic voice again…such a beautifully strong instrument”—Glide
“shimmering, confident”—Brooklyn Vegan
“her singing remains strong…it’s encouraging that Edwards has returned to releasing new material and doing what she does best”—American Songwriter
“lyrically delightful and melodically charming”—PopMatters
“Like Rosanne Cash, Edwards sings with a clear-eyed sincerity and a comforting
steadiness”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
steadiness”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
“a brilliant return, filled with the vivid, intimate storytelling she’s long been adored
for”—Sounds Like Nashville
for”—Sounds Like Nashville
“gorgeous”—Wide Open Country
“I had no desire to write, no desire to play,” she says of what she refers to as her “working sabbatical.” “It allowed me all the time and space I needed to even just enjoy listening to music again. There were so many times where, if I was thinking about my own writing or playing, my heart just wasn’t in it.” She continues, “I don’t want to write songs that are going to keep me in a dark place for two years. I didn’t have to carry a lot of the pressure of whatever course I was on previously…There’s a pressure sometimes to keep that ball rolling, and that’s what was so freeing about stopping altogether and starting again. I realized I’m entirely in control and deciding what my course of action is.”
Photo credit: Remi Theriault
Total Freedom is Edwards’ fifth-studio album since her 2003 debut and her first since 2012’s Voyageur. The album reached #39 on the United States’ Billboard 200 chart, #2 in Canada and received widespread critical acclaim—NPR Music praised, “Her songs feel as personal and lived-in as ever…Edwards has never seemed more confident in her own considerable gifts,” while Pitchfork declared, “Each song emphasizes change and risk, and Edwards never resorts to tired sentiments or platitudes about healing and hope” and Rolling Stone proclaimed, “an exquisite, widescreen beauty.” Now based in Ottawa, Ontario, Edwards is a five-time Juno Award nominee and winner of the SOCAN Songwriting Prize for Voyageur track, “A Soft Place to Land.” She has also had her music featured in several hit television shows including Grey’s Anatomy, One Tree Hill, Hart of Dixie, House and more.
TOTAL FREEDOM TRACK LIST
1. Glenfern
2. Hard On Everyone
3. Birds On A Feeder
4. Simple Math
5. Options Open
6. Feelings Fade
7. Fool’s Ride
8. Ashes to Ashes
9. Who Rescued Who
10. Take It With You
The record is now available for pre-order, which includes limited-edition vinyl, CD and unique merch bundles including virtual meet-and-greets and Quitters coffee. Full information here.
