Christine Gerity
Amanda James Dill
Folk-rock, lesbian singer/songwriter Melissa Ferrick to release first studio album in five years
by ELORA TOCCI
Melissa Ferrick has recorded 12 albums and shared stages with the likes of Morrissey, Bob Dylan and Ani DiFranco.
But when her sister calls and needs her help, Melissa is there in a flash. “She has three kids, so when she calls I’ve kinda gotta jump,” Melissa says.
Striking that balance between work and a personal life has always been a challenge for the singer-songwriter. She signed with a record label at the age of 20 and has been making music ever since. She works hard to create and promote her music and sometimes neglects to take care of herself physically and emotionally, which has led to exhaustion. “I put my well-being on the back burner, and I had to relearn that I can only do so much, which was really difficult,” she says.
But out of difficulty has come the folk-rock music into which Melissa pours her heart. She calls herself a “feel-based writer” and uses her own life experiences to guide her work. “I’m not a third-person writer,” she says. “I’m really interested in the human experience, and my writing comes out of the experiences I’m going through.”
While some of those experiences have been difficult, she finds inspiration in happier times as well. Her new record “Still Right Here“, which drops in September, features laid-back, happier music. Her music evolves naturally, coming not from a preconceived template of songs but from the course her life takes. Some songs in the last year and a half started and then fizzled out, but ten strong songs came together for her album.
The upcoming record boasts what Melissa believes is one of the lyrically strongest songs she’s ever written, “You Let Me Be.” It also features more melodic music. Melissa started working on her melodies on her 2006 album, “In the Eyes of Strangers,” and has developed them on each successive record. “It’s really nice to keep taking steps in that direction,” she says.
The sound quality on Melissa’s records has fluctuated throughout the years, as she bounced among producers. Her first album, “Willing to Wait,” was recorded with an established producer, but some of her records after that were made with indie labels or in garage studios, creating a much different sound. “The sound depends on how much money you’re allotted to make albums, and the sounds and machines and studios you’re using really affect what you can produce,” she says. But she counteracts the sound discrepancies by trying to keep her voice, guitar playing and writing consistent.
That consistency has translated into a loyal fan base for Melissa, who tours all across the country each time she puts out a new album. She meets fans all the time who tell her stories about the intersection of her music with their own lives and the role her music has played in their lives. “Those are some of the most interesting stories I hear,” she says.
She also makes friends with other artists, both in her home base of Boston and across the country, with whom she can collaborate and commiserate. “We all support each other with all the life things we go through,” she says. She adds: “You can’t put a price on that.”
That sense of community is reflected in the people Melissa’s music attracts. As an open lesbian herself, she estimates that 70 to 80 percent of her audiences consist of gay women of all ages. “But, while 70 or 80 percent identify as queer, the rest of the people in the audience who aren’t sleeping with someone of the same gender would identify as queer anyway,” she says with a laugh. “It’s mostly people who are hippies, liberals, open-minded. It’s a little bit of a ‘70s throwback – people who believe in freedom and want to be accepted for who they are.”
And Melissa wouldn’t have it any other way. “I just want people to love my music because they love my music,” she says. “I don’t care if they’re queer or not.”
She knew on a soul level before she even began making music that she was queer, and her sexual identity does not influence her music any more than a straight person’s identity does. And while higher ticket sales make paying her mortgage easier, she doesn’t need to sell out in order to make millions of dollars – in fact, she doesn’t need much more than her car, house and guitars.
“I just want people to come to my shows and like my music because it makes them feel good inside.”
