Edge of Forever is a brand new studio album from outlaw legend Jessi Colter, produced by Margo Price. It will be released digitally and on vinyl/ cd via Appalachia Record Co. on October 27, 2023. Edge of Forever was recorded with Price’s band in Nashville, engineered by Price’s band member/producer Alex Munoz and mixed by Colter’s son, Shooter Jennings.

Colter is a certified country star with chart-topping hits like “I’m Not Lisa,” the Mickey Newbury-penned “Why You Been Gone So Long,” and duet with husband Waylon Jennings “I Ain’t the One.” Front and center for most of the action during the 1970s outlaw era, she sang alongside Jennings, Willie Nelson and Tompall Glaser on the original “Wanted: The Outlaws” compilation, which came to define the genre’s primary sound. “They kind of pulled me in there as the token girl of the group. I laughed and Waylon laughed, I said, ‘I’m the only one who has a gold record in this group!’ but I looked like I was just the girl they put on the album,” Jessi recalls. After settling down in Nashville with Waylon, and spending less time playing shows on the road, Colter’s career turned toward gospel– but she always kept an ear open to the happenings in rock and country. She released a steady string of albums throughout the ‘80s. Her last record The Psalms, produced by longtime friend Lenny Kaye, came out in 2017. 

After having been there and done it all, Colter didn’t plan to keep recording, but continued writing songs. When Colter released her memoir in 2017, she invited Price to a book event and they became instant friends. They met up when Price was on the road a few times and, at a family dinner one night, Price asked her to show her some of the songs she’d written. Colter played a few at her home that evening. Jeremy Ivey, Price’s husband, told her, “It would just be great if you’d cut one more album.” And she was convinced.

In the spring of 2019, they came together in Nashville to make Edge of Forever. Price produced while her band consisting of Munoz, Jamie Davis (guitar), Luke Schneider (pedal/lap steel), Kevin Black (bass), Micah Hulscher (keys and organ) and Dillon Napier (drums) played along. “We worked three days, in and out. She would direct me and I’d go ahead and start cutting. The band was fantastic. They picked right up on what we were doing and had great energy,” Jessi says. The songs they chose to cut became electrifying when paired with Price’s live production style and the kinetic groove of the band. What resulted is a collection of earnest, well-crafted honky-tonk hymns that rock in the old school sense. 

Edge of Forever contains songs new and old – some straight from the golden era of country songwriting and never heard before, and many written in the last decade. The title track opens the album with an uptempo sound that recalls her ‘70s catalog. Co-writes “I Wanna Be With You” (Basil David) and “Hard on Easy Street” (Chips Moman) and previously recorded tracks “Without You” and “Maybe You Should” take on new life with a psychedelic soundscape and complementing vocals from Price. “Can’t Nobody Do Me Like Jesus” reworks an old spiritual into a jubilant rock ‘n’ roll celebration with driving electric guitars. “Angel in the Fire,” written for Lisa Kristofferson, Ballads “Fine Wine” and “Secret Place,” both co-written with her daughter Jennifer Eddy Jennings, reflect on lasting impressions of loved ones and the comfort and peace found in religion. Across the album, Colter strikes a balance between secular and gospel music with perfect discretion. Edge of Forever is a sonic culmination of the work Colter has put out over her career. Margo’s band put an experimental spin on music from someone who’s never let themself be boxed in anyway.

“It was really sheer enjoyment for me to be able to do, because I really hadn’t planned anything much further. It’s a love project.”

Edge of Forever arrives during the same year that Jessi Colter celebrates her 80th birthday and a recent remarriage, marking the start of a bright new chapter of life at home in Wyoming. Her legacy speaks for itself and doesn’t need to be proven, but it will only be further solidified once fans hear this latest record.