Various Artists - Elvis: The Tribute, Pyramid Arena, Memphis, TN, 10-8-1994

Here's another interesting tribute concert, with loads of big stars. All of the songs performed were made famous by Elvis Presley. 

This concert seems to have mostly disappeared down the memory hole. An album of highlights from the concert was released, called "It's Now Or Never: The Tribute To Elvis." However, it's only 45 minutes long, containing just 15 songs. But the full two plus hour long concert was broadcast on TV at the time, so excellent sounding video footage of it exists.

This concert took place in 1994 despite the lack of any big anniversary or other important timely reason for it. Instead, the Elvis Presley estate decided that Presley's music was being forgotten by younger generations, so the concert was meant to help bring his music back into the spotlight.

As you can see from the album cover or the song list, a great many music stars performed in this concert. A few more - Jon Bon Jovi, Jeff Beck, and Cher, at least - backed out at the last minute. I found that mentioned in a newspaper article, though it didn't give a reason why. 

I used two versions of the video files of this concert, converted them to audio format, and broke them into mp3s. During that process, I cut out some material. There were several sections of a few minutes each that consisted of short films highlight different aspects of Presley's life. I removed all of those, plus their intros, since they were meant mainly to be seen, not heard. I also edited out some more talk by the announcers. However, I kept all the intros relevant to the songs. Plus, of course, I kept all the music.

The concert was mostly hosted by Karen Duffy, an MTV DJ, and singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson. But actor John Stamos introduced a few acts, and TV host Phil Donohue introduced one, and sometimes one act introduced the next one.

Occasionally, I had a little trouble with the edits at the starts and ends of songs. For instance, there were quick cuts to or away from TV commercials, as well as the short films I mentioned above. I tried my best to smooth things out, but occasionally the transitions between tracks is abrupt.

Scotty Moore, D.J. Fontana, James Burton, and the Jordanaires didn't have any performances on their own. However, all of them were key backing musicians or singers for Presley. From time to time, they backed up some of the other music acts. 

All of the performances were live from the concert, with two exceptions. I think "Too Much" by NRBQ actually took place before the TV broadcast began. But I slotted it into a logical spot in the concert. And U2 didn't show up for the concert, but sent video footage of their performance to be broadcast instead.

By the way, if you want to know more about the concert, I found a New York Times article of it from the time. Here's the link (I think you have to click on Option 2 to see it):

RemovePaywall | Free online paywall remover 

This album is two hours and three minutes long.

01 talk (Karen Duffy)
02 Good Rockin' Tonight (Sammy Hagar)
03 Too Much (NRBQ)
04 Baby, Let's Play House (Michael Hutchence & NRBQ)
05 talk (Kris Kristofferson & Karen Duffy)
06 talk (Chet Atkins)
07 How's the World Treating You (Chet Atkins)
08 talk (Karen Duffy)
09 Mystery Train (Dwight Yoakam)
10 talk (Kris Kristofferson)
11 Don't Be Cruel (Marty Stuart with the Jordanaires)
12 talk (Marty Stuart)
13 All Shook Up (Cheap Trick)
14 talk (John Stamos)
15 That's Alright Mama (Kris Kristofferson)
16 talk (Kris Kristofferson)
17 One Night (Billy Ray Cyrus with the Jordanaires)
18 talk (Karen Duffy)
19 Lawdy Miss Claudy (Travis Tritt)
20 talk (Karen Duffy)
21 Blue Moon [Edit] (Chris Isaak with Scotty Moore & D.J. Fontana)
22 Love Me (Mavericks)
23 talk (John Stamos)
24 talk (Carl Perkins)
25 Blue Suede Shoes (Carl Perkins with Scotty Moore & D.J. Fontana)
26 talk (Carl Perkins)
27 Rip It Up (Iggy Pop)
28 Memories (Mac Davis)
29 talk (Mac Davis)
30 talk (Bryan Adams)
31 Hound Dog (Bryan Adams with Scotty Moore & D.J. Fontana)
32 talk (Kris Kristofferson)
33 Always on My Mind (Sam Moore)
34 talk (Karen Duffy)
35 Heartbreak Hotel (John Cale)
36 talk (Karen Duffy)
37 I Want You, I Need You, I Love You (Ann Wilson)
38 talk (Karen Duffy)
39 Teddy Bear (Tanya Tucker)
40 talk (Kris Kristofferson)
41 Trouble (Paul Rodgers)
42 talk (Phil Donahue)
43 [Marie's the Name] His Latest Flame (Scorpions)
44 Can't Help Falling in Love (U2)
45 talk (Kris Kristofferson & Karen Duffy)
46 It's Now or Never (Wet Wet Wet)
47 talk (Mac Davis)
48 Love Me Tender (Tony Bennett)
49 talk (Mac Davis)
50 Young and Beautiful (Aaron Neville)
51 talk (Mac Davis)
52 Jailhouse Rock (Michael Bolton with Scotty Moore, D.J. Fontana & Carl Perkins)
53 talk (Karen Duffy)
54 Tryin' to Get to You (Faith Hill)
55 talk (John Stamos)
56 See See Rider (Jerry Lee Lewis with James Burton & NRBQ)
57 Kentucky Rain - Suspicious Minds (Eddie Rabbitt & Mavis Staples)
58 talk (Karen Duffy)
59 Burning Love (Melissa Etheridge)
60 talk (John Stamos)
61 Amazing Grace (Billy Ray Cyrus & Everyone)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/GWnJSkKo

