Experience singer-songwriter and guitarist Melissa Etheridge live on her “This is M.E.” album tour Saturday, Feb. 27, presented by the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center.
Etheridge is known for her raspy, powerhouse voice and folksy rock ‘n’ roll songs, including “Bring Me Some Water,” “Ain’t It Heavy,” “I’m the Only One,” “Come to My Window,” “Angels Would Fall” and more. With this album, her 12th collection of new material, she is not alone as a songwriter. For the vibrant collection she teamed with some of the most creative, inventive figures at the forefront of the music scene.
“It’s still me — I’m just riding around in different cars,” she said in a statement about the album on her website. “Music is a collaborative art anyway. I gave it everything I could and pushed my creativity more than I ever have, by collaboration. Collaboration is not compromise. It’s a plus, bringing in people who make what I do better.”
It was a very new way of doing things for the artist, who counts two Grammy Awards and 17 nominations, an Academy Award (for “I Need To Wake Up” from the Al Gore documentary “An Inconvenient Truth”), a Songwriter of the Year award from the American Society of Composers and Performers, and a star on the Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame among her many accolades.
The show is set for 8 p.m. in UAB’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. Tickets are $53, $63 and $73. UAB students and faculty may purchase $25 tickets; a limited number are available for each ASC show. All members of the UAB family may receive a 20 percent discount on single tickets for all shows. Call 205-975-2787 or visit www.AlysStephens.org for more details.
Recording the new album proved an inspiring, electrifying experience for Etheridge — the best kind of challenge, according to her bio — and the resultant energy is clear in the songs. The album’s declarative title is fitting, not despite the collaborations, but because of them. The powerful lyrics and incomparable voice, the indelible melodies, the blazing guitars could be from no one else. Soulful joy and unbridled passion power every note, from the big sing-along pop hooks of “A Little Hard Hearted” and “Do It Again” to the swampy sounds of “Ain’t That Bad” and “Stranger Road.”
“I haven’t been this excited about making music and creating in ages,” Etheridge said. “Song after song was a great experience.”