06/22/2007

Edwards aims to please

Folk singer to teach, perform Saturday

By Garret Ellison

gellison@record-eagle.com

Special to the Record-Eagle
Jonathan Edwards has a busy day in Glen Arbor Saturday, teaching a music workshop and then performing at the Leelanau School on Saturday night.

GLEN ARBOR — Veteran folk singer and songwriter Jonathan Edwards has followed a simple formula to generate the loyal fan base that has kept him touring the country for almost 40 years.

Give the people what they want.

"There's a large component of my show that's nostalgia for people,” said Edwards, who will be hosting a daylong songwriting workshop and taking the stage in Glen Arbor on Saturday.

"They want to hear the songs they got married to, they want to hear the songs they went college with, they want to hear the songs that got them through Vietnam,” he said. "And I aim to please.”

The concert takes place at the Leelanau School green at 8 p.m. Earlier in the day, he's teaching a 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. workshop at the school. A post-concert campfire afterglow has been promised by the Glen Arbor Art Association, which is staging the show as a June precursor to the annual Manitou Music Festival.

Expect to hear Edwards' notable folk crossover hits "Shanty” and "Sunshine,” as well as selections from an expansive career that began upon learning guitar during military school in the '60s. Edwards spent the next several decades maneuvering through the music business minefield, jumping from blues to country to folk and back again.

"When I go up on stage I give it all, and don't leave any on stage when I get back to the dressing room,” he said. "I do typically 50 songs a night.”

The concert comes on the heels of his 14th album, "Live in Massachusetts,” released on Rising Records. Originally planned to be a live compilation of sets from a swing through New England last year, it all came together during one particular night in Natick, Mass.

"This had a lot of continuity that I didn't want to break,” he said, "so, I put out the entire show.”

Except for a brief stint with the electric guitar in the very beginning of his career, Edwards is all acoustic.

"I like acoustic because you can take it everywhere,” he said. "You don't have to plug it in, you can take it to the park, you can play it while you're waiting for your airplane, you can do it wherever you want.”

Edwards spends weekends on the road. He has about 25 dates lined up between now and January. He recently returned from Thailand, expressing surprise at the extent of his international following. He's headed to the Netherlands later this year.

"Until a few years ago I would have said (the international following) was on the strength of the first album — it had all the radio songs on it — but I'm finding in places like Amsterdam, they've discovered a couple albums I did with Emmylou Harris and her Hot Band back in the '70s,” he said.

"I think it's the whole spectrum of my recorded music that they are responding to, because I haven't played over there much,” he said. "So, it's got to be the records.”

He keeps the shows small and personal — "I like 200-300 seats just fine,” he said. He doesn't stray into topical or protest, either, despite holding some strong opinions about the Iraq war.

"It's not something that my audience is familiar with me dealing with,” he said. "But I do a little introduction to 'Sunshine,' saying how I played this at the anti-war rally in 1971 in Washington and never dreamt that I'd have to be singing it again 36 years later, in the face of another war that was brought to us through lies and deception.”

The Glen Arbor workshop is billed as a song idea swap with small group sessions. Edwards doesn't teach often — "this is off the beaten path” — but he's ready to share some stories.

"I'm really looking forward to teaching my perspective on what it's like being a songwriter and chasing a career through this crazy music business for 40 years,” he said.

Don't expect a mathematical formula for good songwriting, however; Edwards hasn't got one.

"I wish I had some sort of repeatable methodology for songwriting and creativity in general, but I'm a scattergun,” he said. "Whatever falls under my fingers becomes fodder for creativity, whether it's art, painting, sculpture, furniture or songwriting.”

Concert tickets are $15. The workshop, with evening concert entry, is $50. Call the Glen Arbor Art Association at (231) 334-6112 or visit www.glenarborart.org.