Soulful music tunes up weekend

Photo Provided

Nashville musician J Edwards will be performing in Poplar Bluff at Haff Whiskey Saloon at 7 p.m. Friday, March 24, and at Haffys at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 25.

Edwards is known in the Nashville area, where he has been playing his original music for the past seven years.

Edwards said he was introduced to music very early in life.

“I started with my mom and dad,” he said. “They traveled and sang and preached. My dad was an evangelist and they both played music, so as soon as I could stand up and hold a microphone they had me up singing.”

In a description of Edwards and his music, he is described as what a grizzly bear would sound like if it could sing.

When asked what instruments he played, Edwards responded, “I don’t play the trombone… or the flute,” he laughed but went on to say that he had successfully tried his hand at almost every instrument at some point in his life. “I’ve taken a turn on everything else, all kinds of horns, bass, guitar and drums, keys. I mainly play guitar now and I played harmonica for many years.”

Edwards self-describes his sound as a soulful mix.

“Merle Haggard, Bob Seger and Joe Cocker, well, if you put all those guys in a box and shook it up, what we say nowadays is, it’s kind of like Chris Stapletons’ older uncle,” he laughed again, adding he did not know Stapleton personally, but was a fan of his work.

“When I first came to Nashville, they said you got too much soul and too much blues in your voice, but you got people like T. Graham Brown and go way back in country and there was even Hank Sr., those old blues songs just had a twang to it, so they called it country, but most of those songs were just old blues songs that he learned on the front porch,” said Edwards.

Some of his songs, he said, are simple songs that are, “kind of rockin’ songs so the band could jam a little, people could get out of their seats, not the most prolific thing I’ve written, but it gets people moving, and sometimes you feel like you got something to say. I got plenty of those songs too.”

Edwards has upcoming shows in Nashville and Mississippi, and is also making a trip to Louisiana soon to be with friend and fellow musician John Schneider for his birthday.

“Then, we’re heading out to Texas. We’ll be playing in the hill country out there in Texas and in the New Braunfels area. Then, we come back through south Arkansas and play my hometown of Eldorado,” explained Edwards.

For more information on Edwards, to sample his music or see where his upcoming performances are, visit his website at www.jedwardsmusic.net. Tickets for either of the upcoming Poplar Bluff shows are $10 and can still be purchased at eventbrite.com.