Melissa Etheridge has delivered emotive lyrics, rocking melodies, and her unmistakably raspy vocals in a career that's remained at the top of the rock world for nearly four decades.
The singer-songwriter has won two Grammy Awards and an Academy Award, and has received 15 Grammy nominations. She's also set to release her 17th studio album. She's kind of the definition of a rock & roll icon.
Now, she's scheduled to play the Canyon, a 1,000-seat capacity venue in Agoura Hills, in a benefit show called From the Canyon With Love.
"Norm at Norman's Rare Guitars (in Tarzana) has been asking me (to play this fundraiser) for the last 20 years, said Etheridge. "I finally said, 'Yes, Norm, yes, I will do this,' and I'm very excited about it."
The From the Canyon with Love concert is a benefit for the non-profit organization The Midnight Mission, which supports individuals experiencing homelessness on their path to self-sufficiency.
"When you want to help, it starts locally, you know, and our most vulnerable really are reliant on people and these organizations that put this together," said Etheridge.
"I believe an old patriarchal idea is dying, and it's loud and ugly and horrible, and it's dying, literally and figuratively. I feel a great hope in that."Melissa Etheridge
What does the two-time Grammy winner make of the recent Grammy Awards, which featured politically-charged acceptance speeches and performances?
"Bad Bunny said it! He said, 'It's about love now,'" said Etheridge. "We have to understand the power of love and how that can overcome because you can't fight and fight back because then that just leads to more fighting. So I was very pleased with the way that the music industry is stepping up to this."
Etheridge may have every personal reason to be concerned about rights being stripped away — she came out in 1993 and married her same sex partner in Montecito in 2014.
Instead, she insists that the future looks bright.
"I've seen over the decades that when people finally go, 'Hey well I'm not that'...that's beyond my understanding of what's good and right, and I'm not that,' and that's what's happening now," said Etheridge. "People who see all kinds of sides. There's lines being drawn, and that's the way change happens."
Her new album, Rise, features lyrics that speak of resilience and embracing life.
"I wrote this album all last year, and these have been turbulent times," said Etheridge. "These are times of change. I believe an old patriarchal idea is dying, and it's loud and ugly and horrible, and it's dying, literally and figuratively. I feel a great hope in that."
"Ten years from now, this will seem past, and there will be new stuff. This is life, and this is an incredible time to be alive. It absolutely is, and it's a better time, better than it has ever been. If you start believing it."
The From the Canyon With Love benefit show is on Wednesday, February 11, at the Canyon in Agoura Hills.
