It contradicts the typical experience, hopeful artists make in Nashville. After all there is a reason for Nashville being referred to as a 10-year-town. For on average it takes 10 years of hard work to make it to the big break (or at least a major label recording contract). Yet, Madeline Edwards signed a recording contract with Warner Music Nashville at the beginning of October 2022, after having been here for only some 15 months.
After all the 29-year old artist had only arrived in Nashville in February of 2021. And this is not the only unusual fact of her career path so far. Having grown up to biracial parents in California, she discovered jazz music as her first love as a teenager. "I remember listening to Ella Fitzgerald when I was little", she told countrynow.com in January of 2022. "And I knew that music was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life"
After her parents split, she went to Texas, where she took her first public steps as an artist with club performances and the release of her first original songs. In the summer of 2016, a soulful EP with elements of blues, deeply rooted in jazz music ("Light Out"), got released. It contained 4 songs, on which she impresses with a versatile voice, even shining with hints of Amy Winehouse ('Give a Little Bit').
It was followed by more new songs moving deeper into soul and pop territory. June of 2021 eventually saw the release of a second EP titled "The Road". On it she deals with her thoughts on christian faith. Which is why the hopeful title cut does not refer to a human partner, when she sings: And when I feel lost at sea / drowning in the depths of my misery / I'll
lay it at Your feet / You make all things complete. A highly held topic in the US, as is reflected by 6.6 mio. streams on Spotify.
"I wanted to try my hand at a gospel-pop record", she wrote on Instagram. "Not only that, but I wanted
the whole record and each song to follow the story of my life and reflect my
relationship with God in each stage of my life, which includes the good, the
bad and the ugly. I wrote about being a Christian and calling out to God in
the midst of trauma with no answer. I wrote about what it’s like to live with
an abusive father and the acceptance of another father in God. I wrote songs
of hope like ‘The Road’ as a reminder to myself to not lose faith."
In November of 2021 she finally became present on a country music stage, when she performed at the CMA Awards together with Mickey Guyton and Brittney Spencer. Around the same time she put out her first country song ('Best Revenge') to the world, as she stated on Instagram. A song about coping with a breakup. She worked on it as a songwriter - as with all material she has released.
In March of 2022 she processed her move from Houston, TX to Nashville, TN with the song 'Port City'. "[It is] The story of my move from Houston to Nashville to pursue my dreams. Everyone takes leaps of faith in their lives, no matter big or small – this one was mine."When the song 'Why I'm Calling' got released in June of 2022, it was also dedicated to her mother, who still lives in California. In August she took a flight to Nashville to watch her daughter do her first performance at the Grand Ole Opry.
I don't have to explain myself,
During her performance Madeline Edwards sang a new song ('The Wolves'), which subsequently got released and which was going to be a center point on her upcoming studio-album. "I ain't scared of nothing, I ain't ever running", she claims in the chorus of the song she wrote together with Emma-Lee Doty and Gavin Slate.
"People tell me: I am really battling depression, but when I put on this song, it just makes me feel like I want to go take on the world!", she says on Apple Music. "And it's just super encouraging to hear that, because that's what the song does for me, too."
Just 4 short weeks after signing her record deal with Warner Music Nashville, the first full length studio album of Madeline Edwards gets released on November 4, 2022. It holds 12 songs, on all of which she has been a co-writer. The project carries the unusual title "Crashlanded". But it is not a prediction on the commercial success of the album, but it's title song talks about chaos in the world and how it makes her feel like an alien on her own planet.
Crash-landed,
in a world I don't wanna live in,
a place I don't think I fit in,
can't help but feel like sanity has been abandoned.
(Crashlanded / Madeline Edwards, Emily Weisband, Seth Mosley)
maybe doors keep closin' so another one can open.
All of these things that I don't understand,
maybe they're just a part of the plan.
If I didn't know pain, I wouldn't know how strong I am.
The dramatic 'Hold My Horses' tells of inner demons, that sometimes refuse to be tamed, while in 'Heavy' a young marriage becomes a sanctuary. And in the first official single 'Mama,
Dolly, Jesus', Madeline Edwards clarifies what's most valued by her and in whose opinions she trusts the most. It abounds with self-confidence, something she has been working hard on.
Madeline Edwards delivers a self confident debut project, built from elements of her own musical story - current, dramatic and reflective - while at the same time perfectly aligning with country's tradition of story-telling. Because she knows, that "country music is the last, true form of storytelling", as she points out in her conversation with The Tennessean.
Invited by media personality Bobby Bones on November 14, she not only summarized her career, but in a sense also her current project, when she said: "I started off in
Jazz, moved my way into soul, experimented in pop for a little bit, went into
Western and now here I am in country music.
It's been a long process for me to get here. I am very sure and confident of
what my sound is, what I wanna say, what I'm trying to present in my songs
lyrically, how I'm trying to produce it sonically, what kind of creatives I
wonna be working with in order to get that product."
"Basically [I am] trying to put it in a way that is still easily congestable for the consumer but still broad and deep and introspective."
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