Dad- Happy Father’s Day Month – Is Your Dad As Cool As Mine?

When June hits we celebrate the dads in our lives a little more than usual and with Father’s Day this month it’s only right we feature dads on This Mama Got Drama! This year is special because we were able to bring my dad on with us to talk about how he juggled parenthood, becoming a dad again a bit later in life while maintaining a demanding position at a global pharmaceutical company and pursuing his passion for music. He is an established musician with a start in street performing in San Francisco which grew into a music career that has taken him on tour around the world and having his music sampled by Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Anderson Paak, Busta Rhymes and more! Join us we celebrate my dad Jeff Edwins and learn more about how to make balance in your daily life mandatory while you go after what makes you feel happy and fulfilled as well as able to provide a life for your kids that sets them up for success!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This Smama Got Drama back for anotherepisode, Lady Ray with to check in
our co host Dreada Gonzalez of course, being a working mama and having attend
to some things, but it's allgood. We're gonna keep it going because
it is exciting every time we touchdown in June because it means that we
get to invite the dad's on.We get dads on every once in a
while throughout the year, but wetry to focus June on fathers because it's

(00:22):
Father's Day month. And I'm prettyexciting because this will be the first time
on our podcast and I get tohave my dad on. How dope is
that to be able to be ina career that you love and to include
your family in that journey. It'spretty dope. So help me welcome my
dad. The amazing jeff edwins Hey, applause all around. I can hear

(00:43):
you how you feeling today. Ican see the smile on his face that
you guys can't see. How youfeeling today? Awesome, It's a beautiful
day. I mean, we liketo kick off every episode talking about our
babies because that's the reason why wehave this podcast, right because we're parents.

(01:04):
That are not only working parents,but really just trying to find that
fulfillment in life and doing it whileraising little ones into capable people and finding
time for self care. So isthere something new that my brothers are doing.
Yeah, well, in regards tothe little one, the little one

(01:25):
just completed fifth grade, had hisfifth grade grade promotion, and helped me
to middle school. Set a lifechanging event. Oh my god. That
yeah, yeah, from elementary schoolto middle school. And on top of
that, he's actually playing baseball.He was voted on the Little League All

(01:47):
Star team for the Major Division andstarted his first workout with the All Stars
two days ago. Nice. That'sexciting times. And let's not let's not
leave out another a tidbit here whenwe're talking about baseball, because as if
you don't do enough, you say, you know what, sign me up.
I want to be the coach,and the team took them all the
way to what the playoffs? Right, that's right. I got basically put

(02:15):
into this role of coaching a teamthat I didn't sign up for. But
that's life. A lot of timeswith life, you take what's handed to
you or what you're directed to do. And so there was a need and
I was able to fill that voidby coaching the team, and our team
win all the way one out fromplaying in the championship for the Magic's Division.

(02:39):
That's I mean, that's huge rightthere, because it's it's the level
that they're at, Like it alreadytakes extra dedication, right to get them
motivated to even come out and bethe best that they can be, because
it's a lot of times it's it'sfighting with their inner emotions because they get
so angry with themselves when things don'tgo the way that they hope. So
you're dealing with that and you're dealingwith trying to teach fundamentals. So I

(03:01):
mean, I say it all thetime. When I come out to the
field, I'm like, we seeyou, coach, We see you,
coach, because I'm so proud rightto see you out there on the field.
And then there's sometimes where I seeyou talking to them and it's like
it reminds me of being a kidon the basketball court. I'm like,
oh my god, it took meright back to when he would come over
to me on the basketball court andbe like you got to do this work

(03:21):
on this, and it takes youright back to those moments. But it's
an amazing thing to see you withthe boys, and I'm so excited to
see what happens next when middle schoolcomes. You're talking about the middle school
transition. MJ just graduated kindergarten.I feel like I'm sending them off to
college already. That's how I wouldyou say, that's exactly the way it

(03:43):
looks. When he had his captaingown, I was like, what an
amazing, beautiful picture. But togo what you were saying about working with
the kids. A lot of timesyou get put in a role where you're
working with a lot of kids,and many times I find myself leading him
back to my on the job trainingas a father, and I have to
deal with all these kids and think, hey, what did I learn from

