Arts & Entertainment

A New Voice

Former Michigander Melissa
Greener is making her mark
on the music scene.

Melissa Greener: "The journey lures me forward."

Suzanne Chessler

Special to the Jewish News

M

elissa Greener easily describes
her favorite preschool playtime
and recalls it as prelude to her

career.
Greener would stand on a vacuum
cleaner, pretending the base was a stage
and the handle was a microphone, to sing
away while holding a tennis racquet as a
make-believe guitar.
Michigan-born and raised, Greener, now
29 and based in Texas, soon will visit her
native state to stand on club stages, sing
her heart out and strum an acoustic gui-
tar. Her material features a cache of songs
written to communicate the emerging
entertainer's personal reality.
Performances are set for Sunday, Aug.
26, at the Old Town Tavern in Ann Arbor;
Saturday, Sept. 1, at the New Hudson Inn
in New Hudson, Mich.; Tuesday, Sept. 4,
at Magdalena's Tea House in Lansing;
and Friday, Sept. 7, at AJ's Music Cafe

in Ferndale. There also will be a radio
appearance at 10 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 2, on
Over Easy, broadcast by WCSX-FM (94.7).
"Most of my material is original,
with only a select few cover songs:' says
Greener, who travels alone from one book-
ing to another behind the wheel of a van.
"I've been writing songs for many years
and have completed one CD, Fall From the
Sky."
Greener, whose CD is available at shows
and on her Web site (www.melissagreener.
com), mixes folk, blues, country and alter-
native styles in her fresh sounds. Subjects
range from what is happening around
her ("Ml in Time") to her character traits
("Bullets to Bite").
Although she does not have Jewish
content in her songwriting projects, there
are spiritual connections, such as a one-
sided conversation with a higher power in
"Where the Infinite The role model for
her prime interest was her mother, Susan
Greener, a former cantorial soloist at
Temple Kol Ami.

"I think Melissa has an outstanding
voice says Susan Greener, a soprano who
studied locally with private teachers. "I am
strictly a singer, and I envy the ways my
daughter can come up with folk lyrics and
set the lyrics to music!'
"I grew up knowing what a voice can
do:' says Melissa, who began playing gui-
tar when she was 9 — the same year her
family moved from Huntington Woods to
West Bloomfield — with some instruction
from her aunt, Dottie Decker, and local
musician Billy Brandt.
"I did not know at first that it was rare
and special to hear a magnificent voice,
and I would mimic it. My mom was a
big fan of Broadway shows, so I grew up
with that music as well. My father, Morry
Greener, is an unwavering hippie, so I also
grew up with rock 'n roll."
Melissa Greener's personal writing
began in her teens, when she made journal
entries and later merged them with melo-
dies. Not expecting to earn a living with
her music, she earned a degree in ceram-
ics and art history at the Nova Scotia
College of Art and Design in Halifax.
The graduate of Harrison High School
in Farmington Hills decided to study in
Canada because her then boyfriend, gui-
tar maker Michael Greenberg, wanted to
return to his home country. The two met
while living in Israel.
"After Halifax, I taught ceramics for
a year in a small village in China:' says
Greener, who learned some of the native
language through her work. "I got lots of
chances to write songs, and it occurred to
me that I really needed to try the music
scene.
"That intention became more evident
while I fulfilled an apprenticeship corn-
mitment. I assisted local artist John Glick
when my teaching contract expired:"
Before settling in Austin, Greener tested
her talents in San Francisco and Nashville,
where she earned money as a street musi-
cian.
"Austin was somewhat of a haven right
away:' says the singer-songwriter, who
found work at two legendary venues, the

Cactus Cafe and Hole in the Wall.
"As sort of a counterculture person all
my life, I felt like I was at home. I met
some wonderful people who were helpful,
and I made my debut CD in the city.
"My ex-boyfriend and now closest
friend gave my demo to a pal of his. That
pal gave it to a famous record producer,
John Jennings, who has worked with Mary
Chapin Carpenter and the Indigo Girls.
Mr. Jennings e-mailed me that he liked my
music and wanted to make a record with
me.
That recording will be done this fall in
Virginia, where Greener's independent
label, Anima Records, will be used.
Greener takes care of her own bookings
and publicity, often finding new venues by
networking with other musicians. When
appearance opportunities slow, she earns
money at a small restaurant.
"Driving around the country by myself
is the very best part of what I do:' she says.
"It's the closest I get to prayer and peace,
and the journey lures me forward.
"My career goal is for my songs to touch
people. It's heady stuff that I'm trying to
wrap my own head around and present
to an audience. I also want to make a full
living at what I'm doing and take my per-
formances into Europe' 1

Melissa Greener performs 8 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 26, at the Old Town
Tavern, 122 W. Liberty, in Ann Arbor,
(734) 662-9291; 9 p.m. Saturday,
Sept. 1, at the New Hudson Inn,
56870 Grand River, in New Hudson,
(248) 437-6383; 8 p.m. Tuesday,
Sept. 4, at Magdalena's Tea House,
2006 E. Michigan, in Lansing, (517)
487-1822; and 9 p.m. Friday, Sept.
7, at AJ's Music Cafe (formerly
Xhedo's), 240 W. 9 Mile, in Ferndale,
(248) 399-3946. There also will be a
radio appearance at 10 a.m. Sunday,
Sept. 2, on Over Easy, broadcast by
WCSX-FM (94.7).

August 23 • 2007

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