Melissa Etheridge

Fearless Love, the new album from Melissa Etheridge, arrives two and a half years after her autobiographical The Awakening and six years after her battle with breast cancer. At this point, her accomplishments are endless and well-documented. This has allowed Etheridge to find herself in the enviable position of being able to make exactly the music she hears in her head and feels in her heart. In 2010, that music embodies much of what we’ve come to anticipate from Etheridge-giant, soaring melodies, her bold, expressive voice, plenty of musical, lyrical and emotional drama-and it also embraces a freshness, with the appearance of mandolin and more piano, and guest vocals from Joss Stone and Natasha Bedingfield. Fearless Love offers pounding rockers and whisper-light ballads, and nods to her musical muses are tastefully sprinkled to and fro. Fearless Love pulls no punches-again, very typical of Melissa Etheridge-as it expands the musical and topical boundaries that she has never stopped redrawing.

From Rolling Stone:

Melissa Etheridge’s latest reunites her with John Shanks – he started as her guitarist and became a producer for Bon Jovi, Miley Cyrus and others. “When we sat down, I said, ‘Let’s make that Zeppelin record we always wanted to make!’” says Etheridge.

The pair realized their goal on raucous, riff-y tracks like the title tune and “Nervous.” Etheridge really lets it rip on “Miss California,” about the state’s ban on gay marriage. “I thought California was so forward-thinking,” she says. “Proposition 8 was a reality call.”

August 2, 2010, 8:00 pm
Bass Concert Hall