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/cqa2ziePj3VTmo8/file 

The cover image is a pretty weird one for this concert, but bear with me for the explanation. It depicts Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley (the daughter of Elvis Presley). They had recently gotten married at the time of this concert. (Their marriage only lasted from 1994 to 1996). The weird thing is that neither of them performed at this concert. However, they did attend it. At one point near the end, you can hear the announcer mention their names, along with those of Janet Jackson (Michael Jackson's sister) and Priscilla Presley (Lisa Marie Presley's mother). All four of them briefly stood up and waved to the crowd. 

The main reason I chose them for the cover is because this was the only decent photo from the concert that I could find. The mere fact they were at the concert made news, especially due to the fact that they had just been recently married. I think the image shows the two of them backstage before or after the concert. Even this picture was rather low-res and rough, but I used the Krea AI program to improve the image quality. 

Melissa Etheridge - VH-1 Storytellers, New York City, 11-10-1996

Even more "VH-1 Storytellers" episodes coming to you today. This time, it's singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge.

This performance was done in solo acoustic format. That seemed to be pretty common in the first year or two of the TV show, but happened rarely after that. It took place about a year after the release of Etheridge's 1995 album "Your Little Secret." It sold two million copies, which is very good, but that still was a come down compared to her previous album, "Yes I Am," which sold six million.

Only two songs from that album were included here: "Nowhere to Go" and "All the Way to Heaven." She probably played more, but this was edited down from a longer concert.

Speaking of editing, once again I was faced with the problem of the first song starting midway through. I found a different version of "Bring Me Some Water" also done acoustic style from the same time period, and patched the two versions together. That's what that song has "[Edit]" in its title. But, as usual with this series, I did a lot of additional editing, especially with the applause at the ends of songs. And I boosted the lead vocals relative to the instruments on all the songs using the UVR5 audio editing program.

This album is 48 minutes long.

01 Bring Me Some Water [Edit] (Melissa Etheridge)
02 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
03 Watching You (Melissa Etheridge)
04 Come to My Window (Melissa Etheridge)
05 No Souvenirs (Melissa Etheridge)
06 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
07 Testify (Melissa Etheridge)
08 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
09 Yes I Am (Melissa Etheridge)
10 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
11 I'm the Only One (Melissa Etheridge)
12 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
13 Nowhere to Go (Melissa Etheridge)
14 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
15 All the Way to Heaven (Melissa Etheridge)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17184503/MELISSAE1996StrytllrsNwYrkC__11-10-1996_atse.zip.html

alternate:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ySEDagwk

The cover photo comes from the City of Hope benefit concert at Universal Studios Hollywood in Universal City, California, in 1996. I've posted an album of that concert at this blog, by the way.

Woodstock '94, Winston Farm, Saugerties, NY, 8-12-1994 to 8-14-1994 - Day 2, Part 10: Melissa Etheridge

The tenth album from Day Two of the Woodstock '94 Festival is a set by Melissa Etheridge.

In 1994, Etheridge was probably at her commercial and creative peak. She had three albums from 1989 to 1992 that sold at least a million copies in the U.S. each. Then in 1993, her album "Yes I Am" was her biggest seller, selling six million in the U.S. 

The first half of the concert consisted of Etheridge's original songs. But then she did no less than four songs in a row originally made famous by Janis Joplin. Joplin was one of the stars of the 1969 Woodstock Festival, so Etheridge thought the 1994 Woodstock was a good occasion for a Joplin tribute.

