Canadian singer Kathleen Edwards is part of this year’s Outlaw Music Festival
Courtesy of High Road Touring
Canadian singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards is among the performers in this year鈥檚 Outlaw Music Festival.
Edwards
Photo by Randy Steinberger
Micah Nelson, performing under the name Particle Kid, is participating in this year鈥檚 Outlaw Music Festival on Saturday, Aug. 12 at Star Lake Amphitheater in Burgettstown.
Photo by Pamela Springsteen
Willie Nelson is topping the bill at the Outlaw Music Festival on Saturday, Aug. 12 at the Star Lake Amphitheater in Burgettstown.
Kathleen Edwards is part of this year鈥檚 traveling Outlaw Music Festival, but you will most definitely not find her on a tour bus.
鈥淚 think they鈥檙e awful,鈥� Edwards explained on the phone last week, in the midst of running errands before hitting the road. Rather than take her chances with a bus, Edwards is instead going from gig to gig in her own pickup truck, getting behind the wheel and hooking up her own trailer.
鈥淚鈥檓 just driving myself to shows because I hate tour buses,鈥� Edwards added. 鈥淚 love it. It鈥檚 really heaven to travel that way.鈥�
Using her own transportation seems an appropriate choice for the 45-year-old singer and songwriter who has been blazing her own trail since releasing her debut disc in 1999. Feeling burned out and depressed after the release of her album, 鈥淰oyageur鈥� in 2012, Edwards packed away her guitar, quit music and opened a coffee shop in a town outside Ottawa, Ontario, in Canada. She doggedly rose with the sun, made muffins, ran a mop across the floor at closing time and carried out all the chores at a cafe that was named, appropriately enough, Quitters.
鈥淚t really gave me a pretty substantial opportunity to have a different experience running my own business,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ecause in music you are an entrepreneur, you are self-employed. Running a small business, you have upwards of 25 employees and it鈥檚 a really different experience. It forced me to remove myself from music. I really gave it my everything at the beginning, and it was a total learning curve.鈥�
After some time clearing her head, Edwards made her way back to music. She released her first album of alt-country songs in eight years, 鈥淭otal Freedom,鈥� in 2020, and is on the bill of this year鈥檚 Outlaw Music Festival, which will be at the Star Lake Amphitheater in Burgettstown on Saturday, Aug. 12. Led by headliner Willie Nelson, this year鈥檚 Outlaw Music Festival also includes Gov鈥檛 Mule, John Fogerty, Flatland Cavalry, and Nelson鈥檚 son, Mikah, who performs under the name Particle Kid.
鈥淢y re-entrance to music was for all the right reasons,鈥� said Edwards, the daughter of a Canadian diplomat. 鈥淚 just had a new appreciation and perspective on what that life had been after I鈥檇 been able to come up for air in the, quote unquote, real world.鈥�
In the years before her hiatus from music, Edwards found that 鈥渘o one wants to tell you it鈥檚 going to be incredibly hard work. You鈥檙e going to be exhausted, and the kinds of sacrifice you have to make in your personal life to have a career鈥� And there are a lot of disappointments. There are a lot of great moments that people see, but behind the scenes there are a lot of disappointments to being in showbiz. It鈥檚 hard on your soul.鈥�
The Outlaw Music Festival gets underway at 4:30 p.m. For additional information, go online to www.blackbirdpresents.com.