So, I definitely forgot to post this until just now. :/  But yes, tomorrow night I’ll be playing at Family Worship Center in Lansdale, PA, at 6 pm! (check out familyworshipcenter.org for directions)

Get it, get it?  July?  You lie?  “Why did you lie to me?”  “Why did July to me???”  Hahaha?  Yes?  No?  It was the only clever July-related title that I could think of off the top of my head.  Not that every post title has to be clever…or related…and granted, it has absolutely nothing to do with anything (other than the fact that July is upon us)…and it sounds like a line out of a soap opera…  Okay.  Nevermind.  So I’m weird.  And corny.  Moving on..

So yes, July IS upon us, and I can barely believe it!  The EP has been out and about for a little over a month now.  Thanks to all you fine folk who bought it so far!  I sincerely hope you enjoy it.

I am not a super-frequent, every-week kind of blogger (as you can tell).  Nor do I twitter.  (I have successfully avoided that bandwagon thus far.)  However, I do enjoy reading blogs and occasionally I will check other people’s twitters.  I love reading Brooke Fraser’s blog and Bethany Dillon’s blog…and even…once in a while…yes…Taylor Swift’s.  (Confession: I am a Taylor Swift fan.  There.  I said it.  Out loud.  For the longest time I denied liking her music because I deemed her to be “too country/pop/teenybopper” for my tastes.  Buuuuut…I can’t deny that she’s a really good songwriter and her music is fun and catchier than all get out.  And yes, if her songs come on the radio, I do turn them up and sing along…call it a guilty pleasure.)  Anyways.  Check them out.  They’re pretty amusing (to me, at least).

Okay, what was I saying?!?!  Sorry this is such a scattered blog.  Alright.  So, anyways, sometimes I go through phases of really liking an artist and admiring their songwriting and whatnot, so much so that I start comparing theirs with my own, and then I get really bummed.  Case in point: currently, Taylor Swift.  I think it’s because a few days ago I caught her music video for “You Belong With Me“…and realized that the “unrequited love” theme is much like the theme in my own “It Was Me“.  It’s “It Was Me” minus New York City, plus a cute, oh-so-relatable high school scenario.  I really like “You Belong With Me”.  It’s catchy, fun, catchy, tells a good story…and did I say catchy?  So, for the past few days, I was feeling like “It Was Me” was not-so-great and, well, kind of boring and bland in comparison.  Which got me thinking that perhaps I need to tweak my overall style a bit.

And then I realized that this is just another phase.  You see, I have my moments of wanting to change everything and only write deep, significant, if-the-Anthropologie-store-were-a-music-style-it-would-be-this, Brooke Fraser-esque kind of songs.  And then I have my moments of wanting to write the sweet, folksy-but-not-too-folksy, spiritually uplifting Bethany Dillon-ish songs.  And now, the fun, catchy, blast-it-in-my-radio-while-driving-on-a-summer-day songs of Taylor Swift.  Moments where I wish I was more artistic, more descriptive, more metaphorical, more straight-forward, cleverer, vaguer, clearer, quirkier, poppier, rockier, acoustic-ier…

Now, please realize that I do occasionally ok, pretty often, try to write songs in the different styles of artists that I like.  I think it’s a good exercise.  It helps diversify me as a writer.  In fact, I think it helps me develop my own style (which, honestly, I’m still trying to figure out what that is) by fleshing out what I do and don’t like about certain genres while still tending to have hints of “me” peppered throughout it anyways.  (Wow.  Run-on sentence, anyone?) It’s also fun, and I enjoy a challenge like that.

The point is this: I can try to write in a different style for songwriting exercises and for my own amusement.  But I cannot, nor should I, be a different style because it’s what catches my ear at that moment or because I sillily compare myself to other people.  The whole reason why I like Brooke Fraser, Bethany Dillon, and Taylor Swift (and others) in the first place is because they are uniquely them.  They each fill a musical niche for me.  I am not Brooke Fraser.  I am not Bethany Dillon.  I am not Taylor Swift.  I am not Regina Spektor (she’s another fave of mine, too.).  I am not Chris Martin (I dig him, too).  I am just….me.  Kim Edwards.  Me.  Whatever that is, I am it.  Lacking or full, I am she.  Me.

So, I guess I really shouldn’t be bummed about “It Was Me”.  Hone my songwriting skills?  Definitely.  Wish I was someone else?  Nah.  Whatever gifts/skills God wired into me, I am pretty sure He meant them to form me, not to form me into {insert artist name here}.

