Recording Update & Upcoming Livestream

Friends! The new EP is coming along swimmingly. I am SO excited. It is going to be Part Two of “We Got This”, the EP I released in Nov 2020. We had a bit of a slow down in the recording process due to the Omicron variant, but soon the Pete’s will be boostered up and able to go into the studio with Mitch to record their backing vocal parts which are so essential to the new songs, especially “Somebody’s Somebody“.

For a sneak peak at a few of the new songs from the EP and how you can help a girl continue to make music during these difficult times and be part of the journey, click here

For those of you who have already supported me on this EP at IndieGoGo and to my Executive Producer angel Paul T, THANK YOU. I am planning an update in the next week and can’t wait to share all the goings-on.

Photo by James Dean Photography

LIVE STREAM ALERT: THURSDAY, Feb 17th 8pm EST I am going to live stream with hunky Peter Collins here at our humble abode. Please join us, bring your Tequila, wear your most comfy cloths. We will dress up for you and introduce you to the new addition to our family, Audrey.

Making herself at home 🙂

Finally, THANK YOU for being on my mailing list. Know that I love and appreciate you and look forward to sharing exciting news with you throughout 2022 and getting back to playing live for you when the stars align! Meantime, I’ll keep writing up a storm, which I consider the best use of my time during these trying times.

Hugs and mushy stuff,

Melanie xoxox

Ho ho ho! New holiday tune!

For years I’ve been writing Christmas songs that talk about snow, mistletoe and numerous other things that define the holiday season for most of us.

This year, I thought, why not change it up and write a New Year’s Eve song instead?…and so I did.

Here is my very first New Year’s Eve song “May I Have Your Midnight?”

My extremely talented friend and producer Derek Downham recorded it for me, added all the instrumentation and the shimmer.

It would mean the world to me if you would please play it, save it, add it to your holiday playlists and share it! The song is available on all digital platforms including:

Here: SPOTIFY

Here: APPLE MUSIC

And if you’d like to buy the track and perhaps a few of my other holiday singles, you can do so HERE ON BANDCAMP (it is Bandcamp Friday until midnight tonight in which 100% of the proceeds go directly to the artist aka moi)

And if you’d like to watch, share and like the stunning lyric video you can do so HERE

Wishing you a stress free holiday season and here’s to 2022…let’s hope it’s a good one!

Hugs and mushy stuff,

Melanie

Photo by James Dean

Two shows are better than one!

Photo by James Dean Photography

Dear friends,

I know you are busy so I’ll keep it quick today!

Above is a sneaky peak photo from my recent photo shoot with the fabulous James Dean at Annette Studios. The plan was to shoot a photo for the cover of my new, soon to be released New Year’s Eve single (!!) “May I Have Your Midnight?” And I’m happy to report we got a TON of great shots, including the one above.

The lyric video for “May I Have Your Midnight?” is currently under construction and I’ll be super excited to share that with you, along with the new single, in December.

On another note (see what I did there?) Peter and I are playing live at Sauce On The Danforth THIS SATURDAY! There is no cover for this show, but tips are welcome. It is a 4pm matinee show. Hope to see a few of your gorgeous faces there.

Lastly, I’m excited to share that I’ll be doing a live ONLINE concert this Monday Nov 22nd as part of Signe Miranda’s Time Equity Mondays. I’ll be doing a set as her special guest at 7:30pm EST. Click “Live TV” at THIS LINK to watch the show. I hope to see you there, virtually speaking, wink wink.

Until we meet again, take good care.

Hugs and mushy stuff.

Melanie xo

Campaign Success!

Hi friends!

THANK YOU to all the Melanie Peterson newsletter community who responded to my request for support raising funds to record a new EP during a challenging second pandemic year.

I’m thrilled to share that we raised $6,680.00 during the early fall campaign which was generously topped up another $1000.00 to bring it to $7,680.00 thanks to the kind generosity of Paul Therrian.

This was the first step to my goal of releasing “We Got This -Side 2” in March 2022 which we will celebrate with a release party at the Dakota Tavern on March 5th! Time TBA. Save the date!

Your donations enabled producer Mitch Girio and I to return to Revolution Recording, one of the top recording studios in Toronto, to record bass, drum and string tracks for the six new songs in their excellent sounding studio B.

I can’t thank you enough!

If you have any questions about your donation, please email me at melanieacts@hotmail.com

IN OTHER NEWS

I will be playing at Scarboro Music this Saturday Nov 6th at 7:30 pm with hunky Peter Collins joining me on bass. For more details about the show, and to pick up your tickets click HERE

I will return to Sauce on the Danforth Sat Nov 20th for a 4pm matinee show. It’s free, but tips are welcome!

