Indie Feature: Sara Melson (Folk Rock)

We like Sara's earnest love for her craft. Rawness of her voice and recording. Stories. Are all we need. All that we really need.
There's such power in truth.
Visit Sara at: http://www.myspace.com/saramelson
Recommendation: Never Been Hurt, Feel It Coming


Sara Melson grew up in West Lafayette, Indiana, the child of two professors, in a house crammed full of books. “I’d spend hours in my room writing. I have stacks of journals, full of lyrics, poems, random bits of stories,” Sara says. She was also obsessed with her parents’ record collection, memorizing every note and word of her favorite records: The Stones, The Beatles, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Dylan, The Band, Neil Young, Bowie, and Van Morrison.

Classically trained on the piano, Sara taught herself the guitar. “I started on acoustic, and was itching to rock,” she says. “Pretty soon I had a really loud amp and a bunch of pedals, and began making lots of noise. I could only play the proverbial three chords at first, but was putting my words to music almost immediately. Interestingly, it was through discovering guitar that I realized I could actually write my own songs on the piano as well, instead of being wedded to reading off of sheet music.”

Sara began recording first on four track, then on eight track. “When I write a song, I can’t sleep until it’s recorded. I don’t know if I’m fatalistic, but if something happened to me, nobody would ever hear it. As soon as I get it down, I feel better.” In 2003, she released Five Song EP, self-produced at home and in the studios of friends. Launch/Yahoo made it a Top Ten Pick in its Cool as Folk Radiocast. Songs from the EP aired on Indie 103.1, XM Satellite Radio, and KCRW, and were featured in the ABC television show Men In Trees, the new Viacom show South Of Nowhere, and the independent film Spectres. Meanwhile, gigs both solo and with various band incarnations allowed Sara the opportunity to hone her sound and clarify her own voice. “One of the best compliments I’ve ever received,” she says, “was when someone told me that I don’t sing like anybody else.”

Sara has shared the stage with the BRMC, Juliana Hatfield, Ben Lee, Jill Sobule, Ian Ball, Marjorie Faire, and Mojave 3. She was a featured artist at the Midwest Music Summit, and was sponsored on an acoustic tour of Japan. Two days after finishing her self-produced full-length album, a friend brought her to a party at Nettwerk Records, where she met CEO Terry McBride. The two bonded over their shared love of yoga and music, and McBride asked to hear her songs. He passed them along to his creative partner Mark Jowett, and Nettwerk picked up the album for worldwide release.

With her self-produced debut album Dirty Mind in stores February 26th, Sara is ready to hit the road, both solo and with her band. “I want to let my music take me wherever it wants to go,” she says. “On record, you capture a unique moment in time. It’s amazing and beautiful to have that documented, but I’m constantly evolving beyond that as an artist, as a singer and as a player. If you come to see me live expecting to hear just what’s on the record, you’re going to be pleasantly surprised."