Celebrating Stoney Edwards

If you’ve never heard the song “Cute Lil Waitress” then you don’t know the simple fun and joy of Stoney Edwards’ contribution to country music. Living among the legends of yesterday, Stoney Edwards was an often overlooked stellar songwriter who couldn’t get a fair shake if he tried. Now the music industry is doing its’ best to rectify that oversight.

Stoney Edwards on Country Music News Blog

Though the Cliff Notes version of the Stoney Edwards story portrays him as country music’s other Black star of the 70’s, his heritage was even more complex than that. Though his dad Rescue “Bub” Edwards was Black, he also had Irish in his blood. Stoney’s mother Ollie “Red” Edwards was Native American. Born on Christmas Eve 1929 in Seminole County, Oklahoma, Stoney once told historian Peter Guralnick, “I was never really accepted by any race. Sometimes I wished I was black as a skillet or white as a damned sheet, but the way I am it’s always been a motherf***er.”

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Stoney Edwards’ personal story filled with the struggle, grit, courage and heart is what  has long been the basis for songs that have shaped country music. He was among the early black country music artists to find success and the first black country singer-songwriter signed to Capitol Nashville in the 1970s. With 2022 marking the 25th year since his passing, UMG Nashville/UMe concludes Black Music Month and honors Stoney Edwards with the streaming debut of all six of his acclaimed 1971-1976 Capitol Records’ albums. Down Home In The Country, A Country Singer, Stoney Edwards, She’s My Rock, Mississippi You’re On My Mind and Blackbird have been remastered from original analog tapes.

Stoney Edwards had 15 charting singles across his six Capitol Records albums and two top-20 hits “She’s My Rock” and “Mississippi You’re On My Mind,” available to stream/download here: https://stoneyedwards.lnk.to/Stream

Although his country music career began later in life, Stoney Edwards brought classic twang to his deeply personal lyrics such as “last night a two dollar toy made a million dollar daddy out of me,” the opening track and his first single, “A Two Dollar Toy,” from his debut album, A Country Singer. Also from his debut, “A Few of the Reasons” is a romantic ode with “Your love was there when everything else was gone….”

Hailed by critics from Nashville to London, The Nashville Scene praised him as “A wonderful country vocalist and a highly entertaining songwriter who tirelessly beat the bushes on Music Row in the early and mid-’70s. His style interspersed bits of Lefty Frizzell, Merle Haggard, and Hank Williams with his deep, coarse, yet ingratiating delivery.” The Guardian stated, “the former trucker’s recordings were regarded as crying-into-your-beer classics.…” In addition, country stalwart Billy Ray Cyrus, who narrated a new video about Stoney Edwards, said “I was captivated and mesmerized by this story. He opened the door for so many great talents to follow their dreams in country music. “

Discover Stoney Edwards, HERE: https://stoneyedwards.lnk.to/Stream

Stoney Edwards — Down Home In The Country [Digital]

  1. Dixie Boy
  2. Mama’s Old Quilt
  3. Saturday Night
  4. Our Garden of Love
  5. Good To Have You Home
  6. You’ll Remember Me
  7. Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt
  8. The Fishing Song
  9. Odd-job Dollar-Bill Man
  10. Don’t Be Angry

Stoney Edwards — A Country Singer [Digital]

  1. Poor Folks Stick Together
  2. A Two Dollar Toy
  3. An Old Mules Hip
  4. Bring Home a Bottle
  5. Mama’s Love
  6. The Cute Little Waitress
  7. Something New and Different
  8. I Bought the Shoes that Just Walked Out on Me
  9. A Few of the Reasons
  10. You Stayed Long Enough (To Make Me Love You)

Stoney Edwards — Stoney Edwards [Digital]

  1. All She Made of Me
  2. Daddy Did His Best
  3. She Believed in Me
  4. A Kingdom I Call Home
  5. Tell Me That You Love Me
  6. What Made You Change You’re Mind
  7. You Can’t Call Yourself Country
  8. Why Don’t You Go Home
  9. I Don’t Believe I’ll Fall in Love Today
  10. I Won’t Make it Through The Day

Stoney Edwards — She’s My Rock [Digital]

  1. You’re Still a Believer
  2. Sunshine Feeling
  3. She’s Helping Me get Over You
  4. Fishin’ Song
  5. Two Dollar Toy
  6. She’s My Rock
  7. I’ve Got Mine
  8. Honky Tonk Heaven
  9. You Stayed Long Enough
  10. Something New And Different

Stoney Edwards — Mississippi You’re On Mind [Digital]

  1. Mississippi You’re On My Mind
  2. Hank and Lefty Raised My Country Soul
  3. The Cute Little Waitress
  4. We Sure Danced Us Some Good Uns
  5. Jeweldene Turner (The World Needs To Hear You Sing)
  6. Rollin’ In Your Sweet Sunshine
  7. We’re Learning How To Smile Again
  8. She’s My Rock
  9. A Two Dollar Toy
  10. Summer Melodies

Stoney Edwards — Blackbird [Digital]

  1. I Want (The Real Thing)
  2. Yankee Lady
  3. Holdin’ To Myself
  4. Blackbird (Hold Your Head High)
  5. Pickin’ Wildflowers
  6. Love Still Makes The World Go Round
  7. Head Bootlegger Man
  8. July 12, 1939
  9. Don’t Give Up On Me
  10. Bird On A Wire

SOURCE Universal Music Enterprises

About Shauna "WhiskeyChick" Castorena

Shauna "WhiskeyChick" Castorena is a freelance writer for both Country Music News and Country Music On Tour. Want to collab on some content? Email me. Want my rates for commercial promo work outside of music? Get them right here.