BIO

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Michelle Malone is an American award-winning singer-songwriter and guitarist in the Southern Rock, folk, blues and Americana genres.

2012 UPDATE BIO

 

2009 DEBRIS BIO

Armed with a bottleneck slide, harmonica, and her signature soul-filled vocals, Michelle Malone was born in the Deep South and grew up listening to her mother sing in the church choir every Sunday. When it came time to craft her own sound, she took those religious roots, and blended in enough rock, folk, and country-blues to satisfy. The result is, Debris, a high-spirited stripped down blend of rootsy acoustic slide, gritty electric blues and explosive vocals that harkens back to the lost recordings of Bonnie Raitt, Lucinda Williams and The Rolling Stones.

Debris, Michelle’s 10th release, is easily her most revealing and emotional recordings to date. Malone found herself tackling some serious subject matter while at the same time making that spirited soul-shaking music that she loves. She says, “I have to play these songs every night, so I need them to be fun – I want to have a good time, too.” If one line could capture the sentiment of Debris it would be, “Don’t you think it’s time to let your childhood go?” Michelle expounds, “Debris is basically a breakup record about a relationship that had me in a state of arrested development for over a decade. I wrote about the anger, the heartbreak, the humor, and the relief I finally found in the end.”

Helping her capture the mood is producer Nick Di Dia (Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Train, Matthew Sweet). Says Malone, “Nick is brilliant, and we found that we work very well together. He was able to translate the live grit of “Feather In A Hurricane” and “Undertow” and in the next breath illustrate his sensitivity and finesse on “14th Street and Mars” and “Debris”. He let the songs take us where they wanted to go. Joining Malone in the studio were long time friend and heavy hitter Peter Stroud on guitar (Sheryl Crow), Phil Skipper on bass (Tinsley Ellis, Drag the River), Tony Reyes on keys (Dallas Austin, Gwen Stefani), and Dave Anthony on drums (Ike, Butch Walker).

The names of Michelle Malone’s ten albums serve as an autobiography; New Experience, Relentless, For You Not Them, Redemption Dream, Beneath the Devil Moon, Home Grown, Hello Out There, Stompin’ Ground, and last year’s critically acclaimed Sugarfoot. Over the course of her 20 year career, Malone has appeared on countless “best of” lists and has been the recipient of such awards as Best Female Vocalist (five times) and Best Acoustic Guitarist (three times) Creative Loafing, Studio Album of the Year (Atlanta Magazine), and Live Album of the year. Sugarfoot was voted best Americana record of 2006 by Indie Acoustic Project. 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, Shotgun Jesus and television programs True Blood, Dawson’s Creek, Felicity, Brooklyn South, have been recorded by Indigo Girls (for which Malone received both gold and platinum records), Antigone Rising, Hannah Thomas, and Vistoso Bosses. Here are a few little known facts about Michelle Malone: Malone has also been featured in a Georgia Tourism TV commercial with Elton John. The Collectible card game Magic: The Gathering was named in part after her song The Gathering (copyright 1988, Sony Music/Famous Music/Cold Cocked Music).

Michelle has never done anything nice and easy. She bit the major label lure (signed by both Clive Davis and Walter Yetnikoff) and despite promises broken, indulgences and expected excess, Michelle has continued her musical journey into forays of introspective, energetic and award-winning Americana, country blues and rock. This wealth of material has enabled Malone to tour and record for over 20 years, averaging over 150 days a year on the road and making fans all over the world.

The Michelle Malone Banned (Phil Skipper on Bass, Jon Radford on drums, Tim Tucker on Keys and vocals, Trish Land on vocals and Tamborine) is currently touring the USA and abroad in search of the perfect cup of coffee.

Michelle’s live show is not to be missed—she can make the biggest venues seem as cozy as a campfire, and an intimate venue feel like the center of the universe. Michelle Malone has collaborated on stage and/or in the studio with such artists as with blues legends Albert King, Charlie Musselwhite, Johnny Winter, Little Feat, Robert Cray, Keb Mo, Sonny Landreth, Marsha Ball, Lonnie Brooks and Chris Whitley, as well as Indigo Girls, John Mayer, SugarLand, Shawn Mullins, Steve Earle, K.T. Tunstall, Shawn Colvin, Jackson Browne and Joan Osborne, to name a few.

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CRITICAL RESPONSE

Malone is “the kind of singer and songwriter who can jolt things into overdrive” (New York Times).

“raucous and jubilant – somewhere between Lucinda Williams and Shelby Lynne comes Malone alternating between soulful ballads and rowdy, riffy blasters.” (Rolling Stone)

“4 out of 5 Bunnies “… on this loose and blues-stoked new album, Malone churns up those Southern roots with the vigor of Lucinda Williams while embracing her inner Keith Richards.” – (Playboy)

“Her lyrics ripple with Dylanish imagery and a fierce will to survive.” (Mademoiselle)

“Malone has become a master at mixing blues and Americana” (Guitar Player Magazine)

“Malone’s blazing blend of slide and amped up country twang is equal parts ZZ Top and Willie Nelson, and her band fits on a huge stage at a European blues festival just as well as they do at a rundown honky tonk in Texas.” (Guitar World)

”A proper American cocktail best drunk straight up.” (Billboard)

“Why Michelle Malone hasnt knocked the likes of Sheryl Crow and Bonnie Raitt off of their roots-rock and blues pedestals blows the mind. Maloneʼs authentic interpretation of good old Southern rock and hard-edge blues should have her rubbing shoulders with the Allman Brothers and Buddy Guys of the world. Sugarfoot and Stompinʼ Ground, are rousing and relentless toe-tapping beauties deserving of a boatload of attention.” (The Village Voice)

