Folk singer and songwriter Edie Carey ’88, the 2019 Alumni Award recipient, has been touring and singing at festivals, colleges, and listening rooms across the U.S., Canada, and Europe, often performing alongside such other well-known artists as Sara Bareilles, Brandi Carlile, Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett, and Shawn Mullins.
On tour from her home base in Colorado, Edie stopped in at DCD in February to spend some time with students
in a couple of classes and to share her music with the whole community in an afternoon concert. Pulling songs
from her nine albums, Edie mesmerized the audience with her soulful voice, warmth, and humor.
In concert, she generally accompanies her songs on guitar, but on this occasion, she asked the audience if it
would be okay to switch to piano, which she has used to write her songs but never when performing. When the
song was over, she told the students, “It’s always fun to move out of your comfort zone and try new things!”
The students had some great questions to ask Edie about her career as a singer-songwriter: How many
songs in total had she written? 200. When and how does her inspiration come to her? Early morning, before her children arise. When did she start taking music lessons? piano just last year, singing during her DCD days, guitar in college. Where does she travel? across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. How long does it take her to write a song? about a week from start to finish.
Edie had the whole auditorium singing along in the last song of her set – even the normally reserved middle
schoolers jumped at the chance to join in!
