By JACKIE MOE
With her signature raspy voice and powerful presence, Melissa Etheridge remains a force in the music industry, captivating fans old and new alike.
While on the road for her I’m Not Broken Tour, Etheridge took a break from rehearsals to chat with Backstage SoCal over Zoom. Her infectious energy fills the virtual room, making it clear that she’s still every bit the rock legend all has come to know for over three decades.
On Sunday, October 13, the Grammy and Academy Award-winning folk-artist will grace the stage at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts (CCPA), where fans can expect a mix of her greatest hits, as well as deep cuts from her expansive catalog.
In addition to her I’m Not Broken Tour, Melissa Etheridge is set to make waves with her upcoming two-part docuseries, MELISSA ETHERIDGE: I’M NOT BROKEN, which premiered this year on Paramount+. The series follows the rock icon as she embarks on a profound journey of connection and healing, using her music to tell the stories of incarcerated women from her hometown of Kansas.
Inspired by letters written by five female inmates at the Topeka Correctional Facility, Etheridge channels their experiences into an original song, which she performs for them. In the process, she delves deep into themes of female incarceration, addiction, trauma, and redemption.
Backstage SoCal chatted about her tour, what keeps her going, and the new projects she’s been working on.
Here are some highlights from the conversation:
On Etheridge’s inspiration for the two-part Paramount+ docuseries “I’m Not Broken”:
“Well, I grew up in Leavenworth, Kansas, and if you know of Leavenworth at all, you think of the big federal penitentiary that’s there. So I grew up in a prison town. Not only is that penitentiary there, there’s four other prisons that are within 20 miles of my home. And growing up there in the sixties, Johnny Cash came. He came and performed at the prison.
We didn’t get to see him. No one in the town saw him, just the prison. And I thought, wow, prisons must be a place of great entertainment or something. You know, this is something you do is go in there. And then later when I was in high school, I actually went into all of those prisons and did shows and different sorts of performances, and I saw how much music meant to people that didn’t have a whole lot of joy every day, and how they responded, how appreciative they were.”
“In the nineties, I was speaking with Tammy Wynette. We were good friends and we were actually ready to go into a prison. We were gonna do it with HBO, and then she got sick and she passed away. And I always was like, I gotta do this. This is something that was near and dear to my heart, and it took a long time. But finally, the right people, the right warden, the prison, the right everything, and it just happened last year.”
On performing her personal, emotional hits from over the years:
“I’m in an incredible relationship. I’m married and very, very happy, and it’s been, you know, years and years and years and years. And I figured that part out of my life and about how I need to love myself first before I can expect someone else to love me…. I’m not the, ‘I’m the Only One’ woman anymore, but boy, when I sing it, it’s a lot of fun because it’s not a heartbreak to me anymore. It’s not hard. It’s more triumphant. So I can go back and still sing those songs. I love to do it. That’s my favorite part of the concert is when I play the hit songs and everybody goes crazy….I still love it though, and revel in the memory of it all.”
On favorite moments of her career:
“Well, the awards are fun. That’s a lovely thing to go, ‘ooh, you know, I won that’ and I get to put the hardware up on on the shelf, and those are fun. It’s not why I do this. Some of my favorite moments are when I can see someone having an experience in the audience, you know, when someone really, loves what they do. When I can get to collaborate with some people that I’d always dreamed of. Like singing with Bruce Springsteen, that was, you know, huge for me in the nineties. He was a huge influence. And, you know, collaborations, it’s just enjoying it every step of the way now. It’s fun.”
On what she wants her audiences to take home from her concerts:
“To me, my whole intention is to lift people up. That when they come to the show, they might be one way, but boy, when they leave, they’re gonna feel lighter. They’re gonna feel better. They’re gonna just, they won’t even know why, you know, that they’re just gonna feel better about themselves. They’re gonna holler and get some emotions out. They’re gonna enjoy some really good music. They’re gonna be surprised at all the instruments I play and how well I play the guitar. They’re just gonna be surprised and delighted. And that’s what I want the audience to leave, going, ‘Wow. I was surprised and delighted.’”
MELISSA ETHERIDGE
What: I’m Not Broken Tour, featuring a performance of her greatest hits and new material
When: Sunday, October 13 at 7:00 PM
Where: Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts (CCPA)
Tickets: Starting at $54, available for purchase through the CCPA website or box office.
More info: https://ccpa.cerritos.gov/
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