Charleston City Paper

Chris Haire

When long-time Philly-based country folkster Paul Edelman decided the time had come to leave the Keystone State, he set his sights on the singer-songwriter capital of the Carolinas, Asheville, N.C.
And rightfully so. The beautiful mountain town is home to roots rockers, bluegrassers, and the disciples of Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, and Townes Van Zandt.

“I needed to be in an environment more conducive to my goals,” Edelman says. “That’s one of the things so attractive about Asheville, so many players who’ve really dove in to full-time musicianship and everything that means.”

For years, Edelman has played and toured as the Jangling Sparrows, but he has slowly begun to give up that moniker. Edelman is a self-proclaimed “rambling soul,” so it should shock no one that many of his songs are about the road. “I’ve always romanticized about traveling, and when I do, I like the crannies of a place, the parts of someplace that really help you understand what makes the people there tick,” Edelman says. “But I’m more a creature of balance. I have a home life and that helps me feel connected when I go out on the road.