(04:08):
being a father and dealing with thesekids? Because you're dealing with so many
different personalities, Yeah, so manydifferent attitudes, so many different intentions,
aspirations, goals, And it's likeit's like when you have a few kids
and you're raising a few kids,they're all different and so you got to
kind of lean back on, well, what do I know? What have
I learned from being a father?And in a way kind of coach these

(04:32):
kids and at the same time bea big you know, be a father
to them in a lot of wayson the field. Yeah, I mean
it definitely does take you require youto pull out all those skill sets,
right, and you have a lotof skill sets. I mean anytime people
ask me, like about you,or you know, we start talking about

(04:53):
my dad or our parents, I'mlike, he does so much. I
don't know what you want to know, Like, what part do you want
to know about it? I mean, you just celebrated your retirement recently.
Congratulations again, I keep saying it. And in your role there, you
were working for a major pharmaceutical companymanaging it, so you got that piece

(05:13):
of it where it's like tech andyou know all of that information and media
and all that, and then youcome over to the other side where you're
living out your passion. When itcomes to music, You've been in the
music industry at since a very youngage. I mean, I don't know
if you want to give them alittle history right quick on on where they
might have seen you at a youngage. Well, you know, I

(05:36):
was blessed to be born in afamily that was had real strong musical roots.
My dad was a guitar player whohad his own band and signed major
record label deals with some labels,Duke Records, Universal Records, and you
know, it did some extensive touring. But being raised in that family,

(05:58):
I got a great view, aclose view of the music, not only
from an entertainment side, but alsofrom a business side, and so I
kind of learned it. I grewup with that had three brothers and a
sister that played in a band calledthe Edwards Generation alongside our father. So
it was easy in a lot ofways because our father was there and we

(06:25):
could lean on him as we werelearning. But you know, from there,
it went from recording and making musicin the East Coast, moving out
to California, where we played onthe streets of San Francisco for many years
and was one of the crowd favoritesdown at Fisherman's Wharf, playing with drums

(06:47):
and percussion instruments and dancing. Andthat led to moving into playing clubs,
going to Japan, going to Europeand Canada and a few other places.
And so I've been blessed to beable to play music, write music,

(07:10):
record music, and enjoy the artof just entertainment. From must look the
Apple dim fault from the trip forbecause you got also into the entertainment business
and radio and stuff. So yeah, I mean people ask me all the

(07:30):
time. They're like, wow,you come from such a musical family.
How come you don't sing? Howcome you don't play in isstry? I'm
like, I do do those things. I don't think people want to hear
me do them on a stage.So I realize that I could still be
around the entertainment industry and use mytalents, right, because at a young
age. You know, my dadand my grandma will always tell you this
story that when we would go onvacations, I'd be there interviewing them and

(07:51):
giving them a tour and talking.And it was like, Okay, I'm
more of a talker. I canpaint the picture. I can do that,
you know, and still be aroundthe music industry. And I you
know, you talked about being blessedto be able to do it with your
family. You know, I hadthe fortune of, you know, traveling
around the world before the age ofone. I mean, who could say

(08:13):
they you know, they've visited theseplaces. I clearly don't have a recollection.
I got pictures, right, butjust to be that cultured and that
season is a huge benefit. Andyou know, I think that it's exciting
to see where your career has goneand is going. You know, you

(08:33):
talk about touring with your brothers andplaying with your family and and all the
street performing that you guys did ata young age, all that just was
kind of like the training right tolead to this level now where you're you
know, not only writing original musicbut creating you know, a sound that's
like comfortable for you, and Ifeel it's so fitting, which is like
smooth and jazz and cool and calm. Right. Can you talk a little

(08:54):
bit about what that transition was like. Well, I mean, I've I've
always enjoyed different genres of music.In the early days, most of the
music we played was more just Rand B and soul, a lot of
standards, but I always enjoyed likesmooth jazz type music. I like when

(09:18):
I first heard Earl Clue play guitar, and of course my dad was a
guitar player too, so I didhear him play some standard jazz songs.
But when I heard Earl Clue playand then I was also you know,
a big fan of George Benson.I was like, this is the kind
of music that I like and Ienjoyed playing when I'm you know, pretty
much solo on I'm by Myself.This is the kind of music I enjoyed

