The Inevitable Emergence of Edie Carey by Richard Cuccaro

At the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance Conference this past November, it was business as usual. 
We were at Kutscher's Hotel in the Catskills for the second straight year, the conference having 
relocated from The Poconos.  Bathed in a time warp, Kutscher's ancient, worn carpets and 1950's 
nouveau modern architecture gave everything a retro feel. Some readers may recall that the major 
revelation of last year's conference came in the form of the group We're about 9 (Acoustic Live, June 2003). 
This year, while I came away with last month's 2nd feature, ASL signer Dave McCloskey, and 3 or 4 
soon-to-be feature articles, the most compelling "discovery" came from a familiar source.  
I made my usual stroll around the bustling exhibit hall at looking at the displays of various artists. 
The ones who were strangers to me would study my name tag on which Acoustic Live is also printed, 
then ask what it was and what it did. I was then usually entreated to take a CD and/or press kit. Of course, 
all performers are there to make contacts and generate both media notice and playing opportunities. As the 
publisher of this small conduit for recognition, much passes through my hands and ears, some good, alot… not. 
I strolled over to where Matt Asbell, manager for Edie Carey, was sitting at a table display. He reached under 
the table, pulled out her latest CD, When I was Made, and handed it to me. Looking back now, I remember his 
self-assured smile. The old phrase "cat who swallowed the canary" comes to mind. It should've tipped me off 
that something was different. I was unaware that I was headed for a major shift in perception.

I've known Matt almost as long as long as I've known Edie. As part of Asbell-Baker, he'd managed singer/songwriter 
Michelle Nagy back in the late 90's. Michelle played the Fast Folk Cafe where I had done some volunteer managing.
At some point, Edie Carey came to play an open mic at the cafe and was selected for a monthly "New Voices" 
in-the-round showcase.  With her elegant good looks and superior vocal skills, she was a standout.
For a long time, these pages resisted the allure of Edie Carey. Those kiss-the-sky vocals, that voice pouring out like 
liquid caramel --have always been exquisite. Her girlish self-deprecating wit got a little too giddy at times but was, 
and still is, charming. There was something I wasn't getting, though -- I found it hard to relate to the message in her 
lyrics. I kept waiting for something sharper, more engaging.
That wait is over. 

As soon as the CD found its way into the player on the ride home, it was apparent that Edie had turned a corner. 
I found myself swept up in each track-- each story. Her voice, always powerful and soaring, now also showed some 
signs of judicious restraint. It wove its way around finely-articluated, carefully sculpted melodies and narratives. 
The first track "With Our Hands," began with a contemporary tale of romantic attraction, shot through with doubt. 
However, it was framed with some delicious touches of the traditional, including the crackle of a banjo and the silky 
slide of a dobro. There was just enough detail to entice the listener to want to know more, but not so much that it 
overwhelmed. "It all started with our hands, underneath the table…  everything in me kept saying, maybe you're 
too late…"

The autobiographical touches are compelling without being overly detailed and leave room for individual listener 
interpretation. "Under a Sky" explores the way our mood can be affected by a glorious sunny day and how a 
beautiful day can mask impending horrific events. Personal quakes in Edie's life and the tragedy of 9/11 are both 
referenced after which she sings the soaring refrain with cynical regret: "Nothing bad could happen under a sky 
so blue." 

The one song that really drew blood for this listener was "Already Gone," that drummer Skip Peri contributed 
and Edie helped co-write along with producer Evan Brubaker. Edie gives Skip the main credit. However, with 
her interpretation and delivery, she takes ownership of this song. While a backup pedal steel billows a sigh of regret, 
Edie breathes life into the lyrics: "You're too young to look this old - Just let go the weight - Love should not drag 
you down - or beg you to stay… I need no warning here - I need no sign - that you're gone…"
Particular praise is also in order for producer  and collaborator Evan Brubaker for his typically masterful job on 
this CD.

