QUOTES

 

"...2003's hands-down best Americana release from a female singer-songwriter." -- HARP Magazine

 

"If the strong songs, crisp guitar work and soulful vocals of Stompin' Ground are any indication, we should start referring to Bonnie Raitt as the poor person's Michelle Malone." -- highbias.com

 

"Somewhere between Lucinda Williams and Shelby Lynne comes Michelle Malone and her new alt-country album Stompin' Ground. Alternating between softer, soulful ballads and rowdy, riffy blasters, these twelve songs are raucous and jubilant. The pedal-steel driven, bottom-heavy and big-chorused "Lafayette" is easily the record's finest. The song boogies with dirty grooves, front-porch harmonies and an irreverent cowgirl attitude." -- RollingStone.com

 

"Malone displays the maturity of a Dylan disciple with her own personal agenda. Blues and roots are fused into her brand of folk rock as she demonstrates both the songwriting talent and the artistic depth to be regarded as a performer in the same vein as commercial and critical successes like Sheryl Crow and Lucinda Williams." -- Boston Phoenix

 

"On this loose and blues-stoked new album, the rough-and-tumble Malone embraces her inner Keith Richards while churning up those Southern roots with the vigor of Lucinda Williams." -- Playboy.com

 

"She shows off her inventive but earthy songwriting and guitar playing as well as her far-ranging vocal talents, which easily turn from growling and gritty to soaring and bittersweet."  -- Paste

 

"The album is a honky-tonkin' ride through Southern-rock material, fueled by Malone's guitar prowess and sexual entreaties."-- Time Out New York


"this likeable record rolls like great lost '70s singles."-- Blender


"chock full of bottleneck blues guitar slides and harmonica wails that
provide the perfect soundtrack to a rowdy late night or a cross country road trip. If this album got any hotter, you'd have to slap a warning label on the thing and call it a hazard."  -- 9X

 

"She's heartfelt, fierce, serious, and out to get you." -- Venus

 

"When it comes to playing lean, mean rock 'n' roll, Georgia rocker Michelle Malone not only keeps up with the big boys, she's got the chops to blow them out of the water."-- Performing Songwriter

 

"Her smooth, steady voice is a strong match for her devil-may-care attitude, lending "down to the river" simple storytelling to everything from ballads to rockin' blues. Malone continues to stake her claim as a satisfying Southern-flavored singer-songwriter in the midst of a pop wasteland." -- Out Magazine


"4 stars - Call this the singer/songwriter's Harvest or Beggars Banquet, since it revels in rootsy strumming and harder-edged, bluesy rock. It's propelled by Malone's tough and tender style and a dozen great songs you'll want to hear again." --  AMG


REVIEWS

 

Playboy Magazine Sept/Oct 2003

(4 of 5 Bunnies)

 

Longtime Atlanta rock singer Michelle Malone -- who fronted the Arista band Drag the River in the early '90s and now records on Amy Ray's Daemon Records -- has always been one of the more roadhouse-friendly singer-songwriters in a town better known for its surplus of genteel folkies. And on this loose and blues-stoked new album, the rough-and-tumble Malone embraces her inner Keith Richards while churning up those Southern roots with the vigor of Lucinda Williams. (The first track is called "Lafayette," even). Slide guitars, banjos and a Hammond organ surround strong and unaffected vocals with fetching bluegrass and soul touches, as Malone rolls through an emotional landscape of Spanish moss and troublesome desire. "Gotta keep on movin'," she sings over the shuffling rhythm of "Preacher's Daughter," "I'm a long way from home." In truth, though, Stompin' Ground makes it easy to hear how she's come satisfyingly full-circle.

 

- Steve Dollar

 

Plan 9 Magazine Sept 2003

 

"A deep southern pocket with a 50-watt socket" claims the album cover for Michelle Malone's latest Daemon Records release, STOMPIN' GROUND, and this could not be more on the mark. Malone has plugged in this time around and ripped the roof of the Snack N Shack. She's the real deal. STOMPIN' GROUND is chock full of bottleneck blues guitar slides and harmonica wails that provide the perfect soundtrack to a rowdy late night or a cross country road trip. 