(09:41):
playing. So I kind of Istill do R and B, still do
funk pop, but a lot ofmy my CDs that I've recorded are more
smooth jazz instrumental, and it's becauseI guess I have a big passion for
that music. Yeah. I thinkthe other cool thing too is that you
know, you you figured out whatthe passion was. It was like,

(10:05):
I'm great at this. We've doneyou know, the FULK to R and
B, the Top forties, allthat, right, and then you're like,
but this is this is where myheart is at. So it's it's
an easy kind of transition and away for you to kind of grow your
own music and your own creativity.So I think that's really cool that you're
able to find that because sometimes alot of artists struggle with that, right,
Like they hear what's played on theradio and they feel like I got

(10:26):
to be that in order to besuccessful. But you can't be successful if
there's no passion in it, right, you can be, but you're not
gonna be happy, right. Butthe one thing that I really want to
kind of touch back on is,you know, while you're doing a lot
of this, you know, Icame along, I was born, my
brother, you know, my nextlittlest brother was born, right, and

(10:48):
then and then are my two littlebrothers. Right. You were doing all
of this while raising children. Andyou look at artists today that you know
they they may have a little bitof an easier path with the with the
surge of social media and the abilityto get closer to people faster. Do

(11:09):
you feel like the work was harderfor you then because there was a lack
of social media or was it,like, you know what, we had
already built a footprint so by thetime my kids came, I could still
be present in their lives and thenstill pursue your music career. No,
I think on top of your ITcareer by the way. Yeah, no,

(11:31):
you know, I'll say I maynot have always been the perfect dad,
but I've always had a belief andthe feeling that, you know,
you've got to take care of yourfamily first. And I never wanted to
be a struggling musician. And bythat what I mean by just following my

(11:52):
dream of being a musician or ayou know, a quote unquote a famous
artist. I wanted that, butI also believe at the same time,
you need to have a quality life. And quality life means that you need
to be able to put food onthe table, you need to have a
roof over your head, and youknow, you need to do things that

(12:13):
your family can look back and havememories on, like, hey, do
we do things because I didn't doa lot of things growing up. Family
vacations, going to Hawaii, goingto Florida. We didn't do those things.
And those are the kind of thingsI always said I didn't have,
but I wanted my family to have. So that meant, Hey, at
the same time I'm pursuing a musicalcareer, I need to work and earn

(12:35):
earn money. Kids need doctor appointments, kids need to go to the dentist,
kids need orthodonics, kids need youknow, their security, and the
only way you're going to get thatsecurity is by making money. And so
I worked for years and at thesame time, you know, I was
burning a candle sometimes because on bothends, because there would be times I

(12:56):
would work all day, drive Ihave three hours to go to Monterey to
play at night and drive back hometo be at work at seven o'clock in
the morning. I always viewed thatit's something that I had, you know,
that needed to be done, andit was it was looking back,
it was actually pretty easy because Iknew in my mind that that that was

(13:22):
the only way that I could beable to provide a quality life for my
family and for my kids. Soit was it was the way I think
in regards to if things were alittle bit more difficult then because there was
no social media, no, Ithink, I think you deal with the
times, and during those those daysbefore social media, there was there was

(13:46):
a process, and so you hadto follow a process. Looking back,
it obviously is not as the processwasn't as easy as the process is now
because today was social media, youhave distribution channels where you can distribute your
music. God when when email firstcame out, it was like I remember
if you had to send a letterback in the day, you know,

(14:09):
it could take two or three weeksbefore you got a response, because first
they had to get to where itwas going five days, then they had
to read it, and then theyhad to send a response to take another
five days and that was like minutes, within seconds, your email could be
anywhere in the world. So socialmedia has given us that advantage to make
it easy for everybody at every level, from the major businesses down to the

(14:37):
you know, the general person.You have that advantage. So but like
I said, back in the day, there was a process. You had
to follow it, but that wasthe process. So it was as good
as it was back then as longas you followed the process. But it's

