Singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards on new album and her definition of 'Billionaire'

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks to singer and songwriter Kathleen Edwards about her new album, Billionaire.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Who wants to be a billionaire? If you ask hit singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards, she'd raise a hand. But it's probably not the kind of billionaire you're thinking of.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BILLIONAIRE")

KATHLEEN EDWARDS: (Singing) If this feeling were a currency, I would be a billionaire.

KELLY: That's the title track of her new album - the first from Edwards in five years, and her second since she walked away from a grueling schedule of touring and recording and left the industry for a while. She told NPR back in 2020...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)

EDWARDS: I think I just felt a huge sense of relief when I said, I'm done, and I'm done with music.

KELLY: But now, after rediscovering the joy and the vulnerability in performing, she's back on tour, and she has collaborated with other celebrated names in Americana music along the way. Well, I asked Kathleen Edwards about this moment in her career, starting with an explanation of that title track.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BILLIONAIRE")

EDWARDS: (Singing) A billionaire.

One of my worst traits is that I sometimes like to poke the bear a little bit. And by calling it "Billionaire," I'm kind of highlighting an interesting social moment where the word is considered to be - like, the only people who are billionaires are people who have too much in this world. And I would argue that we should all aspire to be billionaires. And the song is actually about somebody that I lost who was very dear to me, who was very young when she passed away and still had her whole life ahead of her.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BILLIONAIRE")

EDWARDS: (Singing) Grief is love. That makes sense, except for those of us still left to figure out what to do.

And I think the song is kind of about the idea that, you know, life is meant to be lived to its fullest and without apology. And if all of your life's adventures enrich your life to become a billionaire in experience, then that's what you should be if that's what you want.

KELLY: I want to ask about another song on the album, "Little Pink Door," which I read y'all did one take and that was it. You walked away. Is that right?

EDWARDS: Well, you know, in the studio, a lot of times you'll do one take and then you'll add overdubs, or you'll redo a vocal, or add drums. This was - everyone played live off the floor.

KELLY: Wow.

EDWARDS: And it's Jason playing live, and Jen Gunderman playing live on keyboards, and...

KELLY: Jason Isbell, for people taking note. Yeah, the Jason Isbell. Go on.

EDWARDS: The Jason Isbell, the great Jason Isbell - and yeah, it was one live, off-the-floor pass, the three of us, start to finish.

KELLY: Wow. Let's hear a little bit.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LITTLE PINK DOOR")

EDWARDS: (Singing) I'll see you later in a thought (ph) for sure. You were wrapping me up at that little pink door. You were wrapping me up.

KELLY: I got to ask, is there a real little pink door? Is this a real place?

EDWARDS: (Laughter) There is a little pink door. There's a place in St. Petersburg, Florida, that I pass almost every morning on my little adventure to walk my dogs. And it's just this house that sort of - you know when you pass a beautiful, little quaint home that you just think is charming to look at, and it captures your imagination, and you wonder who lives there and how lucky they are (laughter)?

KELLY: Yeah. And, like, I could live there, and then what would my life be if that were my front door?

EDWARDS: You got it. And I kind of touched on an old love story that inspired it, but the house is in St. Petersburg, Florida. It's not mine, but I look forward to handing a copy of my new record off to whoever the owners are who live there.

KELLY: It's not yours yet.

EDWARDS: (Laughter).

KELLY: Owners of little pink door house, you've been warned. I was looking back at the last time we spoke with you, and you talked about how you out-and-out quit the music business at one point. You opened a cafe outside Ottawa, and you named it Quitters, which I love.

(LAUGHTER)

KELLY: I just love that because everyone is so anti-quitting. It's all, oh, you can't quit now. Keep going, can't quit. And I love that you were like, oh, yeah, buddy? Try me (laughter).

EDWARDS: I sold the cafe in early 2022.

KELLY: OK.

EDWARDS: I opened it in the fall of 2014 on a shoestring budget, in a building that needed a ton of work. And I kind of, you know, imagined, after touring the world and loving coffee shops, and them being a real staple in a touring musician's life, or in, you know, many people's lives, this place that always made me feel like I had one little tether every day that was, you know, a bit of a constant. And I thought, well, if I'm going to not do music, I'd better find something else to do. And sure enough, I did.

KELLY: Well, as you and I are speaking right now, Kathleen Edwards, you have been - you've been touring all this summer. We're talking to you 'cause you've got this new album coming out. You have most definitely unquit (ph). I wonder, is there a song on here that speaks to that - that momentum in your life?

EDWARDS: Oh, gosh. You know, "Say Goodbye, Tell No One" was a little bit of a kiss-off song from the coffee shop.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SAY GOODBYE, TELL NO ONE")

EDWARDS: (Singing) People change, people grow. You can take it in stride or slam a door.

One of the things that owning my own business I had to learn - which I'm slightly embarrassed but also proud to say it - I had to put my big girl pants on. When my first record came out, I was 22. I had a manager, an agent, and I'd sort of been scooped out of Ottawa and thrust on to "The David Letterman Show" the day my record came out.

KELLY: Wow. Yeah.

EDWARDS: And so for years, I had this incredible group of people supporting me, but they were the ones having difficult conversations on my behalf. And one of the things that I realized, coming through being a small business owner, is you have to confront hard truths, whether they're about you or the people that work for you or the fact that your business has to close - all those things. And I think the joy of playing music is such a new - a renewed gift to me. But also, I'm no longer nervous about what people are going to think of me.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SAY GOODBYE, TELL NO ONE")

EDWARDS: (Singing) The hardest part about the truth, saying something that might hurt you. The hardest part about a lie, you can't outrun it if you try.

And just 'cause you have to tell somebody something that's really hard and might hurt their feelings doesn't mean that you're a bad person. And I think that's what sometimes the record is about.

KELLY: I love that. Well, that, I guess, brings us full circle. I was going to ask you what counts as success to you at this point, at this moment. And it sounds like it circles back to the billionaire idea and what really matters.

EDWARDS: It is - that's all that life is about. And I think the song that - called "Billionaire" that I wrote for my beautiful friend, Amanda - she was the most living and optimistic person. She came into the coffee shop as a customer, and she ended up running the place. And losing her reminded me that life is really just about having great people in your life and wanting to tell them that they are - they're a gift to you.

KELLY: Well, amen to all of that. Kathleen Edwards, thank you.

EDWARDS: Thank you. I appreciate so much you being interested in talking to me. I'm humbled. I'm really humbled.

KELLY: We've been talking about her new album - her first album in five years. It is titled "Billionaire."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SAVE YOUR SOUL")

EDWARDS: (Singing) Who's going to save your soul?