Jonathan Edwards

Calvin Theatre (19 King St, Northampton MA 01060)

Music

Doors: 5:30pm Show: 7pm

 

Warm as summer sunshine, real as the truth, intimate as a long overdue visit between old friends … such is a Jonathan Edwards concert.  Four decades into a stellar career of uncompromising musical integrity, the man simply delivers, night after night – songs of passion, songs of insight, songs of humor, all rendered in that pure and powerful tenor which, like fine wine, has only grown sweeter with age.

This is one veteran performer who is neither grizzled nor nostalgic.  These days Jonathan is likely to be found on the road. I’ve been…doing what I do best, which is playing live in front of people. I’ve been concentrating on that and loving it,” he says.

An artist who measures his success by his ability to attract and take good care of an audience for four decades, Jonathan maintains that it is the feedback he receives after his shows that keeps him going.  “It is really gratifying to hear [someone say], ‘Your stuff has meant a lot to me over the years.’”

The “stuff” he’s referring to is a highly respected repertoire that includes such classics as “Honky Tonk Stardust Cowboy,” “Sometimes,” “One Day Closer,” “Don’t Cry Blue,” “Emma,”  “Everybody Knows Her,” “Athens County,” and everyone’s favorite ode to putting a good buzz on, “Shanty.”  And then, of course, there’s the anthemic “Sunshine (Go Away Today),” that fierce proclamation of protest and independence that resonated with thousands and thousands of frustrated and angry young men and women when it was first released in 1971.  Almost 40 years later, at show after show, the song continues to be embraced by faithful followers and new fans alike.


Jonathan Edwards (born July 28, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter and musician best known for his 1971 hit single "Sunshine". Jonathan Edwards was born July 28, 1946 in Aitkin, Minnesota, United States. At the age of six, he moved with his family to Virginia where he grew up. At the age of eight, he began singing in church and learning to play piano by ear. While attending military school, he began playing guitar and composing his own songs.