Michelle Malone
Michelle Malone is an American award-winning singer-songwriter and guitarist in the folk, blues and Americana genres.
Debris, Michelle’s 10th release, is easily one of her most revealing and emotional discs. Helping her capture the mood is producer Nick Di Dia (Nick has been Brendon O’Brien’s engineer for 15 years, and has worked on recordings by Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Train, Matthew Sweet). Says Malone, “Nick is brilliant, and we found that we work very well together. He was able to translate the live grit of “Feather In A Hurricane” and “Undertow” and in the next breath illustrate his sensitivity and finesse on “14th Street and Mars” and “Debris”. He let the songs take us where they wanted to go.
Malone found herself tackling some serious subject matter while at the same time making that spirited soul-shaking music that she loves. She says, “I have to play these songs every night, so I need them to be fun – I want to have a good time, too.” If one line could capture the sentiment of Debris it would be, “Don’t you think it’s time to let your childhood go?” Michelle expounds, “Debris is basically a breakup record about a relationship that had me in a state of arrested development for over a decade. I wrote about the anger, the heartbreak, the humor, and the relief I finally found in the end.” Joining Malone in the studio were long time friend and heavy hitter Peter Stroud on guitar (Sheryl Crow), Phil Skipper on bass (Tinsley Ellis, Drag the River), Tony Reyes on keys (Dallas Austin, Gwen Stefani), and Dave Anthony on drums (Ike, Butch Walker).
The names of Michelle Malone’s ten albums serve as an autobiography; New Experience, Relentless, For You Not Them, Redemption Dream, Beneath the Devil Moon, Home Grown, Hello Out There, Stompin’ Ground, and last year’s critically acclaimed Sugarfoot. Her songs have appeared in the film and TV, and have been recorded by Indigo Girls (for which she received both gold and platinum records), Antigone Rising, and Vistoso Bosses. Her albums Sugar Foot and Debris were both on the Grammy Award ballot for best Contemporary Blues and Best Americana Albums respectively. She has been included on dozens of “Best Of” lists and won many awards throughout her career including 4 time best album (Atlanta magazine), 2 time best acoustic guitarist (Creative Loafing, IAC), Best Blues Guitarist (IAC.com), and 5 time female vocalist of the year (Creative Loafing).
Living a paraphrased line by one of her inspirations, Tina Turner, Michelle has never done anything nice and easy. She bit the major label lure and despite promises broken, indulgences extended and excesses expected, Michelle continued creating solid songs, introspective, energetic and impressive forays into bluesy rock as well as tasty pop nuggets. This wealth of material has enabled Malone, to tour and record for over 20 years, averaging over 150 days a year on the road and making fans all over the world.