 

While the album starts off with the sauntering ease of "Lafayette," it isn't long before "2 Horns and 2 Wings" kicks up the dust and stands out as the balls to the wall track of the twelve song disc. Along the same bootstompin' lines are "Cry Me A River" and "Samsonite," both of which showcase the talents of Malone's backing band, The Low Down Georgia Revue. The high octane machine occasionally slows down and allows you to hear why Michelle Malone has been likened to Paul Westerberg and Steve Earle. "True," the album's closing track, fulfills its name - "Take a simple song/ Sing a simple melody/ don't let no one tell you that you can't sing." 

 

Bare bones and to the point, the songs on STOMPIN' GROUND are slices of southern culture. The sinners, saints, dirty diners and swingin' door screens all make appearances. Michelle Malone's vocals smolder like hot gravy on a home cooked meal and invoke both Patsy Cline and early Bonnie Raitt. 

 

Malone notes, "I've always listened to a lot of different types of music. It changes constantly. When I was a little kid, I was really into Linda Ronstadt, and I was really into Bonnie Raitt, later on Patti Smith, and of course, Tina Turner. All the boy bands I discovered later in life. I love Neil Young." 

 

Make no mistake, this Atlanta songsmith is more than a hybrid of voices you've heard before. In fact, she's even made a name for herself via blues legend Albert King who dubbed her "Moanin' Malone" after hearing her sing. These twelve tracks burn white hot, both treating and teasing us with a mere forty five minutes of amazing music. With all of the grit of Lucinda's gravel road and Sheryl Crow's pop sensibility, Michelle Malone proves that she is certainly capable of joining their ranks. Shine your spurs, crack open a cold one, and dig in. If this album got any hotter, you'd have to slap a warning label on the thing and call it a hazard.

 

-Hilary Langford

 

Performing Songwriter, Vol 11 Issue 72, Sept/Oct 2003

 

When it comes to playing lean, mean rock 'n roll, Georgia rocker Michelle Malone not only keeps up with the big boys, she's got the chops to blow them out of the water. 

 

Slippery bottleneck guitar on 'Lafayette' opens the disc, while she sings about the Deep South with the power of an old blues crooner. Backed by her band, the Low Down Georgia Revue, Malone fires off breakneck rockabilly riffs on '2 Horns and 2 Wings,' followed by Hendrix-like soul on 'Moanin' Coat.'  

 

Her voice can convey both angelic sweetness and devilish, almost anguished wails, while her trusted Hamer Duotone guitar takes on a personality of its own.

For Fans Of:
North Mississippi Allstars, Shake Hands With Shorty
Allman Brothers Band, Hittin' the Note
Sheryl Crow, C'Mon, C'Mon

 

Malone Stakes Out Turf for Stompin' Ground, Access Atlanta, 9.04.03

 

Ask Michelle Malone why she decided to hold the release party for her new disc, "Stompin' Ground," at the Earl in East Atlanta, and she skips the nitty and gets right down to the gritty.

 

" 'Cause it's a dirty little rock club, and 'Stompin' Ground' is a dirty little rock record," the longtime Atlanta performer says. "The Earl reminds me of [former local venues] the White Dot or the Point -- the way rock 'n' roll ought to be heard and smelled -- and I haven't rocked this much in years."

 

Malone grew up in Atlanta and learned to sing and play guitar in church. But in her teens, she says, "the so-called devil's music" seized her soul. She dropped out of high school, ran away, discovered Led Zeppelin and started living the rock life, hanging at those sorts of archetypal '80s dives.

 

In 1989, Malone's soaring voice and guitar chops caught the ear of Arista Records' Clive Davis, who signed her. But her defiant style didn't quite mesh with the label's diva machine. She eventually started her own indie SBS Records label and managed to release eight records over the past decade.

 

On "Stompin' Ground," Malone's known as "Moanin' Michelle," a title bestowed upon her by blues guitarist Albert King after a gig at the Royal Peacock. Recorded with a three-piece band dubbed the Low-Down Georgia Revue, it sways with angular slide guitar, honking harmonica and Malone's testifying vocals. But it also holds a couple of softer ballads.

 

"It's cranked up and stripped down," Malone says. "It's specific to Georgia in that it has all the great Georgia roots influences mixed in there, including acoustic, old-school electric, a little Southern blues and gospel, and a whole lot of rock 'n' roll."