(14:58):
better now. Yeah, oh definitely. I mean I think a lot of
the newer artists will tell you straightup because they they don't necessarily have to
build relationships with A and R folkssometimes, or they don't have to build
relationships radio stations. They should,you know, to have more longevity.
But if you, you know,had a young artist looking to you for

(15:18):
some advice, right, because let'slet's talk about it. I mean,
like you said, you've toured,You've toured the world. You've taken you
know, trips with your with yourbrothers and your band and been able to
perform at some really monumental places andevents and things like that, and even
even taking it to like life events, right, like you've performed in people's
weddings and been a part of theirlife story. These are big things that

(15:41):
you don't think are big things,but they're huge, right. And then
to say, you know, youhave a lot of musical friends that you
built over the years and been ableto be a part of their journey.
You're a part of HER's journey playingas a part of HER's band when she
was just a young buddy. Artists, you've had the opportunity to have music

(16:03):
that you've produced and voice and beena part of be sampled by major artists
like Snoop Dogg, Buster Rhymes,Anderson Pot just to name a few.
Doctor Dre, I mean you're heardon Uh they even use your guys' music
on a video game that is veryvery popular. I mean so, I'm
saying all of these accomplishments for areason, right, Because that doesn't happen

(16:26):
without passion and hard work. Soif there's a new artist who's like,
I'm a dad, I have kids, I gotta, you know, figure
out how to feed them. Igotta figure out how to give them that
quality of life. But I alsohave a passion in music. Is there
any like gem that you might wantto give to them. Well, the
first thing I would say is isdedication. You need to be dedicated because

(16:49):
it's not gonna be it's not gonnabe easy. I mean, there's there's
certain circles in the in the musicindustry, and uh and regardless of what
we're talking about, television, radioor live performance, there are circles,
okay, and sometimes those circles arehard to penetrate. But you need to

(17:10):
be dedicated. You need to beYou need to work hard at what you're
doing. You need to be thebest at what you're doing and not on
that. But then you need tounderstand the various for lack of a better
worth the food chain for instance,So you make music, but what happens
with music, So you got tokind of understand distribution. You got to

(17:33):
understand marketing, you gotta understand promotion. You got to understand all this.
So I always tell people to educateyourselves. Spend time, spend free time
educating yourself about you know, anythingyou're doing, take time out to understand
it better. I mean to giveyou kind of an analogy. If we

(17:55):
look at a football game, forinstance, a quarterback has his position right,
and he understands his position, buthe also has to understand the role
of his linemen, What is therole of that running back, what's the
role of the tight end and widereceivers. So you kind of have to
understand all those various parts to besuccessful as a quarterback. The same with
us as an artist. You haveto understand what an r is. You

(18:18):
have to understand what publishing is.You have to understand what marketing is.
You have to understand, you know, once I make this music, what
do I do next? Right?And what are the various channels you know
that I need to use or youknow, involved in your whatever your goal
is. Yeah, I mean it'sreally just taking that step back to of

(18:42):
being like, I'm not afraid tolearn something new, because a lot of
folks come in and think they knoweverything, and it's like, wait a
minute, there's some stuff that youeither from back in the day that you
shall should know, and there's newand innovative things that are happening that you
got to know. So I reallyappreciate that gem that she drops, and
I think you brought up a reallygood earlier, you know, talking about
having that dedication to provide a qualityof life. For your family while you're

(19:04):
you know, pursuing whatever is fulfillingyour life. And you did a great
job of that, right because Ithink about, you know, every basketball
game, I'd be waiting like,Okay, is my dad gonna be or
is he coming? And right ontime You'd walk in every single basketball game,
even if I was away at anotherschool, and I'd be like,
oh, the traffic's gonna be crazy, He's not gonna make it boop.

