AJ Edwards

We get so many [Homegrown Showcase] artists. There has to be a certain level of quality and fit with The River sound. AJ Edwards has a good quality sound and the recordings sound professional.
- Rita Cary, On-Air Morning Host. 92.5 FM WXRV "The River"

Pursuing aspirations for a career in music can be an unforgiving and tough road to travel. However, it's a journey AJ Edwards is committed to completing. With the release of his first album, "Start Over the Moon," Edwards has marked significant progress on that path.
- Jill Diver, The Andovers Magazine

I was first introduced to AJ through his album, "Start Over the Moon" (released in 2008). Songs like "I'm Open," "Hannah" and "Perfectly Imperfect" are perfect radio pop tunes - and more recent sessions in LA with producer, Aaron Johnson (known for his work with The Fray), have resulted in a more pop/rock sound that just works like gangbusters. If Edwards stays on the course he's on, expect to hear even more amazing music by him in the future. Until then go to iTunes and download anything you can. You won't regret it.
- John Shea, Music Director. 95.9 FM WATD.

As fortuitous breaks go, AJ Edwards received a pretty major one when producer Aaron Johnson, best known for his work for piano-pop purveyors The Fray, agreed to take the Boston-born songwriter into a Hollywood studio to hammer out a few songs. Alongside engineer Warren Huart (Augustana, Howie Day) and a handpicked band of players (including veteran guitarist Tim Pierce), Edwards and Johnson recorded tracks that have become the nucleus of the new five-song EP Where The Rain Ricochets, released independently this past May and now set for a full national release September 23. Opening track (and free DC download) "I Love It All" sets the bar high from the very first moments, a glorious melody swaddled in luxurious layers of chiming guitars and a bass line that sound like it's emanating from somewhere deep in your chest. Where the Rain Ricochet's doesn't boldly reinvent as much as it does refine the happily mainstream pop/rock playbook on display, the result of a promising songwriter, a skilled producer and what's turned out to be a serendipitous collaboration. Full EP stream at Bandcamp. - Direct Current

Hailing from Boston, Massachusetts, AJ Edwards first picked up a guitar at age 16 and never put it down again. Years and many songs later, Where The Rain Ricochets is the end result. Produced by Aaron Johnson (tracks 1-3) and David Lefkowitz (tracks 4-5) and released May 11, 2012, the album consists of themes familiar to those who are fans of the singer-songwriter genre – songs of love, of loss, of life and the way all three come together in relationships.
Opening track “I Love It All” feels entirely appropriate with the title of the EP, because it’s one of those tunes that makes a person feel like gazing out a train window as the raindrops scatter across the glass as if in a travel-scene montage in a movie. The track offers an optimistic start to the five-track album, declaring, “In the state I’m in/I’m the best I’ve ever been/and I love it/I love it all.” It gives the album a positive start that will draw the listener in.
So what is to follow that positive affirmation? Next up is the mellow yet Daughtry-esque declaration of what it takes to stay in a relationship, aptly compared to an adrenaline rush with the title “Fight or Flight”. Lyrically, the verses on this track is one of the best on the album, expertly weaving metaphors about the state of the sun and the moon to the ebb and flow of relationships into simple statements (“With every bit of truth to your lies/ I will keep us together/ love is all we can make”) of affection, the whole thing just comes across as plaintively, refreshingly honest.
If you haven’t been living under a rock somewhere for the past 2 years or so, the first 8 seconds of “Let Down Your Guard” will lead you to believe you’re listening to a Michael Buble track about a lady he hasn’t met yet. But don’t be fooled – it is the third track on AJ Edwards’ EP. What follows is 3 minutes of one of the most adorable displays of trying to convince someone to let you love them that I’ve heard in quite some time.
“Holding On To You” is a rather confusing track – not in and of itself, mind you – because it’s a little bit country where the first two tracks are a little bit rock’n’roll. The track itself is well-executed, but its placement on this EP comes across as a bit inappropriate, which may dilute the ability of the listener to fully invest in the song. The same lyric, melody and even vocal styling may have been better served placed over the same type of soft-rock layering the previous tracks.
Finally, the EP finishes out with the slow-paced ballad “Near Sight”, that sounds and feels for all the world like the end of a long journey. While the other tracks all have a highly optimistic edge to them, this one feels a bit more desperate – like the difference between falling into new love and deciding to fight one more time for the love you’ve had – for the love that’s “been here all along”.
When you’re putting an EP out, as opposed to a more comprehensive full-length, a logical goal would seem to be presenting the best examples of who you feel you are as a musician, and unfortunately this EP doesn’t quite manage to hit that mark. However, what this album lacks in cohesive styling, it makes up for in good feelings – because if chilled-out contemporary singer-songwriter tunes are your cup of tea, then this might be just the brew for you. - The Sound Alarm

Singer/songwriter AJ Edwards has released his new EP, “Where the Rain Ricochets,” to much fan and critical acclaim. The extended play record features approximately twenty minutes of music from Edwards in five tracks, making this a fairly sizeable EP album. The music itself is a reassurance, rather than a departure from, Edwards’ emerging personal style as a writer, musician, and performer. This is Edwards’ first radio-ready record since his 2008 full-length album, “Start Over the Moon.”

Music by AJ Edwards is passionate without being over-emotional, talented without being pretentious, and extremely easy on the ears. He writes chord progressions like an old pro, drawing from tried-and-true combinations that have been in circulation since the guitar was just a lute, while at the same time retaining a few tricks of his own that seem to come from nowhere just when you least expect them, throwing the odd minor chord among his usual majors for that perfect, edgy tone, and switching up his strum pattern when the traditionalists aren’t looking. That’s not to say Edwards isn’t a traditionalist – “Where the Rain Ricochets” is gorgeously traditional musicianship from a modern, American, male singer/songwriter, making Edwards part of a musical genre that adds fewer and fewer members to its ranks every decade.

Edwards’ personal taste has much to do with his lyrical themes and overall tone, as well. He names U2, the Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Jeff Buckley, and Tom Petty among others as major influences.He particularly appreciates the music of Richard Marx. “I really just try to convey my love for great songwriting and personal themes,” says Edwards of his writing. “Someone like Richard Marx, who just writes these absolutely timeless songs that everyone can relate to – that’s the kind of artist I hope to someday be.” With tracks like these from “Where the Rain Ricochets,” as well as much professional backing from experts like Aaron Johnson (multi-platinum producer behind the Fray who engineered three of the tracks on “Where the Rain…”), AJ Edwards is not likely to keep out of the mainstream long. - Music Industry News

Few people could rival AJ’s performance last night in Alemaker’s Hall, upstairs from Redhook [Brewery]’s Cataqua Public House. The atmosphere he brought to the room was without a doubt what made the event enjoyable for all the business partners and [Green Alliance] members in attendance. - Green Alliance