So that’s my epiphany for the week.  “That’s it?!?” you say.  “That’s what I read 800-some words for?!?”  Yep.  Pretty much.  Kudos to you for reading all this.  Go grab yourself a cookie.  You earned it. 

P.S.  I think this post has the most links I’ve ever inserted into a post.  In case you were anxiously wondering about that.

I thought so.

Hello you wonderful people

I just wanted to let you know that the EP is now available on iTunes!! YAY!!! It’s also available on Amazon.com, Napster, Lala, GreatIndieMusic, Tradebit, Spotify, and Didiom…and of course, on cdbaby.com, too. (By the way…Cdbaby.com, iTunes, and Amazon all have ‘write-a-review’ options on their sites…hint, hint, nudge, nudge, wink, wink… )

Thank you soooo much to everyone who’s bought/downloaded the album so far. I just sent CD Baby more cds because they already ran out of stock and have a waiting list, which is a BEAUTIFUL thing!! So THANK YOU!!!

And one more piece of great news: a few songs from the EP are getting some airplay on He’s Alive Radio based out of Grantsville, Maryland!!    God never ceases to amaze me…He opens up these doors that I had no idea even existed!!

Oh my goodness, it was a busy last week, but the WONDERFUL kind of busy!  I flew to North Dakota to play at River of Life Church International.  It was quite a trip!  Between canceled, delayed, and/or missed flights, I got to take a mini-tour of various airports in the midwest as I got shuffled around.    But I eventually made it to North Dakota!  I had a great time visiting friends up there, though the first few days were rough due to pollen in the air…i.e. I was sneezing my face off.  However, a random snow shower blew in on Saturday, killed the pollen, and I felt sooo much better!  My hosts told me that it hadn’t snowed in June in North Dakota in about 60 years.  But what a God-send that snow was…it was so nice to be able to breathe normally and not sneeze every five minutes!!  (And the snow was perfect timing, considering I was supposed to sing the next morning)  Anyways, I had a great time playing at the church on Sunday.  The pastor and the people were soooo kind, too.  North Dakota has my stamp of approval.

BAM!  The digital distribution on cdbaby.com is up and running!  Go buy & download it!

Sound the trumpets!  Send forth the heralds!  The cd is officially released!  I am also so happy to say that it has been released in the month of May…even if it’s the last day, it was always a goal to have it out before another month passed by.  And now it’s finally available on cdbaby.com….more specifically, http://cdbaby.com/cd/kimedwards !!  As of right now (Sunday evening), it seems to be available only on cd on cdbaby.com, but I believe digital distribution (i.e. buy and download it) should be kicking in later this week.  And it will be on iTunes in the next few weeks.

I’ll be flying out to North Dakota next week to play a song or two at River of Life International Church, Dickinson, ND, on June 7, 2009 at the 10 a.m. service.  Good stuff!

The cds are here (they actually came last week, but I was so stinkin’ overjoyed that I forgot to update it on here) and they look GREAT!!  My brother, Jason, did a wonderful job on the design, and Nationwide Disc delivered a great-looking final product.  Anyways, it is a huge thrill to be able to finally hold my own cd in my hands.

The EP will be available on cdbaby.com hopefully by next week, and it will be on iTunes hopefully within the next few weeks.

Well, it’s nearly 5:30 a.m., and I am still not asleep.  Why, you ask?  Because…THE CDS ARE COMING TOMORROW (well, technically, TODAY!!!)!!!   The long-awaited, highly anticipated (by me) EP is finally done and about to grace my doorstep with its presence.  NationWide Disc (the cd duplication company) emailed me the UPS tracking number earlier today, and I have been tracking it like a half-starved hawk.  And now I am a half-starved, wide-awake hawk.

I can barely believe that in a few hours I will be holding a cd in my hands.  It may not be a big deal to you, but oooohhh if you only knew!  This “simple” little 4-song project has been 2 years in the making.  Pretty much everything that could be delayed…was delayed.  Just when you thought everything was good to go, BAM! ya get thwacked by the Murphy’s-Law-stick.  It was almost comical (emphasis on the “almost”).  And so now…to finally have accomplished something, to have finally FINISHED the darn thing…well, you wouldn’t be able to sleep, either!

Proverbs 13:12 says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is the tree of life.”  Apparently, it is also a Red-Bull-sized jolt of caffeine.

Feel free to stop by the National Day of Prayer Youth & Young Adult Night of Prayer on Friday, May 8, 2009, at 8:00 pm.  It’s going to be held at Third Day Worship Center, 1700 Hanover Ave., Allentown, PA.  It ought to be a great night of corporate prayer and worship!