Michelle Malone.
— Photo by Clay Miller

By Blake Maddux

“My brother had a guitar and he told me not to touch it,” singer, songwriter, and guitarist Michelle Malone says. “That’s how I became a guitar player, because all I wanted to do was play the damn guitar because he told me not to!”

That determination has proved fruitful. In 2018, 30 years after she released her debut album, Malone was chosen by readers of the Atlanta-based arts and culture publication Creative Loafing as Best Atlanta Songwriter, Best Local Rock Artist, Best Atlanta Blues Artist, and Best Atlanta Roots/Folk Artist. This was due in large part to her self-produced fifteenth album, Slings and Arrows, which came out last year. In a city that has produced and is currently breeding so much musical talent, to be recognized in such a wide range of categories is no small feat.

However, Malone remains humble in the face of such recognition and acknowledges that “it doesn’t make you any better than anyone else.” Her current tour will bring her to The Burren on Wednesday, September 18. She spoke by phone to The Somerville Times from her hometown of Atlanta, where she lives her wife, painter Trish Land.

The Somerville Times: Not very many people who, as your bio reads, “attended Agnes Scott College with dreams of becoming a doctor” get “offered a record deal with Clive Davis at Arista Records.” How did that happen to you?

Michelle Malone: At the time it seemed par for the course because I was so young and I just thought that was the way it worked for everyone. I was playing at this little venue in Atlanta, and we knew Clive was coming. He’d flown in and he pulls his limo up on the sidewalk, comes into the club, and watches like three songs. Then at the break, he invites me into his limo and offers me a record deal. We know that was going to happen. It wasn’t a surprise visit, but I guess it was a big deal at the time. But that was so long ago, and I was so young that I just thought that was the way life was.

TST: How high would you rank Georgia in terms of producing major musical talent?

MM: To me personally, I think it’s the best. That’s why I’m still here. I like the way we approach music, our thought process on it. It’s more of a way of life. Most everyone I know out of Georgia who plays music does so because we love it, first and foremost, and then we happen to be able to make a living at it. It wasn’t wanting to be rich and famous and doing whatever you had to do and be whoever I need to be to do it. I don’t know many people like that.

TST: Speaking of great musical Georgians, why did you choose to record a version of Otis Redding’s I’ve Been Loving You Too Long?

MM: I had been invited to perform a couple of years ago at a tribute to Georgia music. Chuck Leavell was in charge of it. He’s the pianist for The Allman Brothers and The Rolling Stones. He called and said that within the show would be a tribute to Otis Redding and that the Redding family would be there. He wanted me to sing Respect, Otis’s version, the way he first did it. And then he wanted me to sing I’ve Been Loving You Too Long with Gregg Allman. So of course I said yes, even though I was scared to death and wanted to say no. I practiced and practiced, I think I had about a month’s notice, and it reminded me of how much I loved singing that style. That’s part of why I recorded that song and part of why my record Slings and Arrows is what it is. It’s a very Georgia record. It’s very rootsy and bluesy and joyful, I think. I had planned to have Gregg come sing that with me on the record, and he passed away before we recorded it.

TST: Have you played in Somerville before when on tour in the Boston area?

MM: Sure. I’ve played the Somerville Theatre. Is there a placed called AJ’s across the street?

TST: There used to be a place called Johnny D’s.

MM: Johnny D’s right! I liked Johnny D’s. There some little tiny bowling place over there that I bowled at. I remember the area well because it was just really cool. And I’ve always enjoyed playing Somerville, so I was excited to see that on my calendar.

TST: Your website mentions that “The collectible card game Magic: The Gathering was named in part for her song The Gathering.” Please explain how that came to be!

MM: There’s a club in Atlanta called Eddie’s Attic, which is really my Atlanta home, where I play more than anywhere else. I was playing there one night in ’90 or ’91. It was a weeknight and there were maybe 20 people there. There was a loud table of folks and after the show they came up and talked to me and said, “We loved your show, and you did this one song about getting people together and we really loved that song, and we’re starting this card game and we want to use your song in our title.” And I said, “Yeah, cool. Whatever.” I was thinking a card game like poker or Go Fish. Then my manager started getting letters from their attorney about the whole thing. They did give me an alpha deck when they first started, so I have that in my drawer. I don’t know what to do with it. It just kinda sits there!

Michelle Malone with Rachel Sumner, Wednesday, September 18, 7:00 p.m., at The Burren Back Room, 247 Elm St., Somerville.