As usual, the sound quality is excellent. (I don't remember why I added "[Edit]" to "Silent Legacy." Probably I patched a gap in the song.) However, the versions I found of this were missing the final song, "I'm the Only One," because it was the only song from this set that appeared on the festival's official double album. But I fly close to the sun when it comes to copyright issues, so I included that one too. As Janis Joplin used to sing, get it while you can.

The album is 55 minutes long.

01 Come to My Window (Melissa Etheridge)
02 If I Wanted To (Melissa Etheridge)
03 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
04 Silent Legacy [Edit] (Melissa Etheridge)
05 Bring Me Some Water (Melissa Etheridge)
06 Like the Way I Do (Melissa Etheridge)
07 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
08 Try [Just a Little Bit Harder] (Melissa Etheridge)
09 Cry Baby (Melissa Etheridge)
10 Move Over (Melissa Etheridge)
11 Piece of My Heart (Melissa Etheridge)
12 I'm the Only One (Melissa Etheridge)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/LoLdZ7hP 

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/m08HeETMUxz2Ozq/file

The cover photo comes from this exact concert.

Concert for Walden Woods, Foxboro Stadium, Foxborough, MA, 9-6-1993, Part 2: Melissa Etheridge

Here's the second act in the 1993 Concert for Walden Woods. For more about the concert and the cause it was for, check out my Part 1 write-up.

The parts I'm posting are in chronological order of who played when in this concert. So next up after Elton John was Melissa Etheridge.

In 1993, Etheridge was probably at the peak of her popularity. In late September 1993, she released the studio album "Yes I Am." It went on to sell six million copies in the US, the best selling album of her career.

This concert took place two weeks before the release of that album. So that's probably why it's light on songs from that album. The only song from it was "I'm the Only One," which was released as the first single, one day after this concert. Otherwise, she played songs from her previous albums. However, "Let's Get It On" is a cover of the classic Marvin Gaye song.

This album is 43 minutes long.

01 Ain't It Heavy (Melissa Etheridge)
02 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
03 Must Be Crazy for Me (Melissa Etheridge)
04 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
05 I'm the Only One (Melissa Etheridge)
06 Chrome Plated Heart (Melissa Etheridge)
07 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
08 Bring Me Some Water (Melissa Etheridge)
09 Let's Get It On (Melissa Etheridge)
10 Like the Way I Do (Melissa Etheridge)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16216755/VA1993_CncrtfrWldnWdsFxbroStdmFxbrghMA__9-6-1993_02MlissEthrdge.zip.html

The cover is just like the cover for Part 1 of this concert, with only some of the text changed. Read my Part 1 write-up for more of an explanation.

Melissa Etheridge - Neil Diamond Tribute - Home Concert, Los Angeles, CA, 5-7-2020

This is the last Melissa Etheridge home concert album I have to post before her son died in mid-May 2020. After that, she took a long break then resumed doing home concerts, but only for those who paid for a subscription service. Since then, she has posted some stuff for free on YouTube, so I plan on collecting and posting some of that eventually.

It turns out that Etheridge is a big Neil Diamond fan, thanks to her father, who played lots of Diamond's music while she was growing up. Thus, she did an entire home concert playing nothing but Neil Diamond songs. This is a relatively short album at only 36 minutes, and if you remove all her talking between songs its only 23 minutes long. But I figured it was good to keep this together since it holds together thematically.

This follows the same format as the other Etheridge home concerts I've posted. Namely, she plays and sings everything herself, live. But sometimes she sounds like a one-person band, complete with drums and lead guitar solos and such, due to her looping ability. That means she records a sample of some music, such as a drum beat, then plays other instruments on top of it. I've cut out the bits where she made the loop samples and built them up. The songs she does the looping for here are "Cherry, Cherry" and "Holly Holy." Otherwise, it's just her and her acoustic guitar.

As with all her other home concert stuff, the sound quality is excellent, and everything is officially unreleased.

Say what you will about Neil Diamond and his music. Yes, he's often cheesy and uncool. But he wrote a lot of classic songs, and naturally Etheridge chose to play some of his best ones. She also told some interesting stories about him, including her personal interactions with him.

01 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
02 Shiloh (Melissa Etheridge)
03 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
04 Play Me (Melissa Etheridge)
05 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
06 Cherry, Cherry (Melissa Etheridge)
07 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
08 I Am, I Said (Melissa Etheridge)
09 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
10 Holly Holy (Melissa Etheridge)
11 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
12 Sweet Caroline (Melissa Etheridge)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15289683/MelissaE_2020h_NeilDiamndTributeHomeConcrtLsAngelesCA__5-7-2020_atse.zip.html

For the cover art, I wanted to use a photo of Etheridge and Diamond together. I'm happy to say I found out. This shows them together at a radio station in New York City in 2014. There was a radio station logo repeated several times on the wall behind them. I found those distracting, so I removed them using Photoshop.

