Hi there! Just wanted to let you all know that for now...the website that I'm updating and using is my MySpace page. So if you want to learn more...see recent photos from my journies...read random blogs, and check out my friends music, then visit me on www.myspace.com/melaniehersch!

Till next time,
Melanie :-)

Ahhh..spring is here. The cherry blossoms are in full swing...and I am a happy camper :-) Not that all year here isn't like spring...but still. Just knowing it's "officially" spring makes me oh soo happy. And yes..summer is just around the corner! Loving that! I've got some fun stuff going on. I have a very special musical side project that's in the works right now -- that I'm VERY excited about! I'll just leave it at that for now. I'll let you know more when I can. Other than that, the coming months are looking like desserts...rich, provocative, delicious, and teasing me. They each hold a little treat of a trip for me...which I am super grateful for! So that's the news on my front. All is well. I'm hoping that this finds you well and enjoying life! Wishing you the best always, Melanie :-)

Can it really be winter right now? Tank tops and skirts in the day -- this is definitely the kind of weather i need to live in! It's been a good and very busy fall -- and I am looking forward to having a couple of weeks off! After not playing out for months, I do have a couple shows coming up. Jan. 8th -- I'll be playing a songwriter in the round with Kathrin Shorr, Tim Burlingame, Amy Speace, and Justin Roth at Genghis Cohen in Los Angeles. A little Rocky Mountain Folk Fest Reunion for an hour :-) Then on Feb. 3rd, I'll be playing a house concert with Kenny Edwards up in Montery Bay, CA. Really looking forward to that. Not many shows scheduled right now...as I'm making some career changes...and am needing to focus my energies in other areas for the moment...but when the time is right...I'll book more shows again! Thanks for all your continued support! Come on down and say hi and visit me on Myspace. (I am strangely enjoying the randomness of that world right now!). I am adding new fun photos all the time to keep things fresh and hopefully some new songs soon as well!. xoxo, Mel :-)

hey there!

just wanted to let you all know that i've joined the MySpace world...so if you'd like to learn some interesting facts on me or see some funny pictures that aren't on my website (like my one year old birthday party!)...feel free to swing by. i'm at www.myspace.com./melaniehersch

off to play the Grand Lake Folk Festival tomorrow in colorado. looking forward to enjoying colorado yet again! (i've been there 3 times in the last 3 months! wild!)

lots of love,

melanie :-)

hey folks!
just got back to LA after spending 2 weeks out in Colorado enjoying the Rocky Mountain Song School and Folks Festival out in Lyons. i had an amazing time! got to spend time with some amazingly talented and beautiful musician friends: Kathrin Shorr, Tim Burlingame, Amy Speace, Jagoda, Justin Roth, Sarah Sample, Kate, Antje Duvekot, Eric Schwartz, Danya River, Larkin Gayl, Bob Hillman and so many more. what a treat! sleeping next to a river and waking up surrounded by friends and great music. had some incredible nights in the silo...passing around the guitar. i took some great classes by Berklee School of Music instructor Patt Pattison. if you ever have a chance to study with him...i'd jump on it! once again...i'm coming home totally inspired and eager to write! thanks to all of you that made the song school and festival soo wonderful and memorable. i'm back for 3 days and then head out to a private island off of canada for a little retreat with some girlfriends. yeah..not a bad summer! :-) i'll add some song school photos soon! hope you all are doing well!! love love,
melanie :-)

why hello there!
just a little note to let you all know that i was excited to find out today that i received an "honorable mention" for the songs i entered in the Rocky Mountian Folks Festival Songwriters Showcase this year. out of around 900 songwriters....they pick 10 artists to "compete". (which by the way is such a strange thing. artists "competing"...it's a trip!). while i'm not in the top 10 -- YET (haha) ...it was nice to be recognized for my work this year.
s m i l e s...

hey folks! i just got back from an amazing time camping, hanging out with friends, lounging around by the river and playing music at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas. i know..sounds tough huh!?!! yeah.. It was a slice of utopia for a week, for which i am much grateful! a chance to reconnect with my friends and the amazing music community that i love so very much. went straight from there to a beautiful wedding up at a hot springs in northern cali. it was a great break! The best part is i'm coming home totally inspired and wanting to get out and play more music. yay! :-) I just got asked to play at a festival in Grand Lake, CO in September (which is one of my favorite places!)...and i'm gonna try to make a little tour out of that if i can. anyway, wishing you all the most joyous summer! lots of love...melanie :-)

