Keeping The Faith With Melissa Etheridge

For the past three decades, LGBTQ and music icon Melissa Etheridge has entertained the masses with her confessonal-style lyrics and raspy, smoky tone. Before COVID-19 caused a global shutdown, Etheridge was gearing up to travel for her new tour, The Medicine Show. Unfortunately, quarantine orders put a damper on the concert and festival circuit, but she vowed to keep the music playing. Etheridge has performed for her fans every day on Facebook Live. I mean, what’s better than a free performance from this legendary artist in the comfort of your own home?

This pandemic is causing emotional trauma for millions of people, and Etheridge can relate. No stranger to personal battles, she beat breast cancer, weathered the AIDS crisis, and recently lost her son Beckett from an opioid overdose. No matter how dark or bleak the situation, Etheridge knew she had to overcome it. Her survival makes her an inspiration of resilience and hope, and she wants you to know that whatever you are going through, you are not alone. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and you will get through the pain and suffering.

OUT FRONT caught up with Etheridge about connecting with people during this global crisis, what we can expect once she goes back on tour, and starting her cannabis business, Etheridge Farms.

Hi, Melissa! Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me. I would like to begin by talking more about your upcoming Medicine Show tour. The tour is currently postponed due to COVID-19, but once it is back on schedule, what can audiences expect?
You can expect someone who will be so grateful to perform [laughs]. I can’t wait to get back on stage for the first time. It’s one of the reasons why I am doing this Facebook Live every day, coming on to sing a couple songs because it’s my life. Since I was 13 years old, I have been singing every week for people, you know? It’s just what I do, and it’s just as much medicine for me. So, The Medicine Show, I imagine it’s going to be infused with a little bit more spirit this time. Don’t worry, I will always do my hit songs like “Come to My Window” and “I’m the Only One.” I love playing the hit songs and hearing people sing them.

Yes, I was going to ask if those songs would make an appearance.
Oh, definitely! All the hit songs. I know that some people only come see me once in their life, and they want to hear their favorite songs, and I know that the popular songs are their favorite, so I have no problem singing those at every single concert. Then I will do a couple new songs from The Medicine Show and some deep cuts for the people that come to see me many, many times.

That’s awesome. How have the Facebook Live sing-a-longs been going? I am sure fans are very appreciative of it.
Very much so. The gratitude just feels so good. It gives me something to do every day. You know, we are staying at home and doing what they say, so it gives us something to do, and it’s fun. It’s all you want to do when the world turns sideways. You want to help, and this is what I can do.

How will The Medicine Show tour differ from your previous tour? What makes it so unique?
The collection of songs and I just keep getting better and better. If you see my show, you will know that every, single show is different. Even though we play the hits and everything, I am very much in the moment. I don’t say the same thing every time. I am very live with whatever the audience is. If the audience is sort of a Monday night, sit-down crowd, then I will switch my show to that. If it’s a stand up, serving drinks crowd, we’re going to rock the whole time. Each show is different.

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You have toured and traveled all over the world, but each experience is a new adventure for you. What are you looking forward to the most about this tour?
Just doing it. Getting back on it will be my favorite part. Getting onstage and providing some relief and getting back on track of what we love to do. I will be so grateful to play music.

The actual Medicine Show album was released last year. How has it been received?
Oh, bless my fans. I am so grateful for them. It was received greatly; people like it a lot. They really like the sound of it and what I was writing about. They enjoyed the intensity, the range of dynamics through it all. They request the songs, and that always makes me happy.

What is the creative process like for you? Take us into the mind of Melissa Etheridge.
Well, this one was a little different. I sort of created the musical bits first for a lot of these songs, and then I wrote lyrics to them. Usually, it’s kind of the other way around. Some of the songs I wrote at the same time, but it was a little different. I had done some extensive song demos before I went to John Shanks and said, “OK, let’s cut these,” and then recorded them.

You are known to reflect and address current events in your work. Has that always been important to you?
Yes. Current events affect me personally, and I write from my personal experience. Even though my music has been extremely emotional, you know, I have a history of the heartbreak songs, that sort of approach, I grow, and I grow out of that. I have been in a delightful relationship for 10 years now, so I’m not going to write heartbreak songs because that’s not really where I’m at. Yet, I have my own, and we all go through emotional issues. I can always look inside and write truthfully. Being a mother, being someone in their 50s that is looking at the world and that’s going to affect me personally. So, I am going to write about it.

The Medicine Show also advocates for plant-based medicine. Why would you like to see the legalization of cannabis, and do you think the United States will make this a reality anytime soon?
Yes. For many reasons. One, I went through breast cancer 15 years ago, and I used cannabis to help with the pain, to help the depression, to help with my appetite, and to help with sleep. And when I was going through it, I just had the biggest understanding that this is medicine. It has been maligned and outlawed, and it is truly medicine. It’s medicine that I just feel that everyone should have access to. At least a choice.