(19:26):
You walk right in the door andbe there on time. So I do,
you know, want to always Ialways have brought that story up and
if you maybe have not heard mesaying it to other people, I definitely
want to say thank you. Andthis is the reason for this podcast is
you know, to bring on momsand dads and be able to give them
flowers and celebrate the accomplishments. Andit's pretty dope that I've been able to

(19:48):
come full circle and I'll do itfor my dad. Give you some flowers
and say, you know, thankyou for all of that, right,
not only for the being there,being there, but also giving that quality
of life of vacations and memories andall that type of stuff. But the
really cool thing is is that youcreated opportunities to pursue your dream and have
it be family friendly. We're like, we would go and you'd be performing

(20:11):
at a festival that you know,we would that kids would be having a
good time at anyways. And that'sthe other thing about it too, is
you know, now that we're intwenty twenty four, it's become almost more
acceptable for parents to bring their kidsto work in the sense of like before,
I could remember, you know,being a kid and like sleeping in
the office if we had to.And it wasn't like every day, but

(20:32):
every once in a while, youknow, whether maybe I was sick or
we were running late for whatever reason. It wasn't all the time, but
you know, I could come inthe office and chill there. But that
wasn't everybody and that wasn't the normback then. And now it's like offices
are creating almost like a little daycareroom or a room for moms to be

(20:52):
able to bring the kids to work. Have you seen that shift and noticed
that that's kind of like it's alittle more acceptable even in like a studio
sense, to bring them into thestudio. Yeah, I think there's a
family friendly environments in all types ofbusinesses. I think even at corporate type

(21:15):
companies, they're trying to be alittle bit more family friendly because family is
really important two for balance in awork environment. And so you'll see a
lot of companies that are will tryto be a little bit more family friendly,
and they'll even promote balance and say, hey, you know, we

(21:36):
understand you're here and you need towork hard, but we also are excited
and we want to make sure thatyour home life is good as well,
because if you have a curable homelife probably is going to then affect somewhat
of your your work experience. Right. So, and you know, I've
been blessed a lot of times toplay in very family friendly where yeah it

(22:00):
feels good to bring your family outto a nice event, you know,
where people are all having fun,families are there, and so keeping your
family involved, I mean, whatcould be better than that? Yeah,
seriously, because if you think aboutit before the pandemic, and I think
that's one positive thing that came outof the pandemic is that people reflected and

(22:22):
we're like, oh my god,like I've spent way more time traveling to
work and at work than with thepeople that I'm supposed to be making this
money for And so now that we'vecome out of the pandemic, that's one
thing that we learn. And soa lot of people are like cherishing that
time. Employers are cherishing that timeand realizing, like you said, if
you have a better balance, you'llbe able to be more productive for your

(22:44):
employer at work. I just thoughtabout Dona Ross. Just came across my
mind, by the way, Andthe reason I thought about Dona Ross is
because she's got a few kids anda lot of them are in the entertainment
industry. And I remember seeing aninterview and her son was like Dinah Ross,
the Diana Ross that you guys knowand see, you know, big

(23:04):
star, right. She would makeit a important like if she was working
with anybody new, she would makesure that they know, if I'm in
a studio with you, I haveto leave it at a certain time because
I have to make it home toget my kids in the bed every single
night. And if you think aboutit, it's like wow, like someone
who is like a major superstar travelingthe world, legendary icon still was like,

(23:29):
uh, we're in the studio.I don't care if I'm recording with
another legend I have this is mythis is my my, my rough,
my schedule, but this is myhard stop. And he talked about that.
He was like every night she wouldmake a home and got us in
bed every night. And so Ithink that might be something too, you
know, to ask you like,is it tough to set those boundaries and

(23:52):
to be like, this is myschedule, please please respect it. Do
you find that, you know,industry folks might hold that against you or
almost like, hey, I don'twant to hire you as a guitar player
or bring you in on a sessionas an engineer because I know you know
you have a cutoff time. Yeah. No, I haven't found that to

(24:14):
be an issue or a problem.I think I think most people nowadays are
more sympathetic to that whole attitude,and that is uh that they understand that
people value their family life and theirfamily responsibilities. And I mean it's even

(24:36):
with you know, sports, Imean like I get kids coming to practice
or to game arriving late, andI'm like, okay, I understand.
You know, you can only gethere when your parents get you here,
number one. But there's you know, things happen and so you have to
be flexible and understand that no matterwhat your status is, whether you're become

(24:56):
a beginning artists or you're major superor at the end of the day,
we're all still people, right,and the most important thing to us is
our families, because after all thatglitter and glam, Hey, it's it's
your family that you know, youcan always lean back on and count on.