just got back from the national folk alliance conference in austin, texas. had an amazing time reconnecting with old friends and hearing some great music. i sang a bit with brian joseph and tom fruend (during their showcases)---and loved hearing new music from libby kirkpatrick, molly venter, and michael shay. very inspiring! hung out a lot at the awnry girl room a bunch (thank you jami lunde!) ...and enjoyed one particular classic late night session there with a bunch of the rocky mountain song school folks and other new recruits! oh yeah..i fell in love with this great old time band, the Biscut Burners. wow! amazing music! anyway..now i'm back in LA, recovering...and trying to avoid the cold that is trying to strike me! regarding the future: looks like brian joseph and i are going to be doing a short tour together in Utah at the beginning of April. more info on that soon! till next time...be well! melanie :-)

hi again! well.....here we are in the thick of winter...and i really can't complain! it's been SOO warm out here in santa monica! it was 75 degrees the other day --- my kind of winter! :-) but what's really been exciting for me though is that i'm finally writing songs again! it feels soo good to be able to express myself through writing again -- it had been way too long! i'm nursing three new babies right now....testing them out on friends and my apartment furniture :-) enjoying their incubation period. other than that, i'll be heading out to Folk Alliance in Austin, TX in two weeks -- which i'm really excited about. get to visit with old friends, and hear some great songwriters perform. if you were to take the 'business aspect' away from Folk Alliance...it would sort of look like "songwriter hippie heaven". a bunch of songwriters...snuggled up on beds in hotel rooms....sprawled out on floors....listening to eachother play ....singing along and harmonizing.....up till the wee hours of the morning...playing in stairwells and hallways...laughing..enjoying. like i said, i can't complain!
till the next time!
smiles ~
melanie :-)

hey there! it's been a long time since i've written....and it feels like an entry is way overdue! obviously...as you can see by my tour schedule...i've taken a pretty huge break from music in the past year. it was a much needed break...but the good thing is...i'm actually feeling inspired to write again!! yay!! the songs are slowly making their way to the surface...and i can't tell you how happy i am to have the muse flowing again! i just got back from a week on maui....which was amazing. watched my friends jenn and josh get married...which was one of those ideal sunset beach weddings that you can't imagine being any more perfect. gotta love that stuff! had a great time reconnecting with some old college friends who live on the island. i surfed for the first time...which was awesome! i'm not a super athletic person...and always thought of surfing as super hard and badass...but i made it up on that board...and had the experience of riding some nice waves in...and god...what a feeling! (now, if only the water in LA was a bit warmer and less polluted! :-) ) (ps: www.mauisurfergirls.com -- great surf instructers!) another cool and random thing was jamming with willie nelsons band out in Haiku (which is this rainforesty area near Paia). i thought we were going to be playing/singing country songs...but it turned out it was more of a groovy hawaii improv thing....which was different and fun for me...and made me smile. all and all -- it was a wonderful and inspiring trip...and i am grateful to have my well full of hawaiian energy again! ahh.... so there's my overdue check in! :-) till the next entry...i hope this finds you all well! -- melanie :-)

hey there! i'm hanging low in Los Angeles -- back at home...and enjoying the peace and quiet. ha.. i know folks go...what --peace and quiet-- LA?? but yeah...when it's your hometown...you find your peace. mine's near the beach. anyway..taking a break from music...but loving my old school loretta lynn albums...and playing around with some new covers. getting ready for a short tour in new mexico in april. hope this finds you all well! best... Melanie :)

new review from www.rootshighway.com :

Los Angeles newcomer Melanie Hersch is ´waiting for the moment´ she can pull you towards her – and it really doesn´t take that long. Hersch whose one of the hardest working musicians on the Underground Roots scene in Los Angeles has released her debut effort "Waiting for the Moment", and the moment couldn´t be more right for her. Produced by Tom Freund (The Silos), Hersch has plucked together a handful of originals that grab the listener and demand you to listen.

With seamless effort, Hersch combines the upbeat with the somber, and often intermingles the two. Kicking off the album is "Be More Right", an addictive folk-pop cut where Hersch sings of taking what you have for granted with the thought that something better lies out there. Her lyrics are witty, often flirty, but most importantly sear the heart with a razor-sharp honesty that´s unapologetically seductive. Lines like "what if things never change, do I want to spend my whole life this way, staring at the gate, rusting in my prime" exhibit Hersch´s clever penmanship that´s on display throughout. She´ll catch you offguard with the upbeat "Phone Number", a somber song about a loved one, but looking back on the good times…wishing they had never ended.