“as raw, magnificent, dirty and low down as anything you’ll ever want to hear in blues music – our blues-breaker CD for the week”( Dan “Elwood” Akroyd, House of Blues Radio Hour)

”A proper American cocktail that’s best drunk straight up.” (Billboard)

“Whether moanin’ at midnight or howlin’ at the delta moon, Malone’s the sexiest, most swaggering-est gal rocker on the WHOLE damn planet right now. “ (Blurt Magazine)

“Michelle Malone may have the best voice you’ve ever heard.” (Paste Magazine)

“She’s mastered all the tools of the trade and destined for greatness. A refreshing surprise of an album.” (Blues Revue Magazine)

Malone has become a master at mixing blues and Americana” (Guitar Player Magazine)

“Michelle Malone is as well-rounded as she is supremely talented.” (Hittin’ The Note)

“She has the soul of a bluesman, the heart of a folk singer, and the guts of a rock and roll star all wrapped up in one fiery bad ass” (Nashville Rage)

“The first four songs on Moanin’ Michelle Malone’s new CD, Debris, are the four best blues songs you’ll hear this year. It is, quite possibly, the best four-song combination ever put together in a blues album. If someone teaches a Modern Blues 101 class, that person should start with these four songs.” (Atlanta Music Guide)

“Michelle Malone is among the flashiest, most impressive slide guitar soloists working in contemporary blues, often fortifying her vocals with slashing lines, inventive twists and surprising backing.” (Nashville City Paper)

“Malone’s riveting wail and sizzling slide guitar blend sass and defiance with an authoritative presence exuding a spunk all her own.” (Performing Songwriter)

“Michelle Malone’s badass pipes and guitar shine on new album.” (Metromix Greenville)

“Slinging a slide guitar that roars, Michelle Malone is a crackling live wire.” (Indy Weekly)

“Debris is like sing-along, foot-tapping, booty-shaking therapy.” (Southern Voice)

 

2003 STOMPIN GROUND BIO

Michelle Malone – Stompin’ at the Gates of Eden

That old R&B song with the lyric “Devil or Angel, what will she be?” always comes to mind when I think about the talented Michelle Malone. Being fortunate to have been a witness to her remarkable journey in the music business by accidentally being at the same show that Arista Records saw in 1989. MM was barely out of high school, yet she wowed Mr. Bars and Star maker himself, Clive Davis, who took a personal interest in what he thought would be his next major diva.

Well, he got the temperament and the talent right, but this classy lassie from Atlanta felt more akin to Georgia Rock Icons like the Allman Brothers and The Georgia Satellites, or Otis Redding and Blind Williw McTell, than she did to La Whitney etc…Malone has the chops, but this guitar “bab” just wanted to rock with her boys in Drag the River.

The dream deal became a behind the music nightmare. MM put her boots on and just kept walking.

So, was this an angel or the devil in disguise at work? Unlike the rumor about Robert Johnson, she did save her soul.

Back in Atlanta, she threw her arms around her most loyal friend, her Hamer Duotone guitar, which never left her side again. She felt at home throwing down with her Angel friends, the Indigo Girls – she actually became a “temp” girl when they took to the road.

MM plays best when the boys accept her as a musician and not just that “chick” singer. Michelle Malone should have been right up there with those hippie, crunchy, rootsy groups. But the boys’ room was one stall short when it came to letting a “lady” – particularly a “lady” with the seductive licks and sultry looks of Michelle Malone – seize the stage.

Defiantly she simply flipped her hips, licked her lips, and moved forward remaining ever faithful to her guitar and main sqeeze, Jezebel, vowing once and for all to show the world just who really is the Chattahootchie Guitar Queen.

That is until Michelle’s muse told her it was time to bring the Graham Parson’s “thang” out in her music, and she took off that seemed like 1001 nights of brainstorming the juke joints and beer halls of America. Her ax stayed loyal and her band disciplined. As Band De Soleil, they recorded a darker version of heartbreak that the Greivous Angel would ever have dreamed of playing. Moanin’ Malone, (a nickname that was given to her by blues guitarust Albert King upon hearing her sing) found herself walking down the roughneck road of Steve Earle and Marianne Faithful after the fall.

It took MM traveling the backwoods of the US to discover how the Angel and the Devil mesh into one perosn in otder to make one divinely sweaty sound. MM finally learnt home is where the heart is.

Her new record, Stompin’ Ground (Daemon Records/SBS Records), creates the perfect platform for the acoustic angel to meet the wicked Salome. It’s stripped down and cranked up like a chopped up hot rod in a NASCAR final heat, oozing passionate rocking beats at its juicy core. Along with her band, The Low Down Georgia Revue (Jonny Daly from Drag The River is back on guitar, while Lee Kennedy on bass and Linda Bolley on drums lay down the backbeat), Stompin’ Ground was recorded in Atlanta and the Snack N Shack, a one room shot gun shack that is rumored to have once been home to Atlanta bootleggers. MM opens the CD sliding her way around the bottleneck guitar and singing about returning to the South for solace when she gets down and out, and closes it singing, “Here comes you shadow chasing after you”.

From beginning to end, you get the feeling that after all her barnstorming struggles and boot-stomping victories, Malone has hit paydirt in the music and in herself.

Stompin’ Ground finds MM at the peak of her talent – Patsy Cline meets The Georgia Satellites – part smoldering angel, part devil-may-care scorcher, but all Moanin’ Malone.

The Chattahootchie Guitar Queen has finally found her voice!