Michelle Malone is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.[1] Born and raised in Atlanta, she started performing in bands and writing songs as a teenager. Initially, she would sign with Arista Records after performing around parts of Atlanta. Soon after, she would release an album entitled Relentless with her band Drag the River. She would also collaborate with The Harshed Mellows with the song "U.S. Blues" for the tribute album Deadicated. She would again switch labels, going to Velvel Records, but decided to found her own record company, SBS Records.[2]
Throughout the following years, she would release a multitude of albums. In the 2000s she would release Debris (2009) and Sugar Foot (2006), with the former supported by a tour throughout North America and Europe. The following decade Malone would continue with Day 2 (2012) and Acoustic Winter (2014), with both having a combined tour.
Malone's other solo studio albums include New Experience (1988), Dream (1994), Home Grown (1999), Hello Out There (2001), Stompin' Ground (2003), Strange Bird: Volume 4 (2003), Stronger Than You Think (2015), and Slings & Arrows (2018).
Biography
Malone was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, by her mother and grandmother, both professional singers. Malone first began performing at age four in a church choir, and later learned to play saxophone, guitar, and drums, which she played in her first band at age twelve.[citation needed]
As a teenager, Malone began to write songs. While studying voice at Agnes Scott College, she began performing professionally in and around Atlanta. She left school upon receiving a recording contract from Clive Davis at Arista Records, for whom she recorded, with her band Drag the River, the album Relentless, produced by Lenny Kaye of the Patti Smith Group. She later signed with Walter Yetnikoff at his Velvel Records label. In 1992 Malone started her own label, SBS Records, and continues to record and tour.[3]
Over the course of her 30-year career, Malone has won numerous awards including Best Female Vocalist and Best Acoustic Guitarist (Creative Loafing), and Album of the Year (Atlanta Magazine). Her albums Sugar Foot and Debris, released on SBS Records, were both on the Grammy Award ballot for best Contemporary Blues and Best Americana Albums respectively. Her songs have appeared in the films Bam Bam and Celeste, All Over Me, and Shotgun Jesus and television programs True Blood, Dawson's Creek, Felicity, and Brooklyn South, and have been recorded by Indigo Girls (for which she received both gold and platinum records), Antigone Rising, and Vistoso Bosses. Malone appeared with The Harshed Mellows on a recording of the song "U.S. Blues" for the Grateful Dead tribute album Deadicated (Arista Records, 1991). She was also featured in a Georgia Tourism TV commercial with Elton John in 1994. In 2010, Malone took part in a virtual concert performing to a screen displaying avatars, as part of Michael Nesmith's Video Ranch 3D project.[4]
Malone recorded and released Debris, on her own SBS Records label and distributed by Thirty Tigers in Nashville, Tennessee. It was produced and engineered by Nick Didia. Musicians on the CD include Peter Stroud (guitar), Phil Skipper (bass), Trish Land (percussion), Trina Meade (backing vocals), Tony Reyes (bass, backing vocals), Angela Kaset (piano) and Dave Anthony (drums).[7] Touring extensively in support of Debris, Malone and her band (consisting of Alabama natives Ryan Keef, Katie Herron) performed throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe.
Malone recorded and released Day 2 in 2012, produced with Shawn Mullins and Gerry Hansen, with contributing musicians Randall Bramblett, Chuck Leavell, Phil Skipper, Gerry Hansen and Tom Ryan.[8] In January 2014, she released Acoustic Winter, produced and engineered by Gerry Hansen and Ben Holst.[9]
In 2014, Malone toured in support of her Acoustic Winter and Day 2 CDs, as well as toured with Kristian Bush of Sugarland in support of his solo release Southern Gravity. Malone plays acoustic and electric guitar, mandolin, and harmonica and sings backing vocals in Kristian Bush's band.[10] She also wrote her record "Stronger Than You Think" during this time and released it in 2017.
In 2018, Michelle released her 15th studio album Slings and Arrows to critical acclaim. It was recorded in four days live in the studio at Bakos Amp Works with Doug Kees on Guitar, Robby Handley on bass, Trish Land on percussion, and Christopher Burroughs. Michelle Malone produced it, Jeff Bakos engineered it, and Gerry Hansen mixed it at Creekside Studios. The record was written, recorded, and performed in Georgia by Georgia musicians.[11] It debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard Blues Albums Chart.[12] Malone is currently on tour in support of Slings and Arrows Malone is also currently working on a Christmas album with her new holiday group, the jazzy cocktail trio Michelle Malone and The Hot Toddies with Doug Kees on guitar and Robby Handley on upright bass. In 2019, Malone and her Band appeared on the Southern Rock Cruise 2019 with Blackberry Smoke, Kentucky Headhunters, Atlanta Rhythm Section, Dickey Betts, Marshall Tucker Band, and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
The Black Crowes are an American rock band formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1984. Their discography includes eight studio albums, four live albums and several charting singles. The band was signed to Def American Recordings in 1989 by producer George Drakoulias and released their debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, the following year. Their follow-up, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, reached the top of the Billboard 200 in 1992. The albums Amorica (1994), Three Snakes and One Charm (1996), By Your Side (1999), and Lions (2001) followed, with each showing moderate popularity but failing to capture the chart successes of the band's first two albums. After a hiatus from 2002 to 2005, the band regrouped and toured for several years before releasing Warpaint in 2008, which reached number 5 on the Billboard chart.
