Lady ‘Boss’ keeps it simple and sincere

Jonathan Weber

Friday, June 25, 1999 | 3:24 a.m.

In the rough and tumble world of rock 'n' roll, there are a few givens.

No. 1: Stars can be jerks.

No. 2: There's plenty of drug experimentation.

No. 3: Girls can't rock.

But where there's a rule, there's an exception. In each of these three rules, Melissa Etheridge is just that.

"I always thought, 'Oh God, if I was an ass - - - - or had a drug problem, I'd be so famous,"' Etheridge quipped in Rolling Stone last June. Several months later, and only days away from her third Las Vegas appearance in five years, Etheridge's good nature is alive and kicking.

"I've always enjoyed Las Vegas," Etheridge said Friday with a slight rasp left over from the previous night's Event Center gig in San Jose, Calif. "It's a side of America that I really like. I like that people are coming there from everywhere else."

Etheridge knows about heading out West. Twelve years ago, the 32-year-old Kansas native migrated to California in search of a record deal, bringing her Midwest rock 'n' roll style with her. These days, in response to the media's comparison of Etheridge with fellow grass-roots rocker Bruce Springsteen, she isn't irritated with being stereotyped or pigeonholed; she's grateful.

"That's where I came from -- middle America," Etheridge says. "I admire (Springsteen's) work, craft and career. Whenever I'm compared to him, I take that as a compliment."

Etheridge's newest release, "Yes I Am," features powerful, anthem-like vocals in the spitting image of the Boss. Likewise, Etheridge relies on easily accessible topics of love and desire, each song displaying varying degrees of personal isolation. Musically, there's plenty of acoustic guitar, accordion and strings to keep things nice and sincere.

"Songs are very personal," Etheridge said. "I come from what I know and feel. It's just my perspective.

"Isolation is certainly an issue, but it's not the only issue. It's about my outlook and direction. My writing tends to be my experience -- isolation and the rest of it."

In terms of her ever-increasing fan base, Etheridge seems compelled not to isolate or otherwise limit her following to middle America. In an effort to expand her listening audience, Etheridge brokered an opening spot with Sting's U.S. tour last February, as well as this summer's Eagles tour.

"I took a step up this year," Etheridge says. "I wanted to reach more people. I definitely will take the (opportunities) as they come."

For the time being, Etheridge is back to headlining her own shows and bringing live studio sound qualities back with her on tour. Unlike most recording-session products that are eventually coated with a certain amount of studio gloss, "Yes I Am" is unusually simple and clean. According to Etheridge, it was written, produced and recorded to be fully reproducible in concert.

"Every time we ran into an obstacle," Etheridge recalled, "we didn't say, 'What can we do to fix it electronically?' We've always been very live-oriented."

Etheridge prefers recording music and vocals in as few takes as possible. Rather than painstakingly laying down one instrument track at a time (a normal procedure these days), Etheridge insisted her band play through the songs together.

"In the studio, you have to trust the players, that the take you got was the best it can be. You leave the humanness in it. That's the risk you take."

For Las Vegas fans who have yet to risk the ticket price on seeing the '93 Grammy Award winner (Best Female Rock Performance) in concert, Etheridge offers her personal guarantee:

"The live show is the best thing I do. You'll leave with more than you came with."

archive