Melissa Etheridge

A “One Woman Band” On A “One Way Out” Tour
@The City Winery in NewYork

Iconic multi-Grammy winner Melissa Etheridge will be capturing the hearts of fans and followers during four intimate shows at New York’s chic City Winery. Available dates at the moment are Monday May 30, Tuesday May 31, Thursday June 2, and Friday June 3, all shows beginning at 8 PM. 

Melissa’s unconquerable spirit stormed the ramparts of success in 1988 with the release of her self titled album, which included the song “Bring Me Some Water”, and she followed that with hits like “I’m the Only One”, “Come to My Window” and “Ain’t It Heavy”. Melissa has been recognized for her confessional lyrics and raspy vocals, giving her soul to touch the hearts of others. Her most recent album, One Way Out, was released last year.

Considered one of the most quintessential female singers of our time, Melissa is also a celebrated activist, announcing her sexual identity when it wasn’t cool to do so. After being diagnosed with breast cancer, she appeared on the 2005 Grammys despite having lost her hair from chemotherapy. In the process, she gave hope to others who are afflicted with the disease. 

Each of Melissa’s City Winery shows will be unique unto itself. She will be performing a very rare series of intimate showcases, as she explained during our conversation.

Hello, Melissa. You must be so excited to be out on the road now.

Being on the road is so wonderful. It’s so nice to see people again. It’s so nice to see people enjoying each other. I think we don’t know how important it is for us to get together and celebrate things like music together and be entertained. 

I think we’re learning…

We’re learning the hard way. Yeah.

What are some of the things fans can look forward to seeing in your concerts?

This is a really special show that I’m doing there. It’s really unique. The City Winery has always wanted me to come in and do multiple shows for them because it’s such a great little performance space. So, during the pandemic, I really worked on my one-woman band thing. I’m doing all this looping and I play all the stuff myself and create all these background musical loops. It’s what I did during the pandemic. I had Etheridge TV [a live streaming platform] and I would do five shows a week. So this is a way for me to actually get in front of an audience and do it. This is a rare thing. I’m doing it here and then I do another week in Boston, and that’s all I’m doing. so I’m really happy about that.

So this will be a kind of intimate, unplugged thing?

Yeah. It’s unplugged and there will be a lot of me just playing the guitar and singing. But then there will be a lot of tracks that I’ve been building up live on stage. If you don’t know what that is, it can be very musical. It’s really exciting. But it is very unplugged, so it’s just me and the musical instruments around me. 

And other than that, you’re out on tour with a live band?

Yeah. The rest of the tour is rock and roll. So this is very intimate and unique, and I probably won’t be doing anything like this again for quite a while. 

Have you had your ultimate stage fantasy?

Are you just talking about stages or things happening on the stage?

It’s your fantasy and you can go wherever you want with it.

Then that ultimate fantasy probably hasn’t happened. Do you know what? I’m always looking for unique opportunities. I think more than the stages, I think it’s about the audience. Just how connected they wanna be or what they are expecting, and that I’ve found all over the world in different places. And New York City is definitely one of those places. You guys love your music, you love rock and roll, it’s just always such a pleasure playing in New York City.

There is no place like New York. Will we be lucky enough to hear some new music from you in the near future?

Oh, yeah. I’ll probably play…Well, I don’t know if it’s going to be new music that you’ve never heard, but man, my catalog‘s deep. There’s a lot of songs. I will definitely be doing a different show every night. I’ve got to do “Come to My Window” every-night because that’s the song…and probably a few other hits. But other than that, it’s wide open as to what I’m going to play. I’ll do a different thing every night.

Which night is the best? I’m gonna come to that one!

It will be the night you come–that will absolutely be the best. Each night will be amazing. Usually, my weekend nights are a little bit more ruckus in that people are more willing to drink a little bit more and stay up a little later. But that doesn’t mean that if you come during the week, it’s going to be any less. It’s probably just going to be more song-focused.

When you write a song, what comes first. the lyrics or the music?

That’s funny…that is probably the most asked question ever. It’s because people want to know, and you know what? There is no answer. There is no formula. No “I sit down and make the music and then I make the words”. It is always different. It always starts from inspiration. Inspiration can be an idea about the song, it can be lyrics, a couple of lines come first and then I think “Maybe I’ll put something around that”. It’s a feeling. As an artist, you learn to recognize the feeling. And then, you like the energy in it and you follow it. Sometimes it’s music. 

Sometimes I’ll just be playing around with the guitar and something comes out, and I think, “Oh, I like that”. Then you go from there. So it’s always different, but it’s always the inspiration that comes first. 

Is there anything that you haven’t done that you still want to do?

Yeah…sure…lots of stuff. There’s lots of things coming down the road. I’m writing a book right now. Oh, yeah, I’ve had a few things happen in my life that I kind of want to talk about. They will hopefully be inspiring. And then there’s always Broadway. I’d love to do Broadway. We’re working on that.

The last time we spoke, you had not yet been to Fire Island.

I have not. My wife says, “Honey, of all the people in the world, you should go”, but I’ve never gone. My wife says, “They’re going to take away your gay card“ because I’ve never been there. Maybe this is the time. 

If I could ask you any question on the planet, what might it be?

Wow…That’s funny because I have been asked just about every question in the whole wide world. How do I feel about my favorite football team trading one of my favorite players today?

I like that question.

I’m saddened to see one of the great wide receivers, Tyreek Hill, being traded to another AFC team, Miami. But I truly believe that our quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, is one of the greatest quarterbacks ever and that the Chiefs will still rise to the occasion. I’ll see them in the playoffs. That’s my answer.

Is there anything else that you want to add?

You know what, I would just like to emphasize that even if you’ve seen me before, especially if you’ve seen me before, you’re going to really want to try to get to the City Winery because it’s a unique thing that I won’t ever do much of, and it’s going to be a real special, intimate show.