Folk singer and songwriter Edie Carey ’88 returned to the DCD stage for a special concert on Monday, February 25th. Since 1999, Edie 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 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 shared with the audience that while she used the piano to write her songs, she never took formal lessons until about a year ago and asked if it would be alright for her to sing one of her songs (a lullaby she wrote for her son) while playing the piano. She also admitted that she was feeling very nervous about it! 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 US, 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! Thank you, Edie, for gracing our stage again. DCD students and teachers love it when alumni come home!
Follow Edie on Facebook.
