<\/p>\n
Melissa Etheridge is staring down quite an itinerary in 2026.<\/p>\n
She has a batch of headlining tour dates kicking off March 26 at the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts in Detroit<\/a>. The tour kicks off the day before the release of\u00a0Rise, <\/em>the singer-songwriter\u2019s 17th studio album<\/a>. This summer will also see Etheridge join forces with country legend Wynonna Judd<\/a> on a co-headlining tour.<\/p>\n On top of all of that, last month saw Etheridge receive her long overdue first nomination for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Artists are eligible for nomination\/induction 25 years after the release of their first commercial recording. Etheridge released her self-titled debut album in 1988 and has been eligible for nomination\/induction since 2013. (The Rock Hall Fan Vote is currently open. Fans can vote for their picks for the 2026 Rock Hall class once per day at vote.rockhall.com<\/a>. Voting closes on April 3.)<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m actually feeling really good about this year. And, you know, the nomination is a part of it,\u201d said Etheridge in a recent interview with Hour Detroit.<\/em> She also noted that friend and fellow singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow, who was inducted into the Rock Hall in 2023<\/a>, championed her as an artist who more than deserved consideration.<\/p>\n Reflecting on the nomination, Etheridge said, \u201cIt feels better than I thought it would. After all these years, I was like, \u2018You know what? It\u2019s okay. I don\u2019t need that [recognition]. I have enough validation every night when I\u2019m on stage.\u2019 \u2026 I feel like I\u2019m old enough now and wise enough to kind of take everything in this time.\u201d<\/p>\n Below is Etheridge\u2019s conversation with\u00a0Hour Detroit<\/em>, which has been edited for clarity and length.<\/p>\n [Laughing] That\u2019s what I make music for! For people that get in the car and drive!<\/p>\n I had enjoyed the music Brandi Carlile was making. She\u2019s a good friend, and I just researched who she\u2019d worked with, and Shooter came up, and a couple people recommended him to me. We\u2019re both [based] in LA. I went to see him and met him. It was like 15 minutes, and it was like I was sitting with an old friend. And he has the same feeling about music. He has such a great heart, a great ear. He\u2019s about it being fun \u2026 It was just an amazing experience. I can\u2019t wait to work with him again. It was so incredible!<\/p>\n I\u2019m such a big Chris Stapleton fan. When it came time to write and do the album, I realized I was going to do it with Sun Records. I thought, \u201cOkay, this is going to be kind of a Nashville thing. I\u2019m going to lean a little little into my country roots, even though I\u2019ve just been very rock and roll.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2026 I\u2019d never met him, and I went to my manager, said, \u201cLook, there\u2019s really only one person I want to write with, or, you know, even kind of duet with, and that would be Chris Stapleton.\u201d And she said, \u201cWell, I\u2019ll check it out.\u201d He was going to be in Nashville for one day, and he said he was able to meet me on that day. It\u2019s kind of a medium tempo song. When we wrote it together, I said, \u201cChris, I think the world kind of wants to hear you and I sing together. So, let\u2019s really consider doing this.\u201d He put his vocals on it, I put mine on, and it\u2019s probably one of my favorite things I\u2019ve ever done.<\/p>\n My management. One of the guys that I work with, he was part of putting that show together. He knew I was off and that I wasn\u2019t doing anything that week. He said, \u201cHey, you want to come to Detroit? You could do a Bob Seger song.\u201d And I\u2019m a massive Bob Seger fan. That song [I performed], \u201cMainstreet,\u201d was a staple on my 8-track player in my Chevy. I had it completely memorized. It was just a great opportunity and a wonderful experience. I got to hang out with Jelly Roll, and we just had a great time.<\/p>\n\n
Three tracks from Rise<\/em> have been released as a preview of the album: \u201cBein\u2019 Alive<\/a>,\u201d \u201cMatches<\/a>,\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t You Want A Woman<\/a>.\u201d I can\u2019t wait for the weather to get better to take these songs on the road with the windows rolled down, but I have a feeling from these three songs that this album is going to cause me to floor it and get some speeding tickets.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
You co-produced this album with Grammy Award winning-producer Shooter Jennings. Talk to me about how you two got together.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Speaking of working with people,\u00a0Rise\u00a0<\/em>features the track \u201cThe Other Side Of Blue,\u201d your duet with Chris Stapleton. What was it like working with him?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
You\u2019re kicking off your headlining tour in Detroit in support of your new album. One of your recent performances in the city was at Michigan Central Station in honor of its reopening in June 2024. How did you get involved with that show?<\/strong><\/h3>\n