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Chasing Butterflies Bio

"The story of my life's written on my skin," sings Edward David Anderson on the devilishly sardonic “Bad Tattoos” from his soon to be released Chasing Butterflies (Black Dirt Records - Oct. 19, 2018). The song, like the artist, is brutally honest and has a worn feel; like it's coming from someone that has been around and put in the miles. "I don't think I could have written these tunes when I was 25," Anderson explains. "Everything I've done, the people I've met, all the places I've been, have brought me to this moment." 

The gifted songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who spent a decade fronting the revered Midwest rock band Backyard Tire Fire, broke away and released his ambitious debut Lies & Wishes (produced by Steve Berlin of Los Lobos) in 2014. The album was lauded "a superb solo effort" by No Depression while David Dye (NPR World Cafe) praised the follow-up Lower Alabama: The Loxley Sessions as "a wonderfully soulful record." 

Both releases were significant steps forward for EDA, but with Chasing Butterflies there is a feeling of arrival. Absorbing and learning and growing through life experience has clearly refined his ability to write about the human condition. And working in the iconic Shoals region of north Alabama with GRAMMY Award winner Jimmy Nutt (SteelDrivers) at his NuttHouse Recording Studio proved to be a stunningly sublime collaboration. 

Diverging from past recordings Anderson used local session musicians for his backing band. “I felt the way to get the most authentic Shoals sound was to play with people who live and work there,” he said. Nutt brought in Jon Davis (drums), Brad Kuhn (keys), Todd Beene (pedal steel), and Kimi Samson (violin) and the chemistry was instant. Like many before him, Anderson bet on the Shoals and won.

From the hopeful opening lyric, "It's a beautiful thing/when two people sing/in harmony," to the haunting title track's "There's a restlessness I guess/I'm uneasy I confess," EDA takes you on a vast & colorful musical journey. You get the feeling he's lived these songs. That the sleepless nights, the long drives, and the never ending search fuel the fire that keeps Edward David Anderson out there Chasing Butterflies.