Unbreakable: A Chat with Melissa Etheridge
An honest Q&A with the resilient rocker
Few people have experienced the highs and lows of the music business to the degree that Melissa Etheridge has.
Since releasing her self-titled debut in 1988, she has won two Grammys (and been nominated for many others); been hailed as the second coming of Janis Joplin; won the Gibson Award for Best Female Rock Guitarist; become a Mom several times over; been a social activist for the LGBTQ community, for terminally ill adults and people with opioid addiction; performed in Times Square on New Year’s Eve; and written two books. Not bad for a queer kid from Leavenworth, Kansas!
That said, Etheridge has also suffered more than her share of setbacks. She has weathered a couple of high profile divorces; endured a battle with breast cancer (who can forget her duet with Joss Stone at the 2005 Grammys, in which she took the stage bald after undergoing chemotherapy); and, just a few years back, lost her son Beckett to opioid addiction.
The one constant throughout all these ups and downs has been her music, a brand of heartland rock that manages to be personal and universal at the same time. Etheridge is nearly as popular with blue collar males as she is with lesbians owing to her raspy vocals, formidable guitar chops and unpretentious persona. And she’s racked up an impressive list of hits including “Bring Me Some Water,” “Ain’t It Heavy,” “I’m the Only One,” “Come To My Window” and “I Want To Come Over.”
In the last few years, though she hasn’t released a new studio album, Etheridge has been incredibly busy. She performed a one-woman show on Broadway; published her second book, Talking to My Angels; and most recently, unveiled a new live album. I’m Not Broken: Live from the Topeka Correctional Facility finds Etheridge performing a mix of big hits, deep cuts and covers to a crowd of incarcerated women in her native Kansas. It’s a powerful performance.
I recently had a chance to talk with Etheridge for Rock & Roll Globe about her past and present.
Let’s start with the new album — I’m Not Broken: Live from the Topeka Correctional Facility. Tell me about not just the album — but what playing there meant to you being that you grew up in Kansas.
Well, it had been a longtime dream. It’s funny. Growing up in Leavenworth, we’re known for prisons there. We’re known for the big federal penitentiary. When I was about six, seven or eight years old — right around there — Johnny Cash actually came to the penitentiary and did a show for the prisoners. No one in the town got to see him, no one in Kansas City (laughs). Nobody did except the prisoners. And at that point, I thought, “Prisons must be a place to find entertainment!” You know, a goal of mine was to perform at a prison.
Certainly after I got a little older, I realized that was a very unique situation and not many people did that! I was actually involved in my teenage years in some variety shows that did go into every single one of those prisons and perform.
So I’ve been inside. I know how much they appreciate live entertainment. When everybody asks why I wanna do it, I always say [that] I really like to highlight what is going on in our punishment system. How we think of it as punishment and not as rehabilitation.
It’s a nice mix of the familiar and the lesser known songs. You also do a cover of “Born Under A Bad Sign.” I knew that tune from listening to Cream, but wasn’t it originally done by Albert King?
Albert King, yes. I had originally done it on my Stax tribute album, Memphis Rock and Soul. It was a song I was familiar with. So I thought, “Oh yeah, I wanna bring in the blues.” You know, that song is perfect.
VIDEO: Melissa Etheridge: I’m Not Broken trailer
My understanding is that there’s gonna be a companion docuseries coming out later this summer, also called I’m Not Broken. Can you give me a little info about that and where we can find it?
Yes. It’s a two-part docuseries on Paramount Plus.
And they filmed the concert. It was also about a year of them — the documentary crew — following me around and also going into the prison. There were five inmates, or residents, that were communicating with me. They would write me letters. And so I kind of got to know their stories and really get them into my mind and into my heart. [That] enabled me to write a song, “A Burning Woman,” about them and perform it for them.
So the docuseries really shows myself creating it; telling the story about my son; going into the concert; meeting the woman; doing the [show]. The [whole] process, how I was affected by it and how the inmates were.
I myself have not been to Kansas; I have interviewed a couple of other musicians from there and heard a little about it. Doesn’t seem like the most progressive state in the union! (she laughs) What was it like growing up in the ‘70s, knowing that you were in queer in a place like Leavenworth, Kansas as opposed to, say, here in New York City?
Oh Gosh! Very, very different. Yes, Kansas is very conservative. Yet where I grew up, Leavenworth, is very unique. Leavenworth had a fort that was a part of the city, Ft. Leavenworth. So we had this one high school and every year we’d get a whole new crop of kids — officers’ kids, who had been all around the world. So you got this feeling of it [being] more than just this small town. And we were just 45 minutes from Kansas City; Missouri was just over the river.
Still, it was the ‘70s. There was not a single mention of gay, homosexual lesbian — nothing! And yet, when I came out, Leavenworth really embraced me. It was sort of how everything was in the ‘70s. You know, you didn’t talk about it [but] I remember seeing in magazines — like TIME magazine, on the cover. [They] were talking about the gay liberation [that] was happening in New York City. It was exciting to see that and go, “Wait a minute, I think that’s what I am.” But goodness! New York was ahead of us.
AUDIO: Melissa Etheridge “Scarecrow”
[There’s] one of your songs which I only heard for the first time four or five years ago — my friend Jeff [introduced] me to it. It came to mind because I recently saw a production of The Laramie Project — and I thought of your song “Scarecrow” again. It wasn’t one of your big hits, but it’s quite a moving song. I wanted to ask your thoughts about writing the song [or] about Matthew Shepard.
(slowly) Well… It really hit me because [that took place] when my partner was pregnant with Beckett, actually. I knew I was having a son. And to lose a son like that was very powerful to me. [I wanted] to create something to remember the story — to not let it fade away. To have it always there.
It’s funny because it seemed like that was the start of the second wave of the LGBT movement, you know? When the sadness and the horror is just too much for us to bear. And I think we were also able to reach our allies because they realized what was being done to us. It was a very pivotal time in the LGBTQ history.
I can’t let you go without [also] asking you about my favorite song of yours, which is “Ain’t It Heavy.” I”m sure you’ve been asked [about it] a zillion times, but it’s gonna be a zillion and one! Just any memories you have about that song.
Oh, “Ain’t It Heavy?” That’s cool! Actually, that’s not one that people ask [about] very often. So I appreciate you [asking].
On the third album, Never Enough, I got quote-unquote experimental. You know, it was my third studio album. So I did stuff like “2001” and “Must Be Crazy” and those kinda songs. But “Ain’t It Heavy” was a straightforward rocker. On that third album, I was walking the line between [thinking] “Oh God, people are gonna know that I’m gay.” I’m just kinda singing “Spread these wings and I’m on for the ride” and all that stuff. I’m like, “They’re gonna know!” (she laughs) But I was alright with people knowing. I [just] wanted to present a strong kinda rock ‘n’ roll song.
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