Hot Tuna is an American blues rock band formed in 1969 by former Jefferson Airplane members Jorma Kaukonen (guitarist/vocals) and Jack Casady (bassist). Although it has always been a fluid aggregation, with musicians coming and going over the years, the band's center has always been Kaukonen and Casady's ongoing collaboration.
John Dawson Winter III was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter and record producer. Winter was known for his high-energy blues rock albums, live performances and slide guitar playing from the late 1960s into the early 2000s. He also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues singer and guitarist Muddy Waters. After his time with Waters, Winter recorded several Grammy-nominated blues albums. In 1988, he was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame and in 2003, he was ranked 63rd in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
Michelle Wright is a Canadian country music artist. She is one of the country's most widely recognized and awarded female country singers of the 1990s, winning the Canadian Country Music Association's Fans' Choice Award twice. In 2011, Wright was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.
James Henry Cotton was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who performed and recorded with many fellow blues artists and with his own band. He also played drums early in his career.
Forrest Richard Betts is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and composer best known as a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band.
Tinsley Ellis is an American blues and rock musician, who was born in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, and grew up in South Florida. According to Billboard, "nobody has released more consistently excellent blues albums than Atlanta's Tinsley Ellis. He sings like a man possessed and wields a mean lead guitar."
Warren Haynes is an American musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known for his work as longtime guitarist with the Allman Brothers Band and as founding member of the jam band Gov't Mule. Early in his career he was a guitarist for David Allan Coe and The Dickey Betts Band. Haynes also is known for his associations with the surviving members of the Grateful Dead, including touring with Phil Lesh and Friends and the Dead. In addition, Haynes founded and manages Evil Teen Records.
Charles Alfred Leavell is an American musician. A member of the Allman Brothers Band throughout their commercial zenith in the 1970s, he subsequently became a founding member of the band Sea Level. He has served as the principal touring keyboardist and musical director of the Rolling Stones since 1982. As a session musician, Leavell has performed on every Rolling Stones studio album released since 1983 with the exception of Bridges to Babylon (1997). He has also toured and recorded with Eric Clapton, George Harrison, David Gilmour, Gov't Mule and John Mayer.
"Jessica" is an instrumental piece by American rock band the Allman Brothers Band, released in December 1973 as the second single from the group's fourth studio album, Brothers and Sisters (1973). Written by guitarist Dickey Betts, the song is a tribute to gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, in that it was designed to be played using only two fingers on the left hand.
Sea Level was an American rock band from Macon, Georgia. Formed in 1976, the band was an offshoot of the Allman Brothers Band. Between 1977 and 1980, the band released five studio albums which incorporated elements of funk, blues and Latin music.
Bruce Hampton was an American musician. He was a key figure in the Atlanta, Georgia music scene, mentoring numerous other musicians who became national stars. His own musical style was avant-garde, combining elements of jazz, fusion, southern rock and jam band styles.
Drag the River was a rock band based in Atlanta, Georgia featuring singer/songwriter Michelle Malone. They began as a collection of Atlanta rock-scene mainstays, performing Malone's original songs at local venues such as Little Five Points Pub and Avondale Towne Cinema, often featuring guests from other local bands, including The Indigo Girls, Kristen Hall, and others.
El Ten Eleven is an American, Los Angeles-based, post-rock duo, known for combining guitar/bass doubleneck or fretless bass, with heavy looping, or vamping, and the use of an effects pedal, over acoustic or electric drumming. They have released ten full-length albums, 2 EPs and a remix album, earning generally positive reviews.
Deadicated: A Tribute to the Grateful Dead is a 1991 tribute album with music of the Grateful Dead performed by various artists.
Whatever's for Us is the debut album of British singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading. The album was a collaboration between Armatrading and singer-songwriter Pam Nestor. At the time the two were musical partners and wrote over a hundred songs together. Armatrading sings lead vocals and plays piano and acoustic guitar, while Nestor co-wrote most of the songs.
Larkin Poe is an American roots rock band led by sisters Rebecca Lovell and Megan Lovell. The band originated in north Georgia and is currently based in Nashville, Tennessee. Larkin Poe is known for their strong southern harmonies, heavy electric guitar riffs, slide guitar, and their music often draws comparisons to the style of the Allman Brothers. The Lovell sisters have gained recognition for their energetic performances and musical prowess.
Innes Sibun is a British blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He has released eleven albums to date. His most recent was Blues Transfusion (2015).
Beneath the Devil Moon is an album by the American musician Michelle Malone, released in 1997.
Betts, Hall, Leavell and Trucks, often referred to as BHLT, was an American musical group that existed from 1982 to 1984 and that featured former members of The Allman Brothers Band and Wet Willie. Despite a positive reception for their live performances, the group never got a recording contract.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
