Madeline Edwards stopped by The Bobby Bones Show to talk about how Billion Dollar Buyer Tilman Fertitta helped get her start playing music live, how she went from jazz to country music, perform some covers and more!
Madeline Edwards has a unique sound. Her music is a mix of jazz meets country. She grew up in Santa Barbara, California before moving to Houston, Texas when she started high school. The move to Houston was when she started to pursue a career in music. That’s when she met Billion Dollar Buyer Tilman Fertitta after he heard her sing and loved her sound. She became a full-time musician at his restaurant/lounge Mastro’s, where he let her play for thousands of hours to help cut her teeth performing live. She enjoyed it because it forced her to learn how to play certain songs on the spot, and if she did, she’d usually get tipped $100. She credits that to helping her pay her way through college.
Edwards has only lived in Nashville for two years and says it’s starting to feel like home. Since arriving in Nashville she certainly has wasted no time climbing the musical ladder. She made her Grand Ole Opry debut in August of 2022, where she received a standing ovation and was part of the opening act for Chris Stapleton’s All American Road Show tour that summer. She ended 2022 by releasing her debut album, Crashlanded. When she looks back on that she calls it a fog cause so much happened. At her Opry debut she felt overwhelmed but excited. Her family, husband and in-laws were in the crowd to support her. She was grateful to be getting to live a moment that not a lot of people get to experience.
Edwards may be considered an up-and-coming artist, but she’s been doing music her whole life. She learned to play piano at four but hated it at first. It wasn’t until she was 15 and realized she could write songs about her life that she started to enjoy playing. She wrote her first song when she was 10, a jazz inspired song called “All I Need,” and started playing in jazz bars at 14. At first she was just playing in those bars to help her family keep the lights on. She explained how she came from a big family in a poor situation, so the tips she’d make playing she’d use to help her family. When she found out she could make money doing something she loved, that’s when she decided she wanted to do music professionally.
Edwards is preparing for a big year. She’s getting ready to go on the road with Ingrid Andress on her The Good Person tour. Later this year she’s also playing a bunch of music festivals for the first time, like C2C, Stagecoach and Watershed.
She will also be performing at Bobby Bones and The Raging Idiots Million Dollar Show at the Ryman Auditorium on February 21.
While in studio, Edwards performed her songs “The Wolves,” “Hold My Horses,” and a cover of Etta James “At Last.”