Melissa Etheridge - Home Concert Covers, Volume 4, Los Angeles, CA, 5-4-2020 to 5-12-2020

For the first couple of months of the coronavirus pandemic lockdown, Melissa Etheridge was extremely prolific, doing a home concert nearly every single day. Then, on May 13, 2020, her son Beckett died of issues related to opiod addiction at only 21 years old. She immediately stopped her home concerts to grieve. When she resumed them about a month later, she began doing them less often, and also making them available only with a paid subscription. I don't want to post something here from behind a paywall. So this is the last bunch of songs from when she was still posting everything for free.

As with the previous albums in this series, I've only included the cover versions she did. She also performed lots of originals, but those are available on her albums, and her covers generally have never been released on album. Also like the previous albums, she did some songs solo acoustic. For others, she built up loops that allowed her to play multiple instruments at once. Those usually included her playing the drums, making her sound like a full band.

Furthermore, also like the previous albums, I've created two versions. One version includes her lengthy talking between songs. The other version is just the music. The version with the talking is 59 minutes long. The music only version is 48 minutes long.

I have one more album from this time period this is a show focusing entirely on Neil Diamond songs. In recent months, she has released some songs for free, so I plan on posting some of those eventually.

01 Rock Me Baby (Melissa Etheridge)
02 Intro to Any Other Way (Melissa Etheridge)
03 Any Other Way (Melissa Etheridge)
04 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
05 Who's Makin' Love (Melissa Etheridge)
06 Merry Christmas Baby (Melissa Etheridge)
07 Intro to Happy Xmas [War Is Over] (Melissa Etheridge)
08 Happy Xmas [War Is Over] - Give Peace a Chance (Melissa Etheridge)
09 These Arms of Mine (Melissa Etheridge)
10 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
11 Lucille (Melissa Etheridge)
12 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
13 Tupelo Honey (Melissa Etheridge)
14 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
15 I've Been Loving You Too Long (Melissa Etheridge)
16 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
17 Hold On, I'm Comin' (Melissa Etheridge)
18 Wait a Minute (Melissa Etheridge)

Here's the song list for the music only version:

01 Rock Me Baby (Melissa Etheridge)
02 Any Other Way (Melissa Etheridge)
03 Who's Makin' Love (Melissa Etheridge)
04 Merry Christmas Baby (Melissa Etheridge)
05 Happy Xmas [War Is Over] - Give Peace a Chance (Melissa Etheridge)
06 These Arms of Mine (Melissa Etheridge)
07 Lucille (Melissa Etheridge)
08 Tupelo Honey (Melissa Etheridge)
09 I've Been Loving You Too Long (Melissa Etheridge)
10 Hold On, I'm Comin' (Melissa Etheridge)
11 Wait a Minute (Melissa Etheridge)

Here's the link with the talking and the music:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/7me8w8z7

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/zBw4497e9asAzAm/file

Here's the link that contains only the music:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/A8RezX91

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/5WeJ9oPWhorgslx/file

The cover art photo is from one of her home concerts from around this time period. I used the Krea AI program to improve the image quality

Melissa Etheridge - The Eagles Tribute - Home Concert, Los Angeles, CA, 5-3-2020

Since the start of July 2020, Melissa Etheridge's home concerts have continued, but behind a pay wall. If she thinks she can make some money that way, I don't want to undermine her. So I won't be posting anything from after that time, unless her policy changes. But I still have some material from before she made that change. Here's another one.

As you can see from the title, it's a tribute to the Eagles. There's about 22 minutes of music, plus another 15 minutes of talking, for a total of 40 minutes. Etheridge has some interesting stories to tell, especially since she's met and performed with Eagle Don Henley.

There's not much else to say other than if you enjoyed the previous Melissa Etheridge concerts I've posted, you should enjoy this one too. The sound quality is the same as on the earlier ones, which means it's very good.

01 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
02 Desperado (Melissa Etheridge)
03 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
04 The Boys of Summer (Melissa Etheridge)
05 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
06 Intro to Peaceful Easy Feeling (Melissa Etheridge)
07 Peaceful Easy Feeling - Take It Easy - Peaceful Easy Feeling (Melissa Etheridge)
08 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
09 Intro to Witchy Woman (Melissa Etheridge)
10 Witchy Woman (Melissa Etheridge)
11 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
12 Lyin' Eyes (Melissa Etheridge)
13 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
14 Take It to the Limit (Melissa Etheridge)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15289556/MelissaE_2020f_EaglsTributeHomeConcrtLsAngelesCA__5-3-2020_atse.zip.html

Instead of the usual screenshot of Etheridge performing at the home concert in question, I thought it would be more interesting if I could find a photo of her with one or more of the Eagles. I did. This photo is of her with Don Henley at a 2002 MusicCares concert honoring Billy Joel.

