The 29-year-old Texan, an old-school chanteuse with a
contemporary lilt, has funded production of her second album via
a community workshop and through crowd-sourcing, essentially
getting the people who like her to pay for it.

The album, “Way Down Low”, has now been picked up by Sony
which is “launching” the singer outside the United States as an
up-and-comer in a more traditional manner.

It is a far cry from her first album, which Edmonson simply
charged to her credit card.

“Go into debt and pay it back (was the idea),” the singer
told Reuters in an interview after performing at a church in
central London.

The 2009 album was relatively successful and she garnered
enough attention to appear with Lyle Lovett on Jay Leno’s “The
Tonight Show” on U.S. television but she was still pretty
strapped for cash. So her second album came about differently.

First, she hooked up with METAlliance, a U.S. community
foundation of established music producers and audio engineers
who record artists they like for free, and paid for by having
music fans come in to watch how they did it.

After that, however, Edmonson needed to pay for the music to
be mixed. She wanted it done by Al Schmitt, whose credits
include working with Frank Sinatra, Henry Mancini, Barbra
Streisand, Diana Krall and a host of jazz and rock greats.

So Edmonson put a video of her work on the crowd-sourcing
website Kickstarter, offering incentives ranging from future
downloads to performances at private parties in exchange for
funding pledges.

“I raised $50,000,” she said, and watched the album rise in
the United States to No. 1 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart for
new or developing acts.

SENSIBLE SHOES AND DRINKING

Edmonson doesn’t call herself a jazz singer, but only out of
modesty. She says she would be loathe to so link herself to the
greats of the genre.

“I would be (embarrassed) to enter into a room full of scat
singers,” she said, referring to the jazz technique of using the
voice as an improvised musical instrument.

Instead, she simply says she sings the “American Songbook” -
a catalogue of generally mid-20th century songs, many from
musicals. She sings them with a soft, enchanting voice that is
full of expression – and jazzy, whether she likes it or not.

The traditional songbook style is on display throughout
“Way Down Low”, particularly on the tracks “Champagne” and “I’m
Not In Love”, which include witty lyrics about never drinking
again and about going through life wearing “entirely sensible
shoes”.

But it also includes a couple of more contemporary tunes in
“I Don’t Know” and “Lucky”, which are closer to something a
muted Adele or Duffy might come up with.

The latter song has already made its mark in the United
States. It has been sold for television, film and commercials
and is on the soundtrack of the Tina Fey comedy film “Admission”
that was released in March.

In Europe, Edmonson is planning concerts in Germany and
Britain and then is scheduled to perform in July at the Montreux
Jazz Festival on the same bill as George Benson.

(Reporting by Jeremy Gaunt, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)

Tribute singers, car and cough syrup advertisements, radio and film documentaries, and word of mouth have combined over time to turn Drake from unheralded 1970s musician into modern-day music lore.

Now a new CD of Drake’s songs covered by other artists and a remastered boxed vinyl of one of his few albums are set to add to the phenomenon and put his haunting, poetic music into the spotlight.

Joe Boyd, who produced Drake’s records, says the musician’s appeal has been a real slow burner, moving from aficionado to aficionado and even between lovers.

“People would go out together. After a few days they would play Nick Drake to their new friend, making clear ‘If you don’t get this, the relationship doesn’t go very far’,” he told Reuters.

“It is music which was out of step with its time. As years go by, people see the richness and depth of what he was doing.”

Drake’s heyday, such as it was, was in the late ’60s and early ’70s when he dropped out of Cambridge University despite a scholarship and went on to make three albums – “Five Leaves Left” (1969), “Bryter Layter” (1970) and “Pink Moon” (1972).

There was also a quintet of songs recorded shortly before his death from an overdose of antidepressants in 1974, aged 26. It is never been resolved if his death was accidental or suicide.

CHAMPIONED BY OTHER ARTISTS

Over the years his influence has grown, championed by artists such as Paul Weller and with a radio documentary about Drake presented by actor Brad Pitt, a big fan of the musician.

His music is rich with lyrics such as: “Time has told me/You came with the dawn/A soul with no footprint/A rose with no thorn/Your tears they tell me/There’s really no way/Of ending your troubles/With things you can say”.

Most recently, his second album, “Bryter Layter”, has been remastered for a vinyl presentation set, containing posters and other trivia.

The original master tape was unusable so a “safety” tape made by the engineer, John Wood, at the time was used instead.

Producer Boyd, meanwhile, has done his bit to drive the interest along, first putting together concerts of artists singing Drake songs and now releasing a CD from them – “Way to Blue – The Songs of Nick Drake”.

“We tried to choose artists who don’t sound like Nick Drake,” he said.

It features folk and rock singers along the lines of Teddy Thompson, Vashti Bunyan, Green Gartside, Scott Matthews, and Danny Thompson – each giving their own twist to Drake’s work.

“It’s good music and good music is hard to find these days,” said Paris-based U.S. chanteuse Krystle Warren, who is featured on the CD.

Her rendition of “Time Has Told Me” is decidedly more throaty and soaring than Drake’s original, which is not surprising given Warren’s roots.

“It really felt like what I grew up with – gospel music,” she said.

(Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)