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Michelle Malone to play Bitter End Wednesday night. Photo credit:Carrie Burchfield
is no stranger to the music industry. She's been on major labels such as Arista and has released other CD's before, including her critically acclaimed CD "Sugarfoot" last year. She is the next female rock icon and a rising star destined for a Grammy, with her powerful belting southern blues/ rock voice. Her new release "Debris" is her 10th album on her own independent label SBS Records, is on the 2010 Grammy ballot and is being considered for a nomination in the Americana category. I caught up with her in a phone interview about the new CD, her background, life on the road, and her future plans going forward. She's playing the Bitter End tomorrow night in New York City.
SR:You're originally from the Deep South of Georgia and grew up listening to your mother singing in the church choir. What was it like growing up in the south wanting to start a singing career?
MM: I grew up in Atlanta, Ga. but I'm now living in Alabama.It was pretty normal for my family. My mother was also a night club singer. When we weren't on the road with her we would go to church three days a week.
SR: Your latest CD entitled "Debris" was produced by talented producer/engineer Nick Dedea who also produced for other artists such as The Black Crowes, Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, that's really cool !
MM: Yeah, it was really quite an honor that he wanted to work with me and was able to set aside time for me. it was pretty amazing! When we were in the studio he would immitate Bruce Springsteen and we were clowning around it was pretty awesome! With a guy like that at the helm, you can really relax because you know you can trust them. Every time he turned the knob, it would just make it better. Normally, I'm a hands-on person in the studio and I always have something to say about everything about the sound and the production but he was just really amazing and I could just completely relax and do what I completely do best.
SR:The album "Debris" is based on your own real life experience about a relationship, and it's more of a return to your rock roots with a mix of blues and Americana soul. Did you find it therapeutic to write about your own experiences for the album?
MM:Yeah writing music has always been therapeutic to me. It's the thing that keeps me sane and ending up in the "loony bin!" (laughs!) I really find out what's going on and how to get it out. It's what helps me get past all these things.
SR:I'm surprised that this is your 10th album, this is the first I've heard of you. I went to see you perform with the Indigo Girls at Tarrytown Music Hall and it was such a fabulous show I was just blown away by your powerful voice!
MM:Well, yeah. I've made a lot of records over the years ! I've been on major labels, and independent labels, and my own label. I just make music and it's what I love to do and it's what I'm best at as far as jobs go. I just keep doing it, it doesn't matter to me who's label it's on, it keeps me happy and it's what I enjoy doing. I just keep making records and I usually put one out every two years and I tour for a living and I really enjoy playing live it's my favorite 45 minutes of the day! (laughs!)
SR: SBS Records is your own indie label. You know the music industry has changed over the years, and many established artists are turning to the internet and going independent as opposed to being burdened by the major label world. What is your take on this?
MM: I put my very first record out in the 80's on Aluminum Jane Records. The name was like a joke ( a play on Steely Dan!). Then when I got off of Arista, I put out a record back in 1992 on SBS so that's when it started. I was bouncing around labels back and forth. Back then we did it as a stepping stone to a major. Then I was on a major label once or twice. I don't really feel personally that I ever had the timing right as far as the labels go. It's hard to say what's right for someone else. Obviously, there are a lot of people who fit well on large labels. Indigo Girls are one example. But there are others like Patti Rothberg and myself who didn't have quite that level of success for one reason or another. I really don't think it's lack of talent, simply because there's so many wonderfully talented people out there that you just don't hear of on that level. I think being at the right place at the right time as far as finding the right label. It's a combination of things, lightening just has to strike. And that's not to say it can't happen at a major label. People on independent labels make music because they love it. Not because they want to be rich or famous. Having said that, I think a lot of artists want to be recognized and be appreciate for their art. But you can definitely make good money being an independent artist. It's just a lot more work!
SR: Your album "Debris" is on the ballot for a 2010 Grammy. That must be very exciting for you. What is your reaction to that?
MM: Well, it's very exciting it's always wonderful to be recognized, and it's an honor to be "singled-out" in a group of 100 people! I would love to win a Grammy, I would love to sell a million records and reach a different level of success. But I'm also very grateful for everything I have now because I'm able to make music for a living and sing my own songs for people who pay to hear them. That's kind of amazing and a lot of people can't do that and I know I'm very blessed.