Melissa Etheridge - Home Concert Covers, Volume 3, Los Angeles, CA, 4-23-2020 to 4-29-2020

Melissa Etheridge played over 50 home concerts every day without pause, each one roughly half an hour to an hour. That came to a sudden halt on May 13, 2020, because she found out that day that her son Beckett, age 21, died of causes related to opiod addiction. She took over a month off to grieve.

On June 20th, she reemerged with more home concerts. However, she has changed her model. Instead of posting her concerts for free on the Internet, she's starting a subscription service at etheridgetv.com. If that's her plan, I don't want to undercut it by posting material behind a pay wall for free here. That said, I still have a lot of material to post through May 2020, such as this album.

This follows the same format as the two previous Etheridge home concert covers collections I've posted here. Namely, since she's so talkative between songs, I've created two download files. One includes the talking. In this case, that's 58 minutes long. The other is just the songs. That's only 36 minutes. And if it isn't clear enough already, this is only cover versions.

There's not much else to say except I think she's a pretty interesting story teller. So if you're a fan, you should consider hearing the version with talking at least once. But if you're looking to long-term repeat listenability, you might want to focus on the music only version for that.

Oh, one final comment. Back in February, I was pleasantly surprised when all these home concerts started happening. For me, those have been one of the best silver linings to the otherwise very dark coronavirus cloud. It's been a boon for people like me who are into acoustic performances. I'm happy to report this is the 40th one I've posted, with more new ones popping up all the time. :)

Here's a list of the original artists for each song:

01 Apartment No. 9 - Tammy Wynette
02 Heroes - David Bowie
03 Mandy - Barry Manilow
04 Since I Fell for You - Lenny Welch
05 After the Glitter Fades - Stevie Nicks
06 Drift Away - Dobie Gray
07 Angie - Wild Horses - Rolling Stones
08 Let's Get It On - Marvin Gaye

Here's the usual song list for the version with the talking:

01 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
02 Apartment No. 9 (Melissa Etheridge)
03 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
04 Heroes (Melissa Etheridge)
05 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
06 Mandy (Melissa Etheridge)
07 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
08 Since I Fell for You (Melissa Etheridge)
09 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
10 Intro to After the Glitter Fades (Melissa Etheridge)
11 After the Glitter Fades (Melissa Etheridge)
12 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
13 Drift Away (Melissa Etheridge)
14 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
15 Angie - Wild Horses (Melissa Etheridge)
16 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
17 Let's Get It On (Melissa Etheridge)

Here's the music-only song list:

01 Apartment No. 9 (Melissa Etheridge)
02 Heroes (Melissa Etheridge)
03 Mandy (Melissa Etheridge)
04 Since I Fell for You (Melissa Etheridge)
05 After the Glitter Fades (Melissa Etheridge)
06 Drift Away (Melissa Etheridge)
07 Angie - Wild Horses (Melissa Etheridge)
08 Let's Get It On (Melissa Etheridge)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/wY5md5Us

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/cAz9poWcmlZs0b7/file

Music only version:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/MA5RqrFk

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/lDEySBjT8nohCew/file

The cover art comes from an appearance she made on a radio show, while she was in the room where she does her home concert. I used that as a source instead of a screenshot from one of her home concerts, because this one had a good close up of her head, whereas her home concerts usually are zoomed out and show her entire body. I'll probably use an example of that next time around.

Melissa Etheridge - Home Concert Covers, Volume 2, Los Angeles, CA, 4-15-2020 to 4-22-2020

I've got a bunch of Melissa Etheridge 2020 home concerts to post, so here we go with another one. Let's review what I did with the last album I posted. Etheridge has played over 50 home concerts since the coronavirus pandemic began, lasting roughly half an hour to an hour each. I've selected just the cover versions she's done, and the related talking before each song.

However, she can be very verbose with her comments. So I've made two versions of this album: one includes the comments and the songs (which is exactly an hour long), and the other is just the songs (which is 44 minutes long).

In terms of musical content, Etheridge is well known for for her rough, expressive voice. But in making this series, I was impressed at her talent with musical instruments as well. For some of the songs, she does looping, creating drum beats in real time, then singing and playing more instruments on top of loops of that rhythm. I've cut out the minute or two it takes her to create the loops. I'm especially impressed at her lead guitar playing. She's like a literal one-person band.

