I Am Ed Winson

It all started here;

I'm seven years old, sitting in front of a portable turntable. The pickup hits the rotating vinyl with its familiar scratch. Then Scotty Moore's immortal power chord, accompanied by the sharp snare drum of D.J. Fontana, starts roaring out of the small detachable speaker. We're in the absolute beginning of the song 'Jailhouse Rock' with Elvis Presley and at the starting point of my musical journey.

There I am, a young boy, hit by a wake-up call and completely blown away. Not by the song per se - there's no doubt of its influence - but by the intro. I couldn't stop listening to it. I was mesmerized by the sounds, the details, and Elvis's in-your-face voice.

For my birthday that same year, I got a guitar as a gift from my grandfather. From that point onwards, there was no turning back.

What started with Elvis continued with Thin Lizzy, Rush, Kiss, and Mike Oldfield, whose soundscape still influences me. After that, well, any creative artist could be an inspiration if one chooses to listen truly. And if you do, the flood gates will be wide open.

My main focus has always been to write my own material, and through the years, I've played with several bands. Some of them successful, some of them not so much, all of them for the joy of playing. And even when those mandatory cover songs make their voice heard, I've always leaned on memory and interpretation, not by doing another copy.

All those hours spent in front of the turntable laid the foundation for the guitarist and riff maker I am today. And I firmly believe that creativity has been the force driving me forward. So, in 2020, after spending more or less a lifetime in different constellations of rock bands, I released my first solo work.

To go solo is an idea that's been with me for a while, and I have no proper answer to what took me so long. Maybe I needed time to gather courage? Perhaps the sun and the moon needed to be in conjunction? Or maybe, this is just what life is?

All I know is that when I took that leap and crossed that barrier, my feet hit a path of new musical discoveries.

I can still hear those "knocked out jailbirds sing", but it's been a long time now, and I have traveled far on my musical journey. Now, forward is the only way, and something tells me that this is only the beginning.

// Ed.