Through the good times and the bad, Hersch bounces back and forth between the mournful country balladry of "Orion" that becomes the best honky-tonk song George Jones never wrote, to reveling in the moment with "Pulling Me Towards You" and even a bit of soul searching in "In a Resting Place." It´s at these points and all inbetween where we find that Hersch has moments waited for, and moments wasted all the while making her value what she has more. Her lyrical prowess is one of her most endearing features and has earned her comparisons to her contemporaries including Patty Griffin and Sheryl Crow. (Vocally think Griffin meets Lucinda Williams) And while she exhibits the qualities of both writers, though closer to Griffin´s introspectiveness than Crow´s bitterness, Hersch delivers us a brand of music we haven´t seen for some time, one that combines tradition with a sound that´s fresh and new….but not too overproduced. Call it folk, country, alt.country or whatever you want to. Essentially it´s comfortable and it´ll keeo you warm like a flannel shirt on a winter´s day. Once you start to listen you´ll find yourself in a ´resting place´ where the sounds of heaven surround you and you realize things couldn´t ´be more right.´ Grade: A-

Written by www.rootshighway.com Dec. 2004

A new review from www.freighttrainboogie.com . Thanks Don! :-)

This is a pretty impressive first offering from this California girl. The opening cut, "Be More Right", grabs you right off the bat. It's a song that explores a classic country vein, expecting greater things, and wasting opportunities, without realizing that what's going down today isn't really that all bad. Her voice can shift effortlessly from one octave to another without a seam, just like them good ole' country girls' did, and, throughout the CD, Tom Freund, on guitars, bass, and, whatever, you name it, provides some quality embellishment. The second track is a bit of a contradiction, mating an upbeat, Cajun style rhythm, with a lyric about losing a friend in an aircraft accident. Surprisingly, it comes off really well. This is where her forte lies, she turns some pretty neat phrases: "what if things never change, do I want to spend my whole life this way, staring at the gate, rusting in my prime?". Waiting For The Moment is a nice collection of musings from a talented artist; if the mainstream doesn't grab her and screw up the works, (and she's got some attributes that would attract them), this lady has some good work ahead for us.
Reviewed by Don Grant

Just had the most spectacular time at the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival in Lyons, Colorado. Not only did i have an amazing time singing with Brian Joseph and Danny Shafer on the Main Stage...but Catie Curtis also asked me to join her for her set..and i got to play with her as well. i've been a huge fan of Catie's since 1997, as she was one of the songwriters i heard that really inspired me ....and so meeting her and having her ask me to sing harmonies with her for 5 songs was a huge treat for me! i had a blast! apparently, my smile was quite large up on stage...as i got umm..a few (ha..) comments about that from audience members afterwards. which kind of cracked me up. but hey..i'm a smiler. i can't help it! anyway..i had an amazing time and look forward to my next festival out in Lyons!

I am featured as a spotlight artist on www.indie-music.com right now. here's the review:


By Jennifer Layton

Before I even get to the music, I must compliment the photographer. He knows his subject. The CD cover shots feature Melanie Hersch lounging on a porch in a big wooden chair, barefoot and blue-jeaned, Stetson tilted over half-lidded eyes. She´s sitting under a banner advertising the services of a psychic. This is the perfect setting for a folky earth child with a great big smile and a collection of songs that sound like Ricki Lee Jones mixed with Sheryl Crowe, with a dash of Emmylou tossed in. I get the feeling that if I sat with her on the porch, she´d insist on reading my palm.

Waiting For the Moment is a beautifully crafted CD. That warm, rustic folk voice lured me in, and her way with words kept me there. The CD title comes from a line in the opening track "Be More Right," a song about missing the perfect moment while waiting for a more perfect one. "Rusting in my prime" is how she paints it. Another great lyrical example comes from the spirited "Pulling Me Toward You":

"When life gets hard, and I need a memory,
I just go fishing inside and hook those ones of you, baby ... "

I can hear her smile when she sings those lines. Her attitude is flirty, but her words are seriously romantic. In fact, the only real dampening of that upbeat spirit comes from "Orion," a track that covers familiar country song territory. When it comes to mournful ballads about being out drinkin´ and wakin´ up to regrets, George Jones can only hold his own against Hersch.

"I let my belt slide down
Drank too much on the girls´ night out
and I woke up sick, ashamed, embarrassed
does one strike have to mean I´m forever out?"

She covers an even sadder topic in "Phone Number in Heaven," but the music provides an interesting insight not revealed in the lyrics. While she sings of losing a loved one, the music is surprisingly upbeat. The choice of bluegrassy folk is her way of holding on to the happy memories of someone who was suddenly taken away.

Other musical highlights include "Beautiful," with its gorgeous, dreamy cello I could just float away on. And if you need further proof of Hersch´s resilient spirit, just check out the final track. It´s her version of "Tomorrow" from the musical Annie. Thankfully, without the schmaltz. Just drawling, laid-back, musical serenity.

http://www.melaniehersch.com

My songs -- "Beautiful" and "I Fantasize" -- were played in 3 episodes of the WB Reality Show "High School Reunion" -- including the opening show and the last song of the finale show. Gotta love it :-)