Here's a list of the original artists for each song:

01 Born under a Bad Sign - Albert King / Cream
02 I Forgot to Be Your Lover - William Bell
03 Maggie May - Rod Stewart
04 Teach Your Children - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
05 I Will Always Love You - Dolly Parton / Whitney Houston
06 Come in from the Rain - Melissa Manchester
07 Fix You - Coldplay
08 I’ve Got Dreams to Remember - Otis Redding
09 Kiss - Prince
10 Respect Yourself - Staple Singers

Here's the usual song list for the version with the talking:

01 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
02 Born under a Bad Sign (Melissa Etheridge)
03 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
04 I Forgot to Be Your Lover (Melissa Etheridge)
05 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
06 Maggie May (Melissa Etheridge)
07 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
08 Teach Your Children (Melissa Etheridge with Bailey Etheridge)
09 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
10 I Will Always Love You (Melissa Etheridge)
11 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
12 Come in from the Rain (Melissa Etheridge)
13 Fix You (Melissa Etheridge & Bailey Etheridge)
14 Intro to I've Got Dreams to Remember (Melissa Etheridge)
15 I’ve Got Dreams to Remember (Melissa Etheridge)
16 Kiss (Melissa Etheridge)
17 Respect Yourself (Melissa Etheridge)

Here's the music-only song list:

01 Born under a Bad Sign (Melissa Etheridge)
02 I Forgot to Be Your Lover (Melissa Etheridge)
03 Maggie May (Melissa Etheridge)
04 Teach Your Children (Melissa Etheridge with Bailey Etheridge)
05 I Will Always Love You (Melissa Etheridge)
06 Come in from the Rain (Melissa Etheridge)
07 Fix You (Melissa Etheridge & Bailey Etheridge)
08 I’ve Got Dreams to Remember (Melissa Etheridge)
09 Kiss (Melissa Etheridge)
10 Respect Yourself (Melissa Etheridge)

Music plus talking:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/fS9xxLRK

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/wMQDzSvq4NosyXc/file

Music only:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/vDtVqBfZ

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/G5tt60TmoinQ7as/file

For two of the songs, Melissa was joined by her daughter Bailey, who helped with vocals. I have several of these albums to post. So for this one, I thought it would be more interesting to include a screenshot from the concert of Melissa and Bailey, instead of just Melissa alone. So that's what I did. The picture quality isn't great, but c'est la vie.  I later used the Krea AI program to improve the image quality

Melissa Etheridge - Home Concert Covers, Volume 1, Los Angeles, CA, 3-14-2020 to 4-11-2020

Since the coronavirus pandemic lockdown began, Melissa Etheridge has been one of the most active with home concerts. Up until a couple of weeks ago, she did one concert a day for over 50 days! Each concert has gone from about 30 minutes up until an hour, so that's a remarkable amount of music. The vast majority of the songs she's played have been originals, but she done some covers here and there, and those have added up. I've already posted one concert here in which she did nothing but Bruce Springsteen cover. Here's this album:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2020/04/melissa-etheridge-bruce-springsteen.html

I've also posted another concert in which she played her best known original songs. You can get that here:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2020/05/melissa-etheridge-from-my-home-to-yours.html

But now, I want to go through the rest of her home concerts and post the other covers she's done. I'm focusing on the covers because when it comes to originals you can find those on her albums, but the vast majority of these covers have never been officially released by her. Also, they should be of interest to anyone who likes the kind of music I post here and aren't Melissa Etheridge fans specifically. She has an excellent, distinctive voice, and she's also surprisingly talented on multiple instruments. She plays all the instruments on her home concerts, including drums and electric guitar solos.

It turns out that Etheridge has been very talkative during these home concerts. Oftentimes, there's more talking than songs. I've cut her comments way down, eliminating anything except comments directly relevant to the next song she's playing or the musician who did it. Even then though, she sometimes talks for five minutes or longer before getting to the next song. Personally, I like her comments, but it might be too much for some people, especially when it comes to repeat listening.

As a result, for this album and future albums in this series, I've created two versions. One includes the between song banter and the other does not. In this case, the version with the talking is an hour and 16 minutes long, and the version containing just the songs is 47 minutes long. I've made the versions with talking longer than usual so the versions without will still be long enough for a typical album.

