Sometimes an artist can slip through your radar for years until a fellow music lover recommends them. For some reason, Kathleen Edwards has never appeared on my algorithm. She’s been making music for over 20 years, she’s Canadian, and she’s brilliant — so clearly, there’s a glitch in the system.
But I always say, just ’cause you’re late to the party, it doesn’t mean you can’t dance.
So, after 13 years since her last performance in Montreal, I got to finally see what I had been missing.
There was no opener, which made the already intimate Sala Rossa feel like a private party. At a little past eight, the lights dimmed and “Thank You for Being a Friend” sounded on the speakers. Yes, the Golden Girls theme. You can tell a lot about someone by the song they play right before they’re about to come on stage.
I assumed that Kathleen had a great sense of humour. I didn’t know that she would be a real hoot. I also didn’t know that most of her songs were going to choke me up.
The backstories to most of her songs were witty and funny, except for a few that really hit home. The way she described her beloved Golden Retriever, Redd, and how he lifted her spirits during a difficult time was truly heartwarming (“Who Rescued Who”). He wasn’t even my dog, and I felt like sobbing. How she can sing such songs without her voice cracking or breaking down is quite remarkable.
It was new song, “Billionaire,” though, that gave me a lump in my throat and had me looking into the audience to see if anyone else was overcome by emotion. It was one of the most delicately melancholic tributes to a beautiful friend that I have ever heard. Kathleen’s voice was so velvety sweet that each word felt like a soft, warm tear gently falling down my cheek.
She’s a masterful storyteller who chooses each word so deliberately. The lyrics for “Six O’Clock News” are so sparse, yet they still feel like a gut punch.
My favourite was “Goodnight, California.” She began on the violin and then switched to guitar. There are people who can play multiple instruments with ease and have lovely voices with incredible range. There are some who can also write music with the most moving and profound words. And then, those rare ones that can do it all — and they’ll make you cry.
Her bandmates sounded like they’ve been playing together for years. They had a relaxed vibe but were always on point, especially guitarist Gord Tough. Even when Kathleen had forgotten some words at one point and started laughing, they just kept on going.
Kathleen did three covers, and all sounded like she wrote them herself. In fact, “Travelling Alone” was so good that even Jason Isbell sang it with her on her album of covers.
Tom Petty’s “Crawling Back to You” was a great encore. You would think it a bold choice, but for Kathleen, it made perfect sense. She doesn’t simply tell a story — she articulates each word as though she is living it in that exact moment. If you listen with your heart, you can feel every single emotion.
If she ever comes back to Montreal, I hope it won’t take another 13 years. I will definitely go and recommend her to a friend.
Setlist:
- Glenfern
- Empty Threat
- Hockey Skates
- One More Song the Radio Won’t Like
- Who Rescued Who
- A Soft Place to Land
- Travelling Alone (Jason Isbell cover)
- Billionaire (new song)
- Mint
- Hello in There (John Prine cover)
- Options Open
- Asking for Flowers
- Six O’Clock News
- Goodnight, California
- Hard on Everyone
- In State
- Crawling Back to You (Tom Petty cover)
- Change the Sheets
- Mercury
Review – Annette Aghazarian
Photos – Steve Gerrard