(25:18):
So we have to, you know, we have to take care of
our families. And I haven't foundthat to be an issue or a problem
working with people by saying, hey, you know, I can't do it
on Wednesday because I've got my son'sgraduation or I've got a baseball game.
Right, Pretty flexible and understanding.That's good. That's good to know because

(25:41):
it's you know, it's it's oneof those fears right as you come into
the industry, is like will Ibe you know, blackballed, or will
I be put on a list ofour pigeonholed or whatever you want to call
it. Right, so you youkind of tread lightly as you're starting to
build relationships and getting into the industry. I think you mentioned a really quick
about you know, the glitz andthe glamor and then coming home and realizing

(26:03):
it's all for your family. Yourfamily will also remind you you're getting a
little too Hollywood. Calm down.We know, we know you've been sampled
by doctor Dre and yeah buster rhymes. But at home, you're still Dad,
you know what I mean. Sohas that how has that dynamic been
right? Because I know for us, like we joke around here and there,
but you know, with the boys, how has that been. Well,

(26:25):
they've had a little taste of beingaround some superstars and they're like,
hey, Dad, you need toget busy, man, we need we
need to step up our game.Man moving to one of these big mansions
like other people. Uh, theysometimes that it doesn't really hit them because

(26:49):
to them, I'm still Dad,and it's it can be amazing for them
and they're they're they had that woweffect sometimes when they see it, you
know. But you know, I'mpretty level headed, pretty down to earth
with them, so I think theysee my calmness and I don't get too

(27:11):
I don't get over excited, soI think they're pretty level. But but
yeah, it can be Uh,it can be a big thing for some
people. Some people get some peoplecan't get lost in that, which can
be dangerous because the more loss youget into that and the more you can
be a subject for, you know, being taken advantage and those type of

(27:37):
things. So I've you know,even when I wanted to be a star,
I was never a star struck orI was never willing to sell my
soul so to speak. So thatcan be, it can be. Uh,

(27:59):
you have to stay level and staybalanced. Yeah, hopefully my boys
and also you and Aaron can staypretty level headed. You know. Yeah,
I think we're pretty I think we'repretty down to earth. I've only
had like one or two instances whereI just had to like fangirl and geek
out for a hot second. ButI didn't do it in front of everybody.

(28:21):
It was because they sprung it onme. They told me I was
gonna be interviewing Will Smith, andthen they didn't tell me Jada was coming
too. So I come around thecorner and I'm like, hold on a
second, and I had to goback around the corner and just what Jada
is here too? You know,just you know, because you grow up
watching someone admiring them, and itwasn't even like a geek out of like
I'm gonna faint or anything. Butit was just like, oh my god,

(28:44):
Like I get to ask questions toboth Will and Jada, like what
how cool is that? And howcool is that for my you know,
my real right, But you know, speaking on that artists and and different
folks that you admire in the industry, are there certain just that you like
I would love to work with thatperson or as a goal to like,
hey, I would love to createthis record and this artist would jump on

(29:06):
it with me. Yeah. Imean one of the guys I I was
really excited about actually meeting was RayParker Jr. And it was it was
it was more a thing where Ireally respected him in the music industry because
not only is he a singer hewas a member of the group Radio,

(29:30):
but he was also a guitarist,a producer, a songwriter who wrote a
lot of the hits like for aNew Edition, all kinds of artists,
and he was before he was evenwell known as an artist. He was
a studio guitar player and played onthousands of sessions. So I had the

(29:52):
opportunity to meet him one day andI kind of had that wild factor moment
where while there's Ray Parker over there. Yeah, I've never met him.
I want to go meet him,right, But I've I've always kind of
felt like being a musician myself,I'm kind of already in that that group

(30:14):
of people. Yeah, so thatwhen I see them, I feel like
they're just another brother. It's almostlike there's a camaraderie already a musicians that
we all were all the same thing. Just some of us are more famous
and some of us are more wealthy, but we're all in that group.
Just like if you had a groupof athletes. Well, you're all athletes.
Some are Olympic gold medalists, andsome have only won US championships,

(30:37):
but you're all athletes. And soI don't I don't get you know,
silly when I see a celebrity.And but Ray park would probably be one
of the guys I would love towork with. Also, I think Teddy

