Jillian Edwards Shares Thoughts About Songwriting and Her EP, ‘Meadow’

Jillian Edwards, In Her Own Words:

Ten years ago I moved to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue the only thing I ever imagined myself doing – singing my songs. I had spent my college years driving around Texas playing shows, recording music, sharing songs and stories with my peers. The process was pure and simple: write songs that my heart needed to write, and release them. Fast forward a decade later and I’ve taken a lengthy yet beautiful walk through all sorts of songwriting seasons and processes to land right back at that simple approach. This is what has brought me to release Meadow, my first EP of original work in over five years.       

Writing the songs that comprise Meadow has felt a bit like I’ve found my old neighborhood playground. With the necessary contribution from cowriters I admire, I’ve remembered how it feels to write songs simply for the purpose of my own soul-need. To process truths in melodies because I need to process them that way. I know these slides and ladders. I recognize these swings. During the last five years, I’m grateful to have partnered with Concord Music Publishing to grow and explore new territory as a songwriter. With a focus on TV and film, I’ve spent the majority of my creative attention stepping into character roles and set themes, exploring genres and melodies outside of my norm. I’ve been stretched, challenged, and marked by incredible cowriters and producers who have created alongside me. This season of songwriting has opened up doors to new musical worlds for me – it’s a whole new city full of playgrounds I had never thought to play on before. These compiled experiences and overall approach to songwriting has shown me things I didn’t know I could do before, and equally as valuable – it has taught me how to recognize and embrace my limits.

It’s this exposure to songwriting outside of my “norm” that has made coming back to the basics of my youngest, purest songwriting process all the more satisfying. The years of life in between have given me a fresh pallet; I’m returning home with new colors to paint with, new things to say. Hues and shades I wouldn’t known how to use had I not gone out exploring. Meadow is not based on a character I have to try to relate to – it’s based on experiences from my own story, my own faith – words my own soul clings to. My view of God and my experience of his love has become the center of my personal writing – I can’t not see Him through the lens of my marriage, motherhood, and music. I’m enjoying the freedom in expressing the contents of my heart with no filter and no agenda, yet with new seasons of life under my belt. This is why Meadow feels like my truest, deepest project to date – it was written by both the wide-eyed 19 year old who moved to Music City and the tired toddler mama who has settled down here. 

If you like Jillian Edwards and want to support her music, here is a smartlink.