Photograph by Jolie Lauren
When Michelle Malone discovered from a mutual good friend that legendary Nashville songwriter Dean Dillon had seen her carry out at a competition and was concerned with writing a tune along with her, she was floored.
Malone has had a three-decade-long profession as an Atlanta-based singer-songwriter, however has by no means had mainstream industrial success. Dillon, alternatively, is within the Nation Music Corridor of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Corridor of Fame He wrote the nation basic “Tennessee Whiskey” and had hits for stars corresponding to George Jones, George Strait, Kenny Chesney and Alabama.
“Once I came upon he wished to put in writing with me, I used to be so extremely scared that I attempted to provide you with each excuse within the guide to not do it,” Malone says. “I used to be shocked as a result of I did not know precisely what I wished to supply somebody like him. He can write with anybody on the planet; Why me?”
Lastly, he relented and flew to Colorado, the place Dillon lives, arriving a day late after lacking a connecting flight. He was standing within the baggage space, ready for his suitcase and feeling a bit of uneasy, when he heard a mushy voice behind him, “Hey, are you Michelle?” He circled and noticed a hippie-like man with lengthy white hair and a flowing beard; Judging by the movies she’d seen of him, she nearly did not acknowledge it as Dillon.
“We acquired into his pickup truck to go to his home,” she says. “He put me comfortable so rapidly. We acquired to speaking, and the subsequent factor you recognize, we wrote a tune.”
Photograph by Stephen Hausworth
Malone’s new album, Southern ConsolationThere are 5 songs written with Dylan, anchored by “I Choke On My Phrases”. It was the second tune he wrote along with her. Malone envisioned it as a humorous take a look at the antics of his youth, fueled by longtime followers who generally reminded him of his previous antics. (He as soon as threw a microphone stand at somebody who refused to cease speaking throughout his efficiency.)
“Dean noticed the tune in a very totally different method,” she says. “We had been each sort of wild and off the chain for some time. He took the thought and turned it into one of many saddest songs I’ve ever sung. It took me a few yr of singing it earlier than I acquired by way of it with out crying.
Through the tune’s recording classes, Malone envisioned a Buddy Miller-like guitar half. Malone met the well-known guitarist years in the past on the Lilith Truthful tour when he performed with Emmylou Harris, and Miller gave him his cellphone quantity and e mail. So she cold-called him to ask if he would play the tune.
At first, Miller mentioned he hadn’t touched his guitar shortly and did not know if he would have the ability to play the recording session. He lastly agreed to strive it. “How humble was that?” He says “I knew he would have that Buddy Miller spirit in all the pieces he did. And that is what I used to be on the lookout for, the soul with which he kisses the music.”
Southern Consolation Malone’s sixteenth studio album. “I feel it is certainly one of my greatest albums,” Malone mentioned. “The document appears like dwelling to me. It goes again to my rock roots. And it additionally feels prefer it’s broadening my horizons.”
He may have an album launch live performance at Eddie’s Attic on October 19, a present that may function his longtime musical accomplice, guitarist Doug Kiss.
Photograph by Kevin Scherer
Malone grew up in Atlanta. His mom was a jazz and lounge vocalist, and as a baby Malone would tag alongside along with her to gigs. He attended Agnes Scott School and deliberate to change into a physician, however music beckoned. Malone fell below the wing of the Indigo Ladies and her first band, Drag the River, was signed to Arista Information. The group launched an album in 1990, however Malone grew to become annoyed when Malone tried to dictate a extra industrial sound, and he left to pursue his personal artistic imaginative and prescient.
The arc of her profession has included turns as an acoustic guitar singer-songwriter, rock ‘n’ curler and a slide-playing blueswoman. Southern Consolation Malone’s songwriting and rock ‘n’ roll leanings. The title observe opens the album with a tribute to old-school Rod Stewart, full with a 12-string guitar and a drum lick straight out of “Maggie Might.”
The tune is a tribute to the late drummer Billy Pitts. He was Malone’s bandmate in Drag the River and performed with the Georgia Satellites for a few years.
“I prefer to assume all of us grew up collectively within the band, despite the fact that we did not develop up a lot—we performed loads,” Malone says with fun. “Whenever you’re within the trenches with individuals at a younger and impressionable age, it simply stays with you.”
Photograph by Rick Diamond
After Pitts’ dying, Malone remembered how a lot he cherished a tune he wrote referred to as “Southern Consolation.” Drag the River recorded the tune, though it was by no means launched. Malone determined to document it for this album in reminiscence of Pitts. He hoped to make use of his Drag the River drum observe on his new model, however he couldn’t find the unique tapes. As a substitute, he introduced in a couple of of his buddies to play the tune: guitarist Rick Richards of Georgia Satellite tv for pc and Charlie Starr of Blackberry Smoke, together with keyboardist Joey Huffman, who had performed with Pitts in Satellite tv for pc.
“It felt like I might do one thing in Billy’s honor and heal a few of that ache,” Malone says. “Dropping somebody is difficult, but it surely’s good to be weak and simply really feel it. It is a very cathartic document for me. I notice that if it could actually contact me that method, it is sure to the touch different individuals the identical method.”
This text appeared in our October 2024 difficulty.
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