It’s not for everyone. Not everyone is going to understand it and get past the fear of it, but for those who can, it is such good medicine. Yes, I do think that as states open up to the medicinal side of it and see the benefit and see the lowering of opioid use and opioid deaths, they will see that correlation right there and how good it is. When you have someone in your family who is suffering from some disease or other, you see and know that it helps. It’s going to grow, and the more it grows, the more research we can do. It needs to be legalized. It’s a journey to it, yet we have countries like Canada who have federalized it and legalized it, and we can see how good it is there.

Was cannabis a big part of your life before being diagnosed with breast cancer?
No, it wasn’t. It was social. Maybe on the weekend now or then with someone. I was familiar with it, but I did not use it every day for medicine like I do now.

You even decided to jump into the cannabis business by starting Etheridge Farms. Why did you decide to make that leap?
I decided 15 years ago when I was going through this. I felt so strongly about providing cannabis for medicine, and I just really wanted to become an advocate for it. As I have watched over the last 10 years how it has grown into a business, I really wanted to be a face of it. I wanted to help people who were looking for it as medicine. There are enough places open, and there’s enough brands that focus on, ‘Woohoo, a good time!’ That is fine; I have no problem with that. I would really like to help the middle-aged woman who needs help with sleep or needs help with menopause or cramps or any of these things that it helps with. To really give them a brand, a guide on how to navigate through the cannabis world.

And you are in the beginning stage of Etheridge Farms?
Yes, it is just beginning. Everything we are going through right now sort of gave us a hit. We were all set to roll out in September, but we might have to back it off a little bit. I’m in no hurry. We are around, and everything is changing. I’m fine with whatever it has to be.

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What can people expect in terms of your products?
You can expect quality. You can expect when we say organic, that this is absolutely the most organic, pesticide-free, chemical-free product. What we say it is, it’s going to be. You can expect guidance; you can expect precision; you can expect to be educated, and you can expect that I will always be guiding you through this. I’m not looking to make a billion dollars on this. I am looking to create a legacy brand that is there to help people through it, not to make the biggest buck I can.

Does Etheridge Farms have a website or social media?
We were about to put all that up this summer, so hopefully look forward to summer. It took us this long to get our licenses. When everything went legal in California in 2017, everyone had to reapply for licenses. Just last year, we finally got the first manufacturing license in Santa Cruz County.

The regulations are unbelievably difficult. If you don’t have, we call them our Canadian overlords, their money coming in, which they bought up just so much in California, they can easily make things difficult because they have millions and millions and millions of dollars. We decided not to go that way because we didn’t want to become this big factory farming of cannabis. We wanted it to be quality stuff, so we have been taking the long road, and we can see the end of the road as we get over this little hump.

Are you still partnered with that one California dispensary to make cannabis infused wine?
No. When they passed Prop 64, they made it illegal to put cannabis in alcohol. So, we stopped that, but hopefully in the future, we can start that up again.

What do you make of people who believe cannabis is just a gateway drug to harsher drugs like cocaine, meth, heroin, etc.?
I would say, I understand you have been taught that over the last few decades. That is what has been hammered into us. I would say, look at the new research. Because it was a Schedule One drug, we were not allowed to do research, and then people would say, ‘Well, there’s no research,’ but it’s like, well, you don’t allow us to research. So, finally, people have gotten brave and gone around it, and there’s research in Israel and Canada, and you can see countries like Canada who have legalized it, and the drug use hasn’t gone up. It has actually gone down, especially opioid use. So, I would just say, look at the facts now. That’s an old belief, and it’s time to change those.

Outside of The Medicine Show and Etheridge Farms, you also headline a cruise. Although you won’t be able to set sail again until November 2021, can you tell us more about it? It sounds fabulous!
Yes! It will be the fourth cruise, and man, it has become one of my favorite things that I do. Believe me, before I did my first cruise, I was like, ‘No way. I’m not going to do a cruise; that’s crazy.’ I learned to enjoy it very, very much.

We go to beautiful places like Key West and Jamaica and enjoy the wonderful Caribbean. The boat is filled with really, really delightful music, and it is just extraordinary. There are a lot of women, but everyone is invited. There is nothing like being around a lot of women, and believe me, we get a lot of things done and keep the boat nice and clean. We don’t have a lot of children onboard because the cruise is during the school year, and it’s not really geared toward children, but there are things for them to do.

I hear you are working on a new album as well. When can we expect that to come out?
I was going to say at the end of the year, but it’s probably going to be pushed back toward the beginning of next year.

Are there any other projects we should be on the lookout for?
Well, that’s enough! [Laughs] I’m busy with all that.

For more news, tour dates and announcements, visit melissaetheridge.com or follow her on social media.

Photo by Lauren Dukoff