A. Lee Edwards

Edwards’ songs are like Raymond Carver stories after Gordon Lish got done with ‘em: spare, sweet, and savage. You don’t write those kinds of songs if you’re looking for an easy buck. Those kinds of songs take time to write. What’s more, they take courage. Speaking of things that take courage: Edwards has gotten older, gotten sober, and gotten into living as a listener, all of which are A) difficult and B) rewarding. I never thought I’d see an Edwards-affiliated record with “Heart Sounds” in the title, but that’s what he’s doing here: giving us an EKG reading of what it means to be human.

Produced by the legendary John Wood (Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, John Cale, Richard and Linda Thompson), Interpreting Heart Sounds Vol. I and Interpreting Heart Sounds Vol. II are a major milestone. Recorded at the famed Echo Mountain Recording
Studios in Asheville, North Carolina, both albums were engineered by Kenny Harrington, mixed by John Wood at his Analog Mixing studio in Aberdeen Scotland, mastered by Simon Heyworth at Super Audio Mastering in Devon England, lacquers cut by Well Made Music in Bristol, TN, and pressed locally at Citizen Vinyl in Asheville NC. Vol. 1 is a band-oriented effort, while Vol. 2 features a more stripped- down sound with the addition of a string section.

Throughout the years Alan has shared the bill with the likes of: the Avett Brothers, Whiskeytown, John Doe, Tift Merrit, Old 97s, Drive By Truckers, Syd Straw, Freedy Johnston, Todd Snyder, Buddy and Julie Miller, The Blasters, Dave Alvin, Sierra Ferrell, Chris Smither and Jimbo Mathus, to name a few.