Singing from the Start
Edie Carey was born in Burlington, Vermont. She was 3 weeks old when her parents moved to Dedham Mass. 
She spent her childhood there until she graduated from high school. With both parents working, she spent a great 
deal of time with Grace, her babysitter/nanny. She accompanied Grace everywhere, tooling along in Grace's big 
Lincoln, with the radio on, incessantly belching forth a variety of pop songs. From the on-line Starpolish interview 
with her, we learn that "Edie Carey's musical career began "the moment she stuck her two-year-old head between 
the green, sticky seats of her baby-sitter Grace's car and belted out, 'Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong!'" Her favorite 
then was Elton John's "Crocodile Rock." She also liked Bob Seger, Debbie Gibson and Madonna. She'd sing along with 
anything she found that she was able to. Edie was adept at picking up lyrics very quickly. Grace must've noticed something 
early that the rest of us have caught up with. She advised Edie's mom to "get that girl some singing lessons."

The Ground Shifts
Her taste in singers and music styles would undergo a change in high school. After her sophomore year, while summering 
in Maine with her sister, a friend gave her the Shawn Colvin album, Steady On. Nothing was the same after that. She got 
turned on to other singer/songwriters such as Patty Larkin, Nanci Griffith and Mary Chapin Carpenter. Throughout high 
school she improved her vocal chops, singing in the chorus and with various bands. She sang in a Manhattan Transfer 
jazz-oriented acappella group called Octazz (8 singers -- 4 girls, 4 boys). They covered pop songs by groups such as Yes 
and the Doobie Brothers giving them a jazz treatment. She found it challenging and rewarding. In her final year, she teamed 
up with her best friend on a senior project. They practiced covers of songs and got help decorating a room to create a folk café 
night at the school. In the process of assembling support for the project, they discovered a wealth of hidden talent in the faculty.
After high school, she attended Barnard College, the women's school at Columbia. After her freshman year, she became 
disinterested with singing for groups and began composing and singing on her own, accompanying herself on guitar.

Viva Italia!
Her junior year was spent in Italy as an exchange student in Bologna. It was here that she began writing in earnest. She also 
began playing in public, busking at the Piazza Maggiore, covering songs by Shawn Colvin, Sarah MacLachlan, and Bonnie Raitt, 
among others. She'd drop in one of her own every so often. She said that people looked at her like she was just some crazy girl, 
not understanding anything she sang. While she had to screw her courage up each time she went out there, it was something 
she felt driven to do, she recalls. We should all be so lucky as to have our futures speak to us that directly.
Then, back at Barnard, there were various venues on campus to play at; literary fraternity houses and the West End Gate .
The prestigious Postcrypt Cafe on campus in the basement of St. Paul's Cathedral, is one of the longest-running coffeehouses 
in the United States. It is normally reserved for nationally touring acts, but through a contact, Edie got a gig there and proved 
to be more than qualified. 



The Career Unfolds
After she graduated, she began looking around for gigs. Someone pointed the Fast Folk Cafe out to her, and she came down for 
the open mic. She says that she didn't realize at first, that attending open mics was the usual entry route taken by burgeoning 
singer/songwriters. Singer/songwriter Andrew Kerr, who was running the open mic at the cafe, selected Edie for the "New Voices" 
show mentioned earlier. I was a volunteer manager at the time. If my memory serves me correctly, Edie was booked for a number 
of regular multi-feature shows after that. She was also doing other open mics on a regular basis and getting more gigs.
At some point, Edie became close friends with Andrew Kerr, and other performers who had appeared at open mics; Teddy Goldstein, 
Anne Heaton, and Sam Shaber. They went on to form the group "Live from New York." The group still performs today at intervals 
between the members' individual gigs. Their blend of intelligent writing, great voices, tight harmony, and zany humor has garnered 
rave reviews and won many fans. They've been a featured act at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival and play at numerous clubs and colleges.

