Kathleen Edwards takes Massey Hall, not by storm but by perseverance

REVIEW Kathleen Edwards takes Massey Hall, not by storm but by perseverance BRAD WHEELER PUBLISHED 1 HOUR AGO Open this photo in gallery: Kathleen Edwards performs onstage during the 25th Annual Americana Honors & Awards at Ryman Auditorium on Wednesday in Nashville, Tennessee. TERRY WYATT/GETTY IMAGES COMMENTS SHARE SAVE FOR LATER Listen to this article Learn more about audio Log in or create a free account to listen to this article. Kathleen Edwards released her first album nearly a quarter-century ago, was nominated for Songwriter of the Year at the Juno Awards for the first time way back in 2004 and once took a long hiatus from the music business to open a coffee shop in suburban Ottawa. That she called the place “Quitters” is an example of her acerbic humour and not an indication of her character. Clearly, because the folk-rock singer-songwriter finally made her Massey Hall headlining debut on Friday, at the age of 48. There is no quit in her, and none in her fans either. “I think there are a lot of people in the room tonight who I love a lot, and a lot of people who love me,” she said early in the 17-song performance. The red-haired spitfire took the stage a few seconds behind her crack five-piece band to warm applause. The Fleetwood Mac song Everywhere, written and sung by Christine McVie, played on the house PA system as she arrived: “I’ll speak a little louder, I’ll even shout / You know that I’m proud and I can’t get the words out.” The music of Edwards falls under the general heading of roots rock or, in today’s jargon, Americana. She played a fiddle more than once. Her high, silvery soprano voice excelled in the tender ballads (such as the heartbreaking A Soft Place to Land) and stood up to the heartland rock of When the Truth Comes Out, off her latest album, Billionaire. From the archives: Singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards is back to making music after a six-year coffee break I imagine she’s been compared to Sarah Harmer over the years. They share a taste for evocative melodies and excellent guitarists. At Massey, Gord Tough, who has played with Harmer in the past, showed a knack for electric solos that were equal parts wicked and empathetic. There’s a tinge of melancholy to Edwards’s delivery even when she rocks. A fan of John Prine, she is able to be clever and sad simultaneously: “You can get blisters from your favourite shoes,” she sang on Say Goodbye, Tell No One, also from Billionaire. The title track to the album is an…