SONG OF THE DAY

“Sunshine” by Jonathan Edwards (Jonathan Edwards, Capricorn Records, 1971).

INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)

– “Sunshine” is a country folk war protest song from 1971 by Jonathan Edwards, released as the first single from his debut album Jonathan Edwards.

–  “Sunshine” was released as a single and caught fire first on Boston radio, then nationwide, hitting #4 on the Billboard pop chart on January 15, 1972 and earning a gold record.

– Here’s Edwards’ take on its success: “It was just at the time of the Vietnam War and Nixon. It was looking bad out there. That song meant a lot to a lot of people during that time–especially me.”

– In 1980, Grammy-winning singer Juice Newton scored a Top-40 hit on the Billboard Country chart with her version of “Sunshine”.

– Susanna Hoffs (of the Bangles) recorded a version of the song for her first solo album in 1991, but the cut did not get chosen for the final pressing and remains unreleased.

– A remake of Sunshine was released by 18-year-old pop-folk artist Josh Thompson on April 22, 2007. The new version, featuring vocals by Jonathan Edwards, reached #29 on the Radio & Records’ Hot A/C Indicator chart.

– Jonathan Edwards recorded and released a bluegrass version of “Sunshine” (along with an entire album) with the band “The Seldom Scene.”

– The Isley Brothers also cut a version of this song; it may be found on their 3+3 album.

– Jonathan Edwards, originally from Minnesota, is an artist, musician, folk singer, songwriter and performer, perhaps best known for his crossover folk singles “Sunshine” and “Shanty”.

– Edwards’s music career began in high school during the 1960s. When interviewed about his early music career he recalled, “I started on a $29 guitar and immediately started putting a band together, writing songs and learning all the contemporary folk songs of the time. I just loved it, loved everything about it, loved being in front of people playing music.”

– Edwards studied art in college at Ohio University but dropped out before graduating, and became involved in the Boston music scene.

- He was booked to open for acts such as the Allman Brothers Band and B.B. King, and he signed with Capricorn Records.

– Of his debut album: “We took about a year recording the first album – different times, different studios, different sounds, different techniques”, he says. “Recording was so new in ’69 and ’70. There was a song on the album called ‘Please Find Me’, and for some reason the engineer rolled over it. It got erased. We spent hours looking for it. We fired the engineer and put “Sunshine” in its place.”

– “I just went out in the woods every day with my bottle of wine and guitar, sat by a lake near Boston and wrote down all those tunes, day after day.”

– A film, The Golden Boys (2008), starring Bruce Dern, David Carradine, Charles Durning, Mariel Hemingway, and Rip Torn, also included Edwards as Reverend Perley. It is a romantic comedy set on Cape Cod in 1905. In addition to acting, Edwards scored the film.

LINKS

Click here for Jonathan Edwards’ official website!