Melissa Etheridge – You Sing I Write

Before the holidays, I had the pleasure of interviewing Melissa Etheridge. This wasn’t your typical artist interview, though. I’d be chatting with Melissa about Brandy Clark, who was recently nominated as Best New Artist at the GRAMMYs, and why Brandy deserves to win the award.

Melissa is a huge fan of Brandy’s, and when I asked her what she thought it meant for country music that Brandy was openly gay she confessed that she had no clue that she was and from the sound of her voice on the phone, it was evident that she was ecstatic. She even told me that she’d love to collaborate with Brandy in the future. Read an excerpt of my piece, an As Told To with Melissa Etheridge below. For the full chat, visit Radio.com.

“I’m a big fan of really classic country music. When I hear Brandy Clark, she reminds me of what I loved about Tammy Wynette, what I loved about Loretta Lynn. They were singing about the real woman’s experience.

There’s nothing slick about [Clark]. She is genuine. She’s a great writer. She knows how to write a great song from beginning to end, each verse, each line. I love that type of writing and singing and that kind of country music.

Oh my God, I did not know that she is gay. Lord have mercy, I’m jumping up and down here. Do you know what I love? I love that I read everything about her and it did not say that. It wasn’t like my bio 20 years ago. That was the first thing, that I was gay. Wow, well that makes me very happy.

I know that a couple artists have come out in country music. I feel like the boundaries that have kept people apart and kept people out of certain areas of music are coming down. I really wish the best for her. I’ve always stood by the thought: “If you are talented and honest about who you are and can deliver the goods and you don’t blame any failures because you are gay. If you just make it part of your life, people will accept it and you can succeed.” I think I’m starting to see that, and that’s really beautiful.

I just wish her the best, it just makes me so happy, her nomination. I will be watching for her. I hope she gets to perform something at the GRAMMYs, you never know.

Maybe they will invite me down there [to Nashville] someday now. Call me, Brandy! I’m available.”

I’m not quite sure why, but I keep running into famous artists in the bathroom at work. I guess it’s not a huge surprise since we have musicians come in almost every day at CBS but it remains to catch me off guard.

A few months ago my boss had Neon Trees in for an interview and since she was playing their music all morning I had one of their songs, “Animal” stuck in my head. Walking into the bathroom I was definitely humming it when I realized the drummer was at the sink washing her hands. I was pretty mortified and couldn’t think quick enough to say anything witty so I simply said nothing at all.

Yesterday, I walked into the bathroom at work and there was a line (there’s never a line in the girl’s room — at least at work). Out of the stall comes Melissa Etheridge. THE Grammy Award Winning Melissa Etheridge. She was joking of how the toilet wouldn’t flush as if she was one of our co-workers and we all just stared, most likely thinking the same thing: Melissa Etheridge is in the bathroom and she’s talking to us!

When I went into the stall I noticed a pair of glasses and immediately told my friend, “I think these are Melissa Etheridge’s glasses!”

“Well, go give them to her,” she said.

For some reason all common sense just escaped from me. On my way out to find her she came back in looking for her glasses and thanked me. All I could think was, “I just met Melissa Etheridge in the bathroom and held her glasses in my hand!”

I don’t have too many starstruck moments but this was definitely one of them.