Every artist has a story: something that is the foundation of their art. When I saw a picture of Mia Edsall flying her Big Red Horse over a fence, I was amazed. How can anyone actually do that? On the phone, in our interview, Mia was surprised, “Everyone I know is in the horse business.” Her bemused voice responded. “It never occurred to me that it was unusual.”
Mia Edsall has ridden horses since she was four years old. I asked her to write something about herself. She was on the road towing her horse-trailer from show to show and playing gigs in the towns along the way. She emailed me photos of notebook pages she wrote for me. I transposed from the photos of her notebook. This is the photo that amazed me.
From the pages of her notebook here is what Mia Edsall wrote to me:
“I grew up in a galloping culture in Delaware and Vermont. My step grand father took me fox-hunting regularly and my step father was an avid foxhunter. We always had horses and I rode them constantly.
“As an adult, I became devoted to the sport of ‘Three day Eventing’. Modern Eventing was born from the original cavalry test of horse and rider. Dressage, Cross Country Jumping and finally Show Jumping.
“I have been training horses for this since the70s. I have retrained 10 racehorses for this discipline. I am a professional instructor/trainer.
“Big Red Horse is about a fine horse I bought on my own when my marriage collapsed. After about 5 years of training with failures and success, we won the Open Intermediate Division at Woodside, California. … very large fences at a fast pace. His name is Banner. He was bred in Star, Idaho by Dawn Monroe and has since been retired.
“I have 12 years sobriety. [Mingling with other sober-alcoholics], I try to carry the message of a spiritual solution to depression and mental illness. I serve others in small ways sometimes just by listening.
“I [used to be] devoted to alcohol and cocaine. I had low self-esteem and did not have the backbone it takes as a woman to stand up and play my music. When I got sober, I started playing music again.
“Now I know my music is good enough. I’m sober. I can take the hard knocks. I just keep going.
“I have always written songs. It’s a calling.
Mia says she doesn’t try to write hit songs. Her focus is on truth in melody and lyrics, addressing the universal human condition, seeking to evoke a physical sensation from listeners.
Big Red Horse and all of Mia Edsall’s music is readily available wherever digital music is sold. Her latest album is “Gutsy Call”.
Mia Edsall’s Website: http://www.miaedsall.com/