The songs are presented in chronological order of the dates of her home concerts. Here's a list of the original artists for each song:

01 Refugee - Tom Petty
02 Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town - Kenny Rogers
03 The Weakness in Me - Joan Armatrading
04 Stay with Me - Faces
05 Breathe - Greenwheel
06 Ain’t No Sunshine - Bill Withers
07 Angel from Montgomery - John Prine / Bonnie Raitt
08 Mercedes Benz - Janis Joplin
09 Get It While You Can - Janis Joplin
10 Me and Bobby McGee - Kris Kristofferson / Janis Joplin
11 Piece of My Heart - Emma Franklin / Janis Joplin

Here's the usual song list for the version with the talking:

01 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
02 Refugee (Melissa Etheridge)
03 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
04 Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town (Melissa Etheridge)
05 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
06 The Weakness in Me (Melissa Etheridge)
07 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
08 Stay with Me (Melissa Etheridge)
09 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
10 Breathe (Melissa Etheridge)
11 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
12 Ain’t No Sunshine (Melissa Etheridge)
13 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
14 Angel from Montgomery (Melissa Etheridge)
15 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
16 Mercedes Benz (Melissa Etheridge)
17 Intro to Get It While You Can (Melissa Etheridge)
18 Get It While You Can (Melissa Etheridge)
19 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
20 Me and Bobby McGee (Melissa Etheridge)
21 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
22 Piece of My Heart (Melissa Etheridge)

Here's the music-only song list:

01 Refugee (Melissa Etheridge)
02 Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town (Melissa Etheridge)
03 The Weakness in Me (Melissa Etheridge)
04 Stay with Me (Melissa Etheridge)
05 Breathe (Melissa Etheridge)
06 Ain’t No Sunshine (Melissa Etheridge)
07 Angel from Montgomery (Melissa Etheridge)
08 Mercedes Benz (Melissa Etheridge)
09 Get It While You Can (Melissa Etheridge)
10 Me and Bobby McGee (Melissa Etheridge)
11 Piece of My Heart (Melissa Etheridge)

Music plus talking:

https://www.upload.ee/files/15289228/MelissaE_2020a_HomeConcrtCovrsVolume1LsAngelesCA__3-14-2020_to_4-11-2020_atse.zip.html

Music only:

https://www.upload.ee/files/15289352/MelissaE_2020a_HomeConcrtCovrsVolume1LsAngelesCA__3-14-2020_to_Music_Only.zip.html

I wanted to start this series with a close-up of Etheridge's face. This is from a public event in early 2000, before the pandemic began.

Melissa Etheridge - From My Home to Yours - Home Concert, Los Angeles, CA, 4-29-2020

I think Melissa Etheridge has to be the hardest working musician during the coronavirus lockdown. She's been performing a home concert of about half an hour to an hour in length every single day since the lockdown began! As I write this, she's done over 50 concerts, and shows no sign of stopping.

I already posted one of her home concerts, a special one that consisted entirely of Bruce Springsteen covers. This is another special one from her. On April 29, 2020, in addition to her usual afternoon home concert, she did a second home concert that evening for a different social media platform, which she called "From My Home to Yours." That show focused on her best known hits. So this is ideal for people, like me, who don't own most of her albums but still enjoy her greatest hits.

Since all of these songs are performed by Etheridge alone, this is much like a solo acoustic version of her greatest hits album. Except it's not entirely that way, due to her mastery of the looping technique. As she did for a couple of the songs for her Bruce Springsteen show, she added drums and occasionally some other instruments to a "looped" backing track that she created all by herself on the spot. In the few cases she did this, I edited out the minute or two it took for her to build up the loop, because I don't think those parts stand up well to repeated listening. But still, kudos to her for being able to flesh some songs out all on her own so quickly.

Also note that for a couple of the looped songs, she plays an electric guitar instead of an acoustic, and adds her own licks and even entire solos. She also plays piano instead of guitar on a couple of songs. I knew she has a great voice, but I didn't realize she's so talented on so many instruments (especially if you include the drumming she did for the looping).

I believe all the songs are written or co-written by Etheridge, except for "Weakness in Me" by Joan Armatrading. Etheridge tends to talk a lot between songs. I kept nearly all of it, except for bits I thought wouldn't stand up to repeated listening, such as when she was plugging her next home concerts.

By the way, I've been keeping track of her daily home concerts. In the future, I plan on posting some highlights from that, such as when she does more special covers shows.

