Melissa Etheridge is back on the road with a new batch of songs in her considerable sonic arsenal with the recent release of her latest album, “This is M.E.” The new album finds the out and outspoken Grammy-winning rock singer, songwriter and activist exploring new territory as the songs are cowritten and recorded by a number of songwriters and producers from a wide range of musical genres.
Etheridge said that record-industry changes allowed her to explore different options when it came time to writing and recording a new album.
“A big part of that was the fact that this is my first independent record, and one of the biggest differences in going from the big corporate recording companies to an independent is you don’t have to have money up front to pay one big producer, so there was a different model of making the record,” she said. “I would go into a producer’s studio where they had musicians and their whole setup. I would go into their sandbox and play instead of them coming into mine. It enabled me to work with a bunch of different people without having to pay the money up front. It was giving them back end if I used the song. It enabled me to try out a bunch of different stuff.”
Etheridge said she decided to leave Island Records, the major label she has been recording with for more than 20 years, because the record business has changed so much in recent years.
“Record companies are just in an awful place,” she said. “It’s less and less every year. They don’t have the promotional budgets and they are likely after one song to cut off the whole thing and you are on your own. And I don’t own any of those records. Those masters are theirs. If you want to use ‘Come To My Window’ in a movie, you pay Island Records, which is the way it’s always been done. This record is mine. I own it 100 percent. I can actually make money on the record. So all of those choices were scary because you leave the protection of a huge conglomerate but yet it’s super exciting. It debuted at 21 on the charts. For an independent record, I’m all good with that.”
Etheridge said that, even though she is experimenting with different sounds, the new songs still have the elements her fans have come to expect.
“The core of the album is still me and my voice and my guitar and harmonica,” she said. “You can hear it all the way through. The difference is it’s like I was playing with different painters and each painting ended up having a different feel. I find a great thrill in bringing the best of technology and the best of organic sounds and blending it together. We have mandolin, banjo, cello and old slide dobro, and big huge crunchy techno drums and keyboard. It’s all smashed in together and I love that sound.”
Etheridge, who has produced some of her albums in the past, said she prefers to have another set of ears at the helm when creating and recording new music.
“I really do enjoy handing the technical production and getting each song off to someone else,” she said. “It enables me to concentrate on my vocals and the artistic side of it. Ultimately, I executive-produce everything but I love collaborating like this.”
Etheridge worked with writers like Jon Levine (Andy Grammer), Jerrod Bettis (Adele) and producers like Mark Batson (Grace Potter and The Nocturnals) on the new album, but said that one songwriter and producer she worked with was especially inspirational to her.
“I would have to say Jerry Wonda (The Fugees, Wyclef Jean),” she said when asked who had the most profound effect on her as a songwriter. “I went in to his studio in New York City and he had dozens of people it seemed. It was just a huge party all the time but everyone was so incredibly talented. He also introduced me to Angela Hunt, who is a songwriter. She did ‘Empire State of Mind’ with Alicia Keys. Just sitting next to her and collaborating with her, she just brought out the finer parts of me that I kind of left behind from my first album and second album, choices in melody that I wouldn’t have chosen nowadays. She really brought that back. So Jerry Wonda was such a good influence that he is going on tour with me. You’re going to experience that difference on stage.”
Etheridge did a solo tour this past summer for which she performed stripped-down versions of songs from her catalog but, for her upcoming tour, which hits Merriam Theater Nov. 4, she promises to have “more band than I have ever had on the road.”
With all the new influences on her sound, we asked Etheridge who she is listening to these days that might surprise her fans.
“Probably Drake,” she said. “My son listens to a lot of EDM and rap music. I have to tell you, I enjoy Drake — not always his lyrical content but his musical sense I really do enjoy.”
She added that she tries to expose her children to the music that influenced not only her, but also the modern artists they like.
“They love discovering music,” she said. “It’s a rite of passage for a teenager, to find the music that moves you and share it with your friends. The Internet is filled with that. My kids, I gave them a musical education. It was important for me that they knew things. ‘This is Marvin Gaye. This song here, it came from him.’ My daughter a few years ago came to me and said, ‘Have you heard of this guy named Sting?’ Uh, yeah, I got to work with him actually.”
When we last spoke to Etheridge, the world was a different place. Proposition 8 was still the law of the land in California and the idea of legalizing same-sex marriage was struggling to even get talked about and considered by lawmakers and spiritual leaders across the country. Now, the tide is turning.
Etheridge said she is happy to see the climate for the rights of LGBT individuals shift closer to where she thinks it should be.
“I was surprised that Prop. 8 passed in California,” she said. “I had to sit back and catch my breath on that. I always thought it would progress as it is progressing now. This feels right to me. I believe that our country and our society could never last on hatred and fear and making certain citizens or families second-class. That is not American. That is not what our country was built on. I believed and still do in our Constitution and how our government here in America is set up. I never knew how long it would take, but I knew we would get there and here we go. We finally have momentum.”
Melissa Etheridge performs 8 p.m. Nov. 4 at Merriam Theater, 250 S. Broad St. For more information or tickets, call 215-790-5800 or visit www.melissaetheridge.com.