SR: You have very impressive credentials and performed with blues legends such as Albert King, Charlie Musslewhite, Johnny Winter, Little Feat, Lurrie Bell, ZZ Top, Robert Cray, Keb Mo, Tinsley Ellis, Marsha Ball and Chris Whitley, recently Indigo Girls, John Mayer, Steve Earle, K.T. Tunstall, Shawn Colvin, Jackson Browne, and Joan Osborne. Which one of these performers did you enjoy working with the best?
MM: I enjoy performing with anyone because I've done it so many times. It's always great to play with my friends such as the Indigo Girls' Amy Ray I knew from college within a five mile radius of eachother and they are like my family. We've been singing and playing together since the late 80's. So it's more of a homecoming. I went to an all girls college called Agnes Scott College in Atlanta and they went to Emory just around the corner. So we hung out and we got to know eachother they knew that I sang, played guitar and wrote my own songs and that was in the 80's We all had really bad hair that's what I remember! (laughs!)
SR:Have you seen my review of The Indigo Girls here on Examiner.com who you opened for where I said you're the next Sheryl Crow and have you been compared to her?
MM:I'll have to look it up I haven't been online. Honestly, I've been compared to everyone you could think of, Whatever woman is popular at the time. Someone who discovers me that's who they compare me to. It's always an honor. A lot of people compare me to Sheryl Crow or Bonnie Raitt or Shelby Lynne or Susan Tedeschi. Early in my career I got compared to Suzanne Vega and Edie Brickell. All those people are hugely talented and successful and I have records by all of them.So I get it and I appreciate it. I also get compared to Melissa Etheridge or Janis Joplin. Just women that sing or rock and play guitar it's just really cool. I just wish there were more women playing music because there are a lot of hugely talented women under the radar playing music, writing songs, great singers, great guitar players but you don't often hear them on the radio or see them on television or read about them in the national or international magazines. Hopefully, we'll get past that one decade.
SR: You're playing this Wednesday at the Bitter End. My sister Patti Rothberg played there once. Have you heard of her?
MM: Yes I have! I can't say that I have any of her recordings but just hearing of someone in the industry there are just so many great artists out there. I try to keep up with them but quite frankly I live in a van under a rock down by the river and I don't know what's going on outside my little van!
SR:Were you ever a backup singer ?
MM: No. I just write my own songs. I find it easier to sing my own songs rather than other people's songs. It makes more sense to write about what was inside of me rather than what's inside someone else.
SR:Your CD "Debris" made the cut of the "Best of" lists and your most critically acclaimed CD was last year's "Sugarfoot." What is your favorite track off of the new CD "Debris?"
MM: I have a favorite track to play and another track that I think is one of my best songs. It's hard to really pick. I worked really hard on "Debris" from the songwriting to the recording of it. I feel we did a really good job of it all the way around. I said to someone yesterday that if this is the last record I'll ever make I'll be completely satisfied with that and know that I was on top of my game. But to play live, I love playing the song "Undertow." It's a pretty funny rocking song. I started playing the bottle-neck slide five years ago. It's still new and exciting to me it brought a whole new admission to guitar for me when I started playing slide. And I'm not bored with it it's great! I think the song "Debris" is a really well crafted song and "Marked" but they don't rock as much as the other ones on the album and I don't play them as much!
SR: How about "Feather in a Hurricane?" when you wrote that song is that how you felt?
MM:Yeah good grief!! It's crazy out here on the road and it's crazy when you get home, say you're home for three or five days all you have time to do is your laundry and pay the bills. So it gets hectic and crazy. I wouldn't have it any other way!
SR: Your guitar player Peter Stroud used to play for Sheryl Crow?
MM:Yeah, Peter is another Atlanta boy and we came up on the Atlanta music scene together so I've known him before he started playing with her.
SR: Are there any other projects in the works or are you wrapping up your tour now? You're going to play at the Bitter End tomorrow night.
MM: A good friend of mine, Kathy Henderson a guitarist from Antigone Rising is going to come sing with us tomorrow night. So we're working until the end of the year and take some time off during the holidays and crank up again next year. We've always got irons in the fire and projects going. There will be a new album in another year.
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