(30:59):
right only because I've read some ofhis articles and he just seemed to be
ruled down. Uh you know,you know, I like for you know,
I've I've met a lot of It'sjust crazy, but I've I've met
a lot of guys over in theUK, and it seems like their work
ethics, their attitudes are toully different. They seem to be more approachable,

(31:26):
more open, more down the earth, and they don't get they don't uh,
they don't have that Hollywood type ofattitude, like, hey, I'm
a star and I've been over theyou know, the UK and a few
other countries over there and talked tomusicians and and they just seem just so

(31:49):
easy to work with. And Idon't know if it's just because they have
a high respect for us, orif it's just just the way they are
and they're not like this, Hey, you know, it's about the dollars,
it's about the glamour, it's aboutthe goods, it's about the lights.
It's just, hey, this isjust what we do, and we're
easy to work with. I wentto visit a studio in Edinburgh, Scotland,

(32:15):
and the guy was so down toearth. He put my music on
right away and we're to it andhe was like, well, this is
great recording. And but they're justso easy to work with. Yeah.
And I'm not saying that everybody inthe US is hard to work because I'm
just saying it just seems like theattitude and the environment there is just so

(32:37):
much more welcoming and so much moreeasy to cope with, and guys are
anxious to work with people. Right. Well, I feel like that that
sentiment is coming back, at leastfor the younger artists because because of social
media, like I see a lotmore people like actually going in the comments

(32:58):
and liking their stuff and like beingsupportive and like, hey, we should
work together or they'll make a videotogether. And it seems like there is
that camaraderie coming back. And it'snot necessarily like oh I sold X amount
of records, I'm number one overhere, blah blah blah, unless you're
talking about Kendrick and Drake and theirbeef, but that's neither here nor there.
But just you know, a lotmore that is coming back, right

(33:21):
like that that hey, you're dope, I'm dope. Let's work together,
let's do something together, right,And that's really great to see. I
think the one other area that Ido want to touch on really quickly,
and maybe this would be kind oflike planting the seed for having you come
back on another podcast episode, butyou know, just talking about being a

(33:42):
full time parent, having a regular, full time job, and then full
time pursuing a music career, howdo you find time for self care?
I mean, I think that's oneof the things that we've talked to all
of the moms and dads that comeon. Because we're not working traditional hours,
we're not right Like I know,for me, like I might get
up at four in the morning andyou know, do some recording and then

(34:05):
you know, take a nap atlike two o'clock and get right back up
thirty minutes later and go pick upkids and blah blah blah. So how
do you find that time for selfcare and make it a priority. Well,
for the most part, for themost of the years that I worked,
I had a schedule that was prettyset. You know, I would
say I was blessed because you know, most people say that you work from

(34:25):
eight to four, nine to five. You know, I typically always work
from seven to four. Yeah,So I would get in early and leave
early, and for the most part, once I left work, my work
was done. Although being in itand being a network engineer, you're really

(34:46):
never off work because if the networkis down at any company or corporation,
nobody can work. Nowadays, that'sthat's a hard fact because now that we've
moved to to voice and data.Everyone's probably using voice over IP or network
is so you're dependent on a network. I mean, even for doing this

(35:12):
podcast, we're doing this over theinternet. Right. You can imagine if
a company's internet or network is down, nobody is able to work, right
and emails you not. Yeah,there's communications broke. You're not making able
to make phone calls. So Iwas never really off because I was kind
of in a standby mode. Ifsomething happened, I'd have to get to
work regardless of what time it wasand be up as long as it took

(35:37):
to get the network up. Butand it wasn't for just a company that
was based here in the United States. You're also talking about time zones in
other countries. Yeah, it's theglobal company. So but for the most
part, like I said, Iwas able to manage that where you know,
I worked a certain time, I'vecome home and then it was like

(35:58):
hey, now it's hey listen,let's get dinner together, or the boys
have sports. So it was kindof like a few hours sports every day
five to seven o'clock baseball, baseballpractices, basketball. But then usually after
that then I had a little bitof a few hours from my own time.
Yeah, and you kind of haveto, you kind of have to

(36:21):
almost force yourself to take your owntime and carve that time out, because
if you don't, it'll get consumedby things real quick. I mean,
yeah, easily consumed because you know, maybe one evening when you wanted your
own personal time, the kids haveprojects. Now you you know, it's
eleventh hour and it's due tomorrow,and you find yourself up using their personal

(36:44):
time to just completely help them withtheir projects. So but you know,
you pretty much have to set atime for yourselves. I mean, I
like going to the gym, soI usually go late at night because that's
usually the window of I might havethe kids that are going to bed,
you know, wife's going to beat ten o'clock, ten to twelve.

