The “Golden Hits Of The 70s”
Main MenuConcept Refinement The Author..Wayne JancikGolden Age Of The 50sGolden Age Of The 60s1970s and There After
JONATHAN EDWARDS
“SUNSHINE”
(Jonathan Edwards)
Capricorn 8021
No. 4 January 15, 1972
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Jonathan Edwards has been jotting down catchy lines for near a half century, but remains remembered
solely for those he dashed off for “Sunshine.” his Vietnam War-era hit: “He can’t even run his own life/I’ll
be damned if he’ll run mine.”
Edwards was born on July 28, 1946, somewhere in Minnesota. His father worked for the FBI, and at the
age of six, Jon and the family moved with the old man to Virginia. He auditioned for the Ice Capades, was
arrested for racing bulldozers, and in the pre-Beatles ’60s formed a redneck bluegrass band, the
Rivermen. Over the years the name, the personnel, and the overall sound of the group changed: they were
the St. James Doorknob, then Headstone Circus, and finally, the heavy and blues-influenced Boston-based
Sugar Creek (Edwards, Gary Gans, and the McKinney brothers, Malcolm and Tod).
Peter Casperson heard Sugar Creek’s top-quality sounds at a one-nighter and approached the guys about
becoming their guiding light and manager. The group agreed, and Casperson set the band up with
Metromedia Records. Sugar Creek’s self-titled album was a musical winner, but fared poorly saleswise, so
the band split up in 1970.
Jonathan signed on as a singer-songwriter with Phil Walden’s Capricorn label. “Sunshine,” a hastily com
posed tune from his first solo album, connected with pop listeners. The single and the album sold in
healthy quantities, but nothing further charted.
Edwards has provided back-up services for Jimmy Buffett and EMMYLOU HARRIS and still sporadically
records and tours for a loyal following. In 1984, he recorded a bluegrass set with Seldom Scene. By
decades end, Jon was traveling as a member of the road-show version of Pumpboys and Dinettes.
“I do this joke on stage where I tell ’em I got to ride around in a limo for an hour and a half,” says Edwards
of his brief touch with stardom, to David Mills, of The Washington Times. “I wish I knew then what I know
now. I would have taken a lot more advantage of the situation than I did. I would have tried to parley that
initial success into something bigger. But I was young, and I didn’t care … I was just happy.”