Michelle Malone

Michelle Malone (born Atlanta, Georgia) is an American rock and blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. As well as albums in her own name, she has released albums as Michelle Malone and Drag the River and with Band de Soleil. Armed with a bottleneck slide, blues harmonica, and her signature gut-wrenching vocals, Moanin’ Michelle Malone ( a nickname given to her by Albert King after hearing her sing), is having so much fun these days that she can’t help but shake her Sugarfoot! Malone was born in the dirty south and grew up listening to her mother sing in the church choir every Sunday. When it came time to craft her own sound, she took those religious roots, blended in enough rock and soul to keep the devil satisfied, and came up with her 9th studio CD, Sugarfoot. It's a high-spirited stripped down blend of rootsy acoustic slide, gritty electric blues and explosive vocals – blues with just enough rough edges to get the medicine down. Sugarfoot sounds like the lost recordings of Bonnie Raitt and the Rolling Stones meeting up in Susan Tedeschi's garage for a late night jam session. And as is usually the case with Malone, the disc is an experience best enjoyed at high volume. Songs such as "Tighten up the Springs" ,"Rooster 44" and "Traveling and Unraveling" highlight Malone's devil may care attitude and her slide guitar, which is becoming more and more of a signature for her. "I'm having a good time with it," she says. "Since I picked up the slide, I feel more free - I'm having more fun." She’s also working hard - Malone plays all the guitar, blues harp, and mandolin on the new disc. Sugarfoot comes as close to capturing her raw spontaneity and grand, dirty, low-down power as anything to date. As well as being voted best blues guitarist on IAC.com, Sugarfoot have earned Malone critical acclaim on many "Best Of" lists including The Blues Critic Top 10 albums of the year, and multiple nominations for traditional blues rock album, best female blues vocals. In keeping with her rough and tumble attitude, Malone averages 200 days a year on the road, and has shared stages and tours with such blues legends as Charlie Musselwhite, Johnny Winter, ZZ Top, Marsha Ball and the late Chris Whitley, as well as folk icons Indigo Girls, Shawn Colvin, Jackson Browne and John Mayer. Malone’s live show is not to be missed - she can make the biggest venues seem as cozy as a camp fire, and an intimate venue feel like the center of the universe. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.