Melanie Rose Dyer

Melanie Rose Dyer

Press Release:

Singer-Songwriter Melanie Rose Dyer, a mainstay on the Nashville songwriting scene (Tom Rush, Rick Trevino) has released a debut album of songs which puts her big alto voice center stage. Going into the studio with Grammy award winning session leader Glen Duncan the music is a blend of musical genres.

”The Long Way Around” has been a life time in the making for artist Melanie Rose Dyer. Three years ago when the project began, co-producer Daniel Cooper and Dyer went into the studio and said “Let’s just make some great music”. Bringing in musicians Jack Pearson (Allman Brothers) on slide guitar and legendary Jim Horn (Beatles, Beach Boys) on saxophone added tasteful and tasty flavorings to the already heady distillation of real life and groove based songs. This is a mature, complex record which is both inspirational and chock full of heart and soul.

The heartfelt style of songwriting and singing on this project brings to mind the sophisticated blues styling of Bonnie Raitt, while incorporating the honest down to earth styles of Tracy Chapman and Reba McEntire. It is as impossible to classify as it is beautiful to listen to. Like so many great blues, country and folk projects the music is intensely personal. Two of the tunes on the project are inspired by losing a spouse to cancer and finding love again a few years later. “This is my life’s project–it kind of is my life story” Dyer says. Every moment of the album drips with profound soulfulness and is rounded out on four cuts by the bountiful soul back- up sounds of Shaun Murphy (the female voice of Little Feat). Mike Durham( formerly of Dave Matthews Band) puts his electric guitar definition on every song with powerful and definitive diversity. Charles Judge and Tim Lauer embellish the album with keyboards and B3, while Marc Prentice and Don Kerce contribute bass guitar. Super drummer Paul Scholten adds percussion and drums.

Songwriter Hall of Fame Pat Alger says of Dyer: “Melanie has been one of my favorite collaborators for over 20 years. It is a reflection of the serendipity of the music business that this album may be the first time most people will get to hear her and her wonderful songwriting. Now you’ll realize what you’ve been missing all this time.” It is an album for anyone who craves real music. It has been a long time coming, but it is well worth the wait.
Available on ITunes and CD Baby

“”There’s nothing more American than a woman with a big voice bred in the South singing songs of love, hope, sorrow and uncertainty over gospel-tinged R&B grooves, and that’s just what the listener gets from the first beat of this record”.