01 I Want to Come Over (Melissa Etheridge)
02 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
03 You Can Sleep While I Drive (Melissa Etheridge)
04 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
05 If I Wanted To (Melissa Etheridge)
06 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
07 Don't You Need (Melissa Etheridge)
08 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
09 Bring Me Some Water (Melissa Etheridge)
10 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
11 Weakness in Me (Melissa Etheridge)
12 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
13 Meet Me in the Dark (Melissa Etheridge)
14 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
15 Chrome Plated Heart (Melissa Etheridge)
16 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
17 I'm the Only One (Melissa Etheridge)
18 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
19 Come to My Window (Melissa Etheridge)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/tGmd2iWu

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/lMWUGyTk3kArcLI/file

The cover art is a screenshot taken from the concert in question. I used the Krea AI program to improve the image quality.

Melissa Etheridge - Bruce Springsteen Tribute - Home Concert, Los Angeles, CA, 4-24-2020

You know who has been remarkably musically prolific during the coronavirus lockdown? Neil Finn on Crowded House. He's been putting on a mini-concert at home nearly every single day (and I've started posting albums compiled from those). But you know who has been even MORE prolific than him? Melissa Etheridge. She started a day or two earlier, and has been putting on a mini-concert every single day without fail. It really is remarkable. I wish more musicians would follow the leads of Finn and Etheridge and go wild recording and posting whatever they want.

As it so happens, I'm not that big of a Melissa Etheridge fan. I like some of her stuff, but I'm about at the "greatest hits" level. She's had a lot of very good hits, but her albums aren't consistent enough for my tastes. That said, she has an undeniably impressive voice. So when she covers classic songs, she really shines. I'm not going to post all or most of her many 2020 home concerts. That would be way too much. But I will post what I consider are some of the highlights.

One entire home concert has been a highlight, the one she did on April 24, 2020. While most of the rest of her home concerts have focused on her own songs, this one was devoted entirely to Bruce Springsteen songs. It turns out she's a huge Springsteen fan, and his music was a big influence on her career. So this is a recording that both Melissa Etheridge and Bruce Springsteen fans should enjoy.

For her home concerts, Etheridge has spent a large portion of them just talking, sometimes sharing long stories. This concert is no exception. She met Springsteen a bunch of time, and has sung duets with him on stage, so she has some interesting and relevant stories to tell. That said, sometimes she's gone off on less interesting tangents. So I've edited her comments to keep their length down to more reasonable levels. But even after my edits, sometimes she talks for two or three minutes between songs. If that's too long for you, you can just delete those tracks and reduce a 53-minute-long concert into a 37-minute-long one.

For the most part, these songs are just Etheridge on acoustic guitar or piano. But it turns out she can play many instruments and has a skill at looping. That means recording a sample of some music, such as a short snippet of a drum beat, and then repeating (or looping) it to provide the backing track for a song. For a couple of songs here, especially "She's the One" and "Born to Run," she does all the looping herself, live, adding multiple instruments. Building up the tracks is an impressive thing to watch on video, but I don't think it stands up to repeated listenings. So I edited out the couple of minutes it took for her to build up the instrumentation for each of those songs. If you're interested, watch the video of her doing it on YouTube.

Also note that one of the songs here, "Thunder Road," is kind of a ringer in that it's not from this concert at all. She played it a couple of weeks earlier during one of her other home concerts. It's a piano performance, and she did it on a day just for piano-based songs. Since that is a Springsteen song, I took that version, as well as her story that preceded it, and added it in to the concert. I put both of those just before her final comments, to make it seem as if they were part of the same show.

01 Darkness on the Edge of Town (Melissa Etheridge)
02 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
03 The River (Melissa Etheridge)
04 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
05 Pink Cadillac (Melissa Etheridge)
06 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
07 She's the One (Melissa Etheridge)
08 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
09 I'm on Fire Intro (Melissa Etheridge)
10 I'm on Fire (Melissa Etheridge)
11 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
12 Born to Run (Melissa Etheridge)
13 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
14 Thunder Road (Melissa Etheridge)
15 talk (Melissa Etheridge)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/x93ffSpk

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/ABChmA9hQktFvsi/file

The cover art needs a special explanation. I could have simply used a screenshot from her YouTube video of this concert. But at one point she told a story about a duet she sang in concert in 1995 with Springsteen. To illustrate the story, she held up a photo of her and him singing together at the concert. So I took a screenshot of that photo. It's true the photo is rather low-res, but it's a good photo of the two of them that I couldn't find anywhere else on the Internet, and I thought it made for a fitting cover.

I'm writing this paragraph much later, in January 2025. All hail our new AI overlords! I kid, but I just fixed the cover pic using the Krea AI program. I had to run it through the program a few times, but somehow it turned the very blurry and blobby original into something resembling an actual photograph.