muddy:
Melissa
Sigler
First time I heared Melissa was on Crescent Citty Sounds, an interesting radio show on Baton Rouge's local radio WBRH. Two things struck me immediately - her voice and her songs. Her voice is hard to compare to any particular voice you heard before, but recalls the best female vocalists you know. First of all, I was convinced that she is black and I was sure about it unitl I found her home-page.There is a little bit of Ella Fitgerald and a little bit of Billie Holiday in her singing. It also reminds me on a vocalist of a British pre-acid-jazz band called Working Week (it was long ago, I forgot her name), but Melissa is from Lake Charles, Louisiana and she doesn't have that big city elegance in her voice like mentioned ladies. There's something muddy like the Mississippi river in her voice, something that you can feel in the air when you drive on River Road to New Orleans or on mystical I-10. Something that Irma Thomas has in her voice too. I don't know - it's magic to me, even hypnotic! Just hear her song One Thing and you'll find out what I am talikng about.
She wrote everthing she sings. She quotes Carole King and Marcia Ball among others as her musical influence, and that all makes sense. Hypnotic One Thing, Merry Chistmas Baby and You Made A Mark On Me are great blues tunes written with all those sweet cliches that a proper blues tune has to have. Yet, her personal writing is clearly audible. In Easy Way Out, she dares to experiment with a pop form adding different movements in the composition. I really like what she did with the middle bridge on piano. In To Fly she hands over her microphone to Miss Molly and the result is a glorious ballad about freedom, this song is done in Carole King style, but it has a slight Rundgren-like twist . My personal favorite is Calcasieu River, a great swampy Louisiana blues with wonderful lyrics. Most of Melissa's songs have really good lyirics. Bra Slingin' Boogie is a funny song, and written a lot in Marcia Ball style. Humor is an element that Melissa likes to use here and there.
Interesting thing is that her song "Merry Christmas" appeared on SkyDisc's 1999 Holiday sampler distributed thru Delta Airways and United Express, so if you're flying these days check it out! They plan to make certain distributing deal for Melissa.
Meanwhile, her cd "Easy Way Out" is easily available on the Internet, just go and visit her home-page to see what you have to do to have it. Melissa is backed by band Diamella on this cd. Melissa plays keyboards, guitar and bass, Linda Waring plays drums, percussion, that type of stuff and Tina Wing is on guitar. There are also wonderful guest musicians here and there, violin on Calcasieu River done by Mark Hebert is a great example. I understand that this is a very begining of Melissa recording career and that she probably was not able to make her recordings in adequate studio enviroment, but her songs scream for orchertations and a little richer sound. I would personally like to hear what would Todd Rundgren do in studio as Melissa's producer. When I say this I mostly have in mind stuff he did for Jesse Winchester in early seventies, and the way he would contribute to her arrangements. Maybe one day we will all be happy to hear that collaboration. Who knows?
But, if you live in Louisiana, go and check her out live. My guess is that the live performance is the enviroment where Melissa works best. Dates are given on her home-page www.melissasigler.com.
Go ahead and hear her songs placed on mp3.com site. Enjoy her stunning talent.
Contact: diamella@aol.com