Music for the day: Kat Edmonson

I don't watch much TV but after a long tiring and at times stressful day, I switched on the TV yesterday and as is often the case, flipped over to one of the PBS channels. I found that Austin City Limits was about to start and today's program featured Norah Jones, singing many of the songs from her 2012 album, "Way Down Low." I had listened to songs from this album when it first came out and The Guardian or some other website streamed it on their website for a few days but I thought I'll enjoy this program as I have enjoyed Norah Jones previous albums and I wanted to unwind after the tiring  day and in any case, I did not recall the new songs from that one listen many months ago.

And then, in the short blurb they showed before the actual program began, I heard a voice that blew me away. It is a singer I had never heard of before but Kat Edmonson singing this song was so ethereal, so romantic, so peaceful, and so appealing - all at the same time that I had to find it online and listened to it at least 6 times within an hour. I also heard this song and many others she sang on the PBS program also but this song is my favorite. Like I put it in my Facebook update right away - "just what the doctor ordered".

I hope you enjoy it too...let me know what you thought. You can get updates on Kat Edmonson's tours and performances via her Twitter account - @katedmonson - or her website.

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♫ Life is just a dream.... Lucky you Lucky lucky me
♫ Life is just a dream.... Lucky you Lucky lucky me


Kat Edmonson on Austin City Limits "Lucky" from Austin City Limits on Vimeo.

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I'll leave you with two reviews of Ms. Edmonson's music.

NYT review: Fresh as a spring bouquet, indeed!

Kat Edmonson has a honeyed, light-gauge, faintly crinkly singing voice, an instrument of self-containment and reflection. Don’t let its modest embroidery mislead you. On “Way Down Low,” her second self-released album, Ms. Edmonson presents a vision of her art that’s almost steely in its resolve, with an equal foothold in jazz, cabaret and vintage cosmopolitanism pop. Fresh as a spring bouquet, it’s also a purposeful introduction to Ms. Edmonson the songwriter, intuitive about melody and handy with a turn of phrase.

And leave you with this NPR review that talks about how she put her album together using a Kickstarter campaign to get listeners to contribute to the project. More power to her and those who contributed to bring such wonderful music to us. I am now a fan! 

Edmonson got funding to put the album together from Kickstarter, asking listeners to contribute to the project. In the video introduction, Edmonson demonstrated that she'd do about anything to get the album made: give dog pedicures, shovel snow, fix someone's sink. "I thought there would be some humor in that without looking too terribly desperate," she says, laughing. "I think it's really fantastic. Where I didn't like it too much initially — and maybe that was my pride — it's an entirely viable way to raise money. The industry is so different now. And, to boot, [I] get to know my fan base a little bit better and what they liked. What an affirmation of support; it was over 350 people, and it just felt like a tidal wave of love when it all went down and I was able to fund the record. It was a great opportunity to give back and thank them."