Ongoing
Edie says that she's watched her growth from album to album and is intent on continuing to improve. While there was a period in her 
life that she eyed the possibility of a pop career, she is now focused on having her songs move the people who come to her concerts 
It's no accident that her lyrics today seem to carry more weight. She's learned to whittle her songs down to the bare bones and leave 
enough room for the listener to interpret, rather than spell everything out, as she used to. While she acknowledges that her girlishness 
is part of her personality and will be a part of her interaction with her audience at live shows, she wanted the new album to have more 
of a woman's perspective. It certainly has achieved that. Going beyond the vulnerability of youth, the narrator in her lyrics has become 
more aggressive toward and challenging to its subject. In "Open Wide," she asks: "Are you chalking in your borders - Hosing them 
down again at night - Do you issue the same dark warning?" 
She's stated that an interesting aspect of her songwriting process occurs where she'll begin writing with someone else in mind and then 
realize that it's really directed at herself. "Open Wide" was one song which wound up being half directed at someone else and half directed 
at herself.
While she's currently based in Atlanta, Georgia, we're sure that she'll be playing New York frequently. She used to live in Brooklyn 
(a couple of blocks from this author when I lived there) and has a strong local following. 
The next New York City appearance is on 
February 10 at 9pm at The Living Room, 
154 Ludlow Street (check our listings). 
Other upcoming gigs: 
January 2004
3   Time TBA  Eddie's Attic Decatur, GA with Brian Webb  Details TBA
22  7pm Roe Vs. Wade Benefit Concert Schafly Bottleworks 
      7260 Southwest Ave. (at Manchester)  Maplewood, MO 63143
23  8pm House Concert Indianapolis, IN  $10 Contact Michelle Basso @ 317.414.4608
24  2pm  Jitters  100 South Federal Avenue  Mason City, Iowa     641-424-4880
25  6pm  Uptown Bill's  401 S. Gilbert St.   Iowa City, IA  $5  319.339.0401  
     Jennifer Danielson opens
28  7:30 pm  Cath Coffeehouse   5401 N. College Ave.   Indianapolis, IN 
     (317) 251-2677  with Stasia Demos of Middletown
29  8pm   No Exit Cafe  6970 N. Glenwood  Chicago, IL   773-743-3355
30  9pm  Uncommon Ground  1214 West Grace Street  
     Chicago, IL 60613  773-929-3680
31  Time TBA  Peppermint Presents  St. Paul, MN  
      with Ellis, Justin Roth, and Brenda  Weiler

February 
7  7pm  Club Passim   42 Palmer St.   Cambridge, MA 
    with Rose Cousins  $14 Non-Members / $12 Members
10  9:00 pm  The Living Room  154 Ludlow Street   New York City, NY   212.533.7235
11  7:30 pm  House Concert  Somerville, MA  Private
12  Time TBA Oona's  Bellows Falls, VT  Tentative   with Gregory Douglass
13  Time TBA   Pioneer Arts Center of Easthampton (P.A.C.E.) 
      41 Union St  Easthampton, MA  413-527-3700  Cover TBA
Feb 14 through March 16 On tour with Melissa Ferrick 
Feb  26 -  29 The Folk Alliance National Conference San Diego, CA 
       Showcases: Friday Night (12:45 am)  Feb 27  
        CDBaby's Women of Folk with Melissa Ferrick, Leni Stern, 
        Rachel Sage, Reba Hasko, Caroline Doctorow, Kat Wahamaa

March 
28  8pm  Sister Spit Volume 6 at   Harry's Corner of Pearl and Pleasant Streets
     Northampton, MA  $8 cover  ages 21+
30  Time TBA   Rivier College  Sharon, MA  Details TBA

April 
23  8pm   Banners: The McNeese State   University  
     Arts and Humanities Series F.G. Bulber Auditorium 
     with Live From New York [LFNY]
27  8pm  Take a Chance Tuesday The Ark Ann Arbor, MI  with Teddy Goldstein

May 23rd  Time TBA  15 Minutes Plus  The University of Southern  California 
                 Los Angeles, CA  Details TBA
July 8th  7:30 pm  The Wetlands Institute  1075 Stone Harbor Boulevard 
               Stone Harbor, NJ  609.368.1211

2005
Feb 18th, 2005  Time TBA Starr's Cave Nature Center  11627 Starr's Cave Road  Burlington, IA 52601  $  More Details TBA
.
I continue to be dazzled by her vocal chops and revel in her songwriting growth. 
While we hope this overview is informative, for a more intimate look into Edie's warm personality, we recommend that the reader 
check out the first-person interview she gave on-line to Starpolish's "Ask the Artist" at: www.starpolish.com/news/interviews/carey.
We urge our readers to catch a star in its ascendancy. Go, get out, see her live. Be charmed. Be dazzled. 
Edie will make you feel right at home.
Edie's Web site: www.ediecarey.com