An indie singer/songwriter with a vulnerable, yearning vocal delivery, Richard Edwards is known for the bittersweet indie rock of both his solo output and his former band Margot the Nuclear So and So's. Following five original albums with the latter, including the Billboard 200-charting Not Animal (2008), Edwards released his first solo album in 2017. Informed by illness and heartbreak, that effort, Lemon Cotton Candy Sunset, was more personal in nature but, like his subsequent solo material, still offered lush, full-band arrangements. His fourth solo album of original material, 2022's Ghost Electricity/Vampire Draw, came with speculation by Edwards that it would be his last.

Named after the character Margot Tenenbaum in the Wes Anderson arthouse comedy The Royal Tenenbaums, Margot the Nuclear So and So's consisted of Indianapolis native Edwards and a rotating lineup. Their debut, The Dust of Retreat, appeared on local label Standard Recording in 2005. It was critically well-received, and Epic issued the label-approved follow-up Not Animal (alongside the band's preferred version, Animal!) in 2007. Edwards parted ways with Epic and relocated to Chicago for 2010's leaner Buzzard, and 2012's Rot Gut, Domestic explored more guitar-driven, '90s-styled rock that also flirted with country & western influences. Margot the Nuclear So and So's' fifth LP, 2014's Sling Shot to Heaven, was recorded in a home studio and released on their own label. Edwards then signed with Indianapolis-based Joyful Noise Recordings, which put out a 2015 collection of over 50 previously unreleased songs, demos, and alternate takes from Margot titled Bride on the Boxcar: A Decade of Margot Rarities 2004-2014.

In the meantime, Edwards was diagnosed with a stomach ailment that led to surgery and the cancellation of a sold-out tour. During this time, he and his wife divorced. Addressing the aftermath of those events, Lemon Cotton Candy Sunset became his first album under his own name. Produced by Rob Schnapf (Elliott Smith, Beck), it was released by Joyful Noise in 2017. Edwards returned to the studio with Schnapf and the same backing band for the less autobiographical Verdugo, which followed on the same label a year later.

His next album was written and recorded while working on improvements to a run-down house Edwards had purchased following the promotion of Lemon Cotton Candy Sunset. Self-released in 2020, The Soft Ache and the Moon was co-produced by Edwards and frequent collaborator Mike Bloom (the Elected). He had already been homebound for about a year due to recurring GI issues when the COVID-19 pandemic forced friends off the road. Edwards spent some of the ensuing months recording two volumes of Richard Edwards Sings the Margot the Nuclear So and So's Songbook in Quarantine with some of those friends; both albums appeared on vinyl and digital formats in October 2021 and June 2022, respectively. He returned with a full album of original solo material, Ghost Electricity/Vampire Draw, in October 2022. Again recorded with friends and self-released, it was presented as his final album. ~ Marcy Donelson & MacKenzie Wilson, Rovi