(37:06):
I know it sounds late, butit's usually where I can find time to,
uh, you know, for selfcare. Yeah. Yeah, and
you just have to It's mandatory.You've got to set aside some time for
yourselves. I think that's the biggestpiece right there that you that you mentioned,
is making it mandatory and carving itout, because I think everyone says,

(37:29):
oh, yeah, I'm gonna goto the gym today or Wednesday,
or you know, I'm gonna gotake a walk or you know, whatever
it is, whatever that self carething is, and they're like they put
it in their schedule, but theydon't hold themselves to it, right because
it's like I can push that,I can I can push that another day.
And I've been guilty of that myself, where like my trainer has been
like, hey, we ain't seenyou in a couple of weeks. What's

(37:50):
what's really going on? And it'sit's because, like you said, something
happens in the eleven hours, somebodyneeds help with this. Somebody's uh,
you know, session got so nowyou got to figure out a new activity
for them to do. So it'sit's a lot of juggling. As parents
and working parents, it's even morejuggling, right. So I think that's
the key right there, setting asidethe time and then also making sure that

(38:13):
that time you stick to it.But speaking of which we got to stick
to the time. We appreciate youfor coming on the podcast. I want
to leave more for them to checkout when we bring you on the next
time, but give them real quickwhere they can find you, how they
can find your music and just givethem all the rundown. Yeah, you
can find me on well, I'vegot a website Jeff Edwinds dot com.

(38:35):
So j E F F E dW I n s dot com. Also
got a page on a music pageon Facebook. I'm on Instagram Jeff Edwins
on Instagram, so you can findme there. Also find some stuff on
YouTube as well. Yes, andif you're over there playing these video games,

(38:58):
listen out for the Edwin's brothers inthe background on the vocals and whatnot.
How dope is that? That's socool. I was actually emailing with
my boss letting him know that Iwas gonna bring you on the podcast,
and he was like, oh mygod, he should come on. What
a cool dude. And I waslike, Yo, that's my dad.
I don't say it out loud allthe time because I don't want him to
get Hollywood. All meeting, Iwas just kidding, you're you're the star.

(39:21):
Anywhere I go, people saying thatif I have you heard Lady Raina,
Oh yeah, we know her,we listened to on the radio,
You're crazy. I get people tocome up to me and say, hey,
I heard your daughter on him like, yeah, she's You're like,
that's that's just RAINA. That's fine. Hey, I got he speaking of

(39:45):
you performing. We got a videoof you when you're five years old singing
on the on the cruise ship.Oh yeah, you can show your audience.
Oh my god, if they ifthey can see the rhythm I did
not have back then. I wasover there doing a two step. I'm
like, I was so nervous.I must have lost all my rhythm in
that one. That one clip.I'm like, could you get the beat

(40:06):
please? It was a beautiful moment. Oh yeah, for sure. Five
years old and get up in frontof people. You know, I don't
know where you got the courage frombut from you and my mom because she
was mouthing in the audience too.But I do want to say, yeah,
that was It was a great moment. And not only because I got

(40:27):
up the courage to get up there, but that you got to sing with
me. That was really cool.And this is this is another one for
the books, right, another memorythat we got to be on this this
podcast together, and it'll be it'llbe the first we'll have you back on
again. I appreciate you for comingon this. Mama, got drama.
The drama is real, The emotionsare real that we go through as working
parents. We go from the happyto want to pull my hair out to

(40:49):
the oh my gosh, how amI going to get through this? And
then you get through it and youaccomplish great things. And if you need
more encouragement, come on back,because we're gonna bring on some more amazing
parents. This mama got drama.We appreciate you for coming on Ay another
one in the books,