Quick Q&A With Richard Edwards

After living in Fountain Square for years, you left a decade ago. What do you think of the neighborhood’s transformation?
I think the changes are both good and bad. It’s great that they’re trying to fix it up. I understand that the city and developers are trying to corner a certain market. I just hope that isn’t pushing out the kids who are there being artists.
What’s it like for you to come back to the area to perform?
I was really flattered that the festival organizers asked me to play. Every time I’m there, I frequent the same old places like the Pioneer or the Brass Ring. I sort of stay on my own lily pad, so it still feels like home.
Your latest record, Lemon Cotton Candy Sunset, is your first as a solo artist. What made you choose Indy-based Joyful Noise Recordings to release it?
They really fought for it. With each record, we shop it around to a couple of places. But as an artist, it’s nice to feel wanted. Also, I’ve known the people at Joyful Noise for a long time. It was great to do it at home.
You have another, fairly secretive project in the works. Can you give us any details about that?
Well, we just mastered it in New York, so it won’t be a secret much longer. It was done around the same time as Lemon Cotton Candy Sunset, but it won’t be out until next year. I wanted to put out two albums in a year, but that was a bit too ambitious.
For the record, is Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s finished, or is it just on hiatus?
Well, there were so many lineup changes that I don’t even know if there is a band to reunite. We’ll be doing reissues of the records in the next couple of years because they’re now all out of print and go for way too much money. But I like where we’re at now, so I don’t see a point in revisiting Margot.
Given your recent colitis diagnosis, the past few years sound like they’ve pretty tough. How are you feeling now?
Yeah, it was pretty black there for a while. But things are slowly getting better. I still have a lot of symptoms that make touring difficult, but it’s a lot better than it was.
So what’s next?
After I finish touring this fall, I’m thinking of writing another record. I’d really like to record in Nashville. The plan is to keep writing, recording, and growing.