 

-Bob Townsend

 

The Girl Just Wants to Have Fun, Creative Loafing 9.04.03

Michelle Malone embraces her swamp Stompin' Southern roots

On the topic of her new album Stompin' Ground Michelle Malone says, "I wanted to make a record that I would fucking like to listen to, for a change." She's succeeded, as apparent from the kick-off track. "Lafayette," a gutsy, greasy, slide guitar rocker infused with a Beggar's Banquet groove.

It's not that the singer/guitarist wasn't pleased with the acoustic folk/pop of 2001's well-received, if relatively low-key, Hello Out There, but Malone felt that having an outside producer at the helm failed to capture her essence. "I was tired of taking control of every aspect of my career, so I was happy to hand the production of that album over. I thought [the record] was beautiful, but didn't honestly feel it represented who I am. It's an aspect of my personality but it wasn't a very happy record. I was feeling a little sheepish and just licking my wounds. This one is not so singer/songwriter-ish. It's more of a celebration of feeling comfortable with who I am and where I am in life."

Currently, she's reveling in a friendly and liberating "fuck you" attitude, allowing her to eliminate commercial considerations from her music. "It's not going to get on the radio because radio sucks. Unless you have a million dollars, they won't play you anyway."

With the basic tracks recorded live in the studio, the disc crackles with a swampy, Southern-rock groove, reminiscent of Delaney & Bonnie, the Faces and early-'70s Stones. "In my favorite songs, I can hear mistakes. When you start thinking too much about [production] and overdubbing too much, it takes away from the overall vibe and energy. You start sucking the life out of the sound and lose the human element. That's the problem I have with a lot of modern pop music."

There's plenty of energy coursing through Ground's blood. "Flagpole," the album's most socially charged rocker, was ignited by Malone's frustration with world politics. "That just spilled out. I get to a point where there is so much boiling in my veins about what's going on in the world, and I feel so helpless. I didn't plan to write it, I just couldn't not write it." Even ballads such as "Cypress Inn," "Camera" and "Moanin' Coat" radiate a tense expectation -- like a lion before feeding time.

On her first release for Amy Ray's Daemon label since the Band De Soleil days nearly a decade ago, Malone has relinquished some of her fiercely indie attitude for this album. "The independent thing is hard enough, but when you do everything yourself -- between touring, writing and recording -- there just aren't enough hours in the day to do it all. I don't have the time or inclination to call up radio stations, newspapers or record stores. ... I own this record but have licensed it to Daemon for a few years, which seems like a happy medium. ... I've known Amy since I was 19, so I feel safe there."

Although Malone often tours solo, the tough rocking band -- appropriately and humorously dubbed the Low Down Georgia Revue -- heard on Stompin' Ground frees her from the limiting singer/songwriter niche. "We call it Chattahoochee swamp rock; cranked up and stripped down. The older I've gotten, the more I've been able to embrace my Southern-ness. My whole family is from here and we're just damn Southern," she says, laughing.

Ultimately that realization liberated Malone from satisfying anyone else's preconceptions, enabling her to create the loosest and most straightforward music of her career. "I was able to be honest yet not so damn serious. It's not as introspective and a lot more fun. And I just want to have fun again."

-Hal Horowitz

InSite Review, InSite Atlanta Aug 2003

 

Michelle Malone has been around for years, writing, touring and putting out albums. Her folk-rock sound is powerful and literate, but she's never had much mainstream success. Which is a shame, because she’s the equal of most folks in the Americana movement. Stompin’ Ground should change that. 

 

Backed by her band, the Low-Down Georgia Revue, Malone delivers a dense, swampy record reminiscent of Lucinda Williams’s more energetic work. Things start off with “Lafayette,” which opens with an acoustic lope but quickly kicks in with slide guitar, a vintage John Bonham drum sound, and sexy lyrics like “If I had my way I’d keep your angel wings wrapped down around my thigh.” “2 Horns and 2 Wings” rolls at 80 mph like a trucker’s anthem, telling the tale of a girl who pushes the boundaries of both virtue and sin. 

 

Throughout, Malone’s earthy tracks get some ramshackle momentum going. Her band is inspired, laying down perfect beds for her fierce guitar solos. Even the ballads have crackle. Over the last few years, Malone has really come into her own, but with Stompin' Ground she takes a giant stride in matching songwriting chops and lyrical sharpness with a band that’s truly up to the task.

 

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