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Event
Melissa Ferrick at the me&thee (The Western Den opens)
Melissa Ferrick's 12th original album is a coming home. She has arrived in a place musically that is both familiar and new. Melissa is a better writer, engineer, producer, and overall artist. The self-titled album is, in many ways, a new beginning for Ferrick. Written in just over a year, recorded at home, and released on her own relaunched label, Right On Records, Ferrick has given us a simple, eloquent, and honest acoustic album with an undeniable level of maturity. For long-time fans, this will be a welcome new arrival. For those who are just discovering Ferrick, this is a superb way to be introduced. A completely solo effort in its process, creation, and release, Melissa Ferrick is marking the middle of her career with a perfect return to songwriting, and to herself.
Melissa grew up in Ipswich, MA during the 70's, playing the violin and going to jazz clubs on the North Shore with her father, who managed local bands. In elementary school, she learned to play trumpet and bass guitar, which led the way to songwriting in high school. At 16, Melissa was accepted into the New England Conservatory's Youth Orchestra and Wind Ensemble as a trumpet player, giving her the opportunity to tour with the Conservatory's Extension Division, which traveled to perform in California and China. She was accepted to Berklee College of Music on songwriting and trumpet scholarships and chose to continue her music education there from 1988-1990. After two years playing Boston's local rock club scene, Melissa left school and moved to New York City. In 1990, Melissa lived on 14th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, playing at the Bitter End weekly and working at Right Track Recording studios and Chrysalis Records to learn the ropes of the business. In July of 1991, Melissa's phone rang and she was asked to open that night for Morrissey in Boston on his his "Kill Uncle" tour. She was invited to finish the U.S. dates with Morrissey and to continue on to the U.K. as his opening act. When she returned to the States, at 20 years old, she was offered deals with three major labels.
Melissa signed with Atlantic Records, and in 1993 she released her debut album, "Massive Blur." After her sophomore effort, "Willing to Wait," was released in 1995, Melissa was dropped by Atlantic Records. She regrouped and released three albums on Boulder, CO based W.A.R.? Records. In 2000, Ferrick founded her own label, Right On Records, and released a string of Albums and EPs. In 2010, before almost going bankrupt, Ferrick put her own label on hold and signed with NY based MPress Records. Melissa released two albums with MPress, 2011's "Still Right Here" and 2013's "the truth is." Still Right Here debuted on Billboard's Heat-Seekers Album Charts, won an 8th annual International Acoustic Music Award (IAMA), and garnered two Independent Music Award (IMA) nominations. The title track's music video premiered on the launch of Huffington Post's Gay site and won two RightOutTV awards. Ferrick was also a featured music honoree in OUT Magazine's OUT100 focusing on artists who make an impact on the community. 2013's "the truth is" was the first self-produced album since 2004 and an evolution in the sound she had developed over the course of her career. The record was also a creative departure in its collaborative approach to the recording process, hiring grammy award winning engineer Trina Shoemaker to mix the album remotely from Alabama and Independent Mastering to master the album from Nashville. The result was a sweeping Americana/Alt-Country record that won the 2014 Independent Music Award for Alt-Country Album of the Year Fan Vote.
Ferrick is also an eight-time Boston Music Award winner and regarded by the industry and her peers as one of the most prolific and hardworking artists in the business. Ferrick tours regularly and plays throughout North America, performing upwards of 100 shows a year. She has shared the stage with Morrissey, Marc Cohn, Paul Westerberg, Dwight Yoakam, John Hiatt, Weezer, Tegan and Sara, G-Love & Special Sauce, Bob Dylan, Dan Bern, Ani DiFranco, k.d. Lang, Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin, Joan Armatrading, Mike Doughty, The Indigo Girls and many others.
Melissa is booked nationwide by Silver Leaf Booking.
Melissa is also a part-time Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA.
The Western Den
Formed in February 2013, and driven by a shared passion to create music with purpose, The Western Den is the collaborative work of Deni Hlavinka and Chris West, who together, blend compelling folk harmonies with ambient textures to produce a sound all their own. The duo released their debut EP, 'Battle Hymns', in May 2013 and premiered themselves to the public, opening for Melissa Ferrick on the northeastern leg of her national tour, in the summer of the same year. They have since shared the stage with artists such as Meg Hutchinson, Saintseneca, Paula Cole, Mark Erelli, Melissa Etheridge and the Boston Pops.
Their newest EP, 'All The Birds' (released March 23rd, 2015), is available now for purchase and streaming on Bandcamp, and all other music distribution platforms.
"People under the spell of the Western Den often watch them with their heads tilted upwards, their mouths slightly open, pulsing subconsciously in time to the music. It's like observing someone having a very strange dream." (Zoe Atlas, Sound of Boston: Local Spotlight)
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Locationme&thee coffeehouse (View)
28 Mugford St
Marblehead, MA 01945
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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