Album Review – Bleu Edmondson’s “To The End”

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Texas Country (#550) and Gothic Country (#590.5) on the Country DDS.

Maybe you’ve heard the name if you’ve been kicking around the Texas music scene for a while, or maybe you haven’t. Either way, Bleu Edmondson has to be one of the most interesting and enigmatic characters in the history Texas music, made even more mysterious by his virtual disappearance over the last 15 years after releasing the album The Future Ain’t What It Used To Be in 2010 aside from a 4-song EP in 2015. And now upon his return with this 6-song EP, Edmondson might have released one of the most powerful expressions to grace Texas music.

In the world of Roger Creager, Corry Morrow, Cross Canadian Ragweed, and up-and-comers Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen, Bleu Edmondson in the Y2K Texas country scene was a complete change of pace. Dark, introspective, almost grunge-like and not exactly country, he still made close friends in the Texas country community, and tons of fans from his intriguing sound and powerful writing.

But the simple truth is that even a pretty major star in Texas country in the early 00s was still only making a middle-class living at best, and one that kept you away from home regularly. So perhaps for this reason or some other, Bleu Edmondson walked away after releasing four albums and a Live At Billy Bob’s record.

Produced by Wade Bowen, Bleu’s new album To The End is a stunning, bold, and ambitious work that accomplishes in only six songs what some entire discographies often fail to, and seems to fill in the gaps of the last 15 years of Bleu’s life through an intentional story arc. To The End also works like a love letter to his wife, and a testament to commitment. It feels like one of those albums an artist had to make for themselves. We just get the benefit of being able to listen in.

Though EPs are often used as trial balloons for singles, repositories for B-sides, or other such also-ran releases that rarely are worth anything more than a passing notion, Bleu and Wade Bowen utilize the EP format at it’s best, namely when more songs would get in the way of the potency of the expressions, and less would leave it incomplete. This is the kind of album Eric Church wanted to make with his latest release Evangeline Vs. The Machine, but the marketing degree and Jay Joyce got in the way.


With the opening song “King of the Dark,” you’re immediately alerted that this won’t be just some standard issue Texas music EP. The propulsive and progressive sounds awaken deeper senses with which to ingest what’s about to happen, and which ultimately give way to the immersive experience this album can afford.

It’s more hints Edmondson drops about what he’s been up to as opposed to concrete details. “Let’s Be Ghosts” seems to allude to a move to the coast somewhere. But as the songs progress through this period, it seems like perhaps the cost of living, hardships with employment, and the shallow nature of society out in California (or wherever they landed) eventually ate at Edmondson, ultimately resulting in a move back to Texas. The fact that his wife stuck through it all is what he’s most grateful for.

The song “To The End” is a devotional, but one that purposely presents a rather sterile and measured expression at the beginning with its automated drum beat, until it turns quite passionate at the end. Though none of these songs would be considered “country,” the song “The Princess and the Hustler,” presents something pretty close to a dancehall singalong complete with mandolin, steel guitar, fiddle, and accordion.

Though To The End is very clearly a personal album, Bleu does solicit Mando Saenz and Neil Lemons as co-writers on tracks, and it closes with “You Remain” written originally by Leslie Stacher—one of those instances when someone else’s song say something better than you ever could yourself.

Just like the career of Bleu Edmondson, To The End is a bit fey and won’t fit in anyone’s box. But that’s okay because he’s not looking to break back out in the scene or be the next sensation. Having endured an unsettled period in his life, Bleu can now sit back and reflect, give thanks, make music for himself, while adding to his intriguing legacy as the enigmatic ghost of the Texas music scene.

8.3/10

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