Singer/songwriter Melissa Ferrick will take the stage at New Hope Winery on Saturday, Oct. 15.
Ferrick gained fame among a wave of female alternative singer/songwriters in the early 1990s, including Liz Phair and Joan Osborne.
She grew up in Ipswich, Mass., during the 1970s, playing the violin and going to jazz clubs on the North Shore with her father, who managed local bands. At 16, Melissa was accepted into the New England Conservatory’s Youth Orchestra and Wind Ensemble as a trumpet player, giving her the opportunity to tour with the Conservatory’s Extension Division. She was admitted to Berklee College of Music on songwriting and trumpet scholarships, and chose to continue her music education there from 1988-90. After two years playing Boston’s local rock club scene, Melissa left school and moved to New York City.
Ferrick’s career blossomed in the coffeehouses of the East Village. She garnered national attention in 1991 when she opened for Morrisey on tour, and was soon signed to a recording contract with Atlantic Records, and released her first studio album, “Massive Blur,” in 1993.
After Ferrick’s second release, “Willing to Wait” in 1995, she was dropped by Atlantic Records. Ferrick kept right on making albums, releasing three on the W.A.R.? Records label. In 2000, Ferrick founded her own label, Right On Records, and released a string of Albums and EPs. In 2010, on the verge of bankruptcy, Ferrick put her own label on hold, and signed with MPress Records, releasing two albums — 2011’s “Still Right Here,” and 2013’s “the truth is.”
“Still Right Here” debuted on Billboard’s Heat-Seekers Album Charts, won an 8th annual International Acoustic Music Award (IAMA), and garnered two Independent Music Award (IMA) nominations. The title track’s music video premiered on the launch of Huffington Post’s Gay site and won two RightOutTV awards. Ferrick was also a featured music honoree in OUT Magazine’s OUT100 – focusing on artists who make an impact on the community.
Ferrick’s 2013 “the truth is” was her first self-produced album since 2004, and was an Americana/Alt-Country record that won the 2014 Independent Music Award for Alt-Country Album of the Year Fan Vote. Ferrick is also an eight-time Boston Music Award winner, and tours regularly throughout North America, performing upwards of 100 shows per year, and is a part-time associate professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Tickets for the Oct. 15 show are $15, and available online. Musician Brian Dunne is opening that evening, and doors are at 7 p.m., with showtime at 8 p.m. New Hope Winery is located at 6123 Lower York Road in Solebury; (215) 794-2331.
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