I also have a potential pop up show in the works as a part of a pre-Winterfolk showcase, Fri Nov 12, stayed tuned to my FB Music Page HERE for more info regarding that show.

Hugs and mushy stuff,

Melanie Peterson

Indiegogo Campaign – Final Day!

It’s your last chance to get involved in my Indeogogo new album fundraising campaign!

I’m 50% funded on my new album fundraising campaign. And though that may sound like failure, to me it is not. I know times are tough and you folks reached into your pockets and contributed despite this and now, at the very least, I can get this new EP recorded!

If you’d like to contribute on the very last day, and help me get to 60% funded, I will be forever in your debt! That will enable me to hire a publicist to get the word out there in March when the album drops. And in return you will be among the first to own the 6 best songs I have written and recorded thus far. HERE is the link for your consideration.

Thanks you SO MUCH for being a friend and a fan. Can’t wait to share these new songs with you!

Hugs and mushy stuff always,

Melanie

32% funded and Save The Date!

Dear friends,

For those of you who have contributed to my ‘We Got This – Side 2’ fundraising campaign, I can’t thank you enough. I am 32% funded with 5 days left in the campaign. This means the studio is paid for AND the musicians. Now I am hoping to raise enough funding to pay my talented producer Mitch Girio.

Here Mitch and I discuss ideas at Revolution Recording while engineer Luke Schindler keeps an eye on things in the live room.

For those of you who don’t know Mitch Girio, he is a Montreal born music producer/composer who, as he puts it, “works in the bowels of Scarborough, Ontario” at his home studio The Slow Cooker. He also plays guitar for me live and on almost all my albums/singles. That really cool guitar riff at the top of “Back To You” the lead track on’We Got This’? That’s Mitch. Anywhere you hear a cool guitar part on one of my songs, that’s Mitch. For the last two decades Mitch has worked on over 150 albums. Along the way he has worked with Emma Lee, Jose Contreras (By Divine Right), Tamara Williamson, Barzon and Morgan Doctor, just to name a few. I am especially thrilled to be working with him again on this EP as he always goes way above and beyond the call of duty for his artists and he isn’t about the money. Most producers will tell you they charge $700-$1000.00 per song. Mitch charges just a little over that for a whole EP! It’s about the art for him. He is a true artist.

Here’s Mitch joining us live at The Dakota Tavern. He is just about to do something super tasty on the electric guitar.

I know many of you still hope to contribute in the remaining days of my campaign, and it would mean so much if you do. The sooner the better so I can rest assured my talented producer will get paid his very reasonable rate. You can check out my funding campaign and all the rewards HERE. Also, if you have any questions, or substitution ideas for perks, feel free to email me at melanieacts@hotmail.com

IN OTHER NEWS I will be releasing a new music video later this month. Can’t wait to share it with you!

AND Save The Date: Saturday Nov 20th I will be back at Sauce on the Danforth and for those of you based here in Toronto, I hope you’ll join me!

Thanks so much for being a friend and fan.

Hugs and mushy stuff,

Melanie

Photo by Nick Lim

Indiegogo and getting Saucy

Dear friends,

ICYMI two weeks ago I launched an Indiegogo fundraising campaign to enable me to potentially record and release 6 new songs for an EP to be titled ‘We Got This – Side 2’ a companion EP to November 2020’s ‘We Got This’.

I’m 18% funded!

This may not sound like a lot, but it’s a good start. I have to thank those who backed this project so far. Thank you for believing in me right out of the gate! Because of you I have been able to book the studio – the best studio in the city: Revolution Recording (the same studio where we recorded ‘We Got This’) I could not have done this without you!

Here’s what’s next: hiring the musicians and engineer. Producer Mitch Girio and I are endeavoring to hire the same team from ‘We Got This’ : Luke Schindler (engineer), Mark Mariash (drums) Alex McMaster (cello), Jill Daley (violin) Amanda Penner (viola) and, of course, hunky Peter Collins (bass). We are especially excited to have Mark Mariash on drums again as he always goes above and beyond in the studio when laying down drum takes for each song. Then he takes the tracks home after the session and thoughtfully adds shaker, tambourine, triangle and other fun percussive sounds to spice up the tracks – no extra charge. He’s a pro who has played with Sarah Slean, Ron Sexsmith and Molly Johnson, to name a few, not to mention playing on Buffy Saint Marie’s ‘Power In The Blood” album which was the 2015 Polaris Prize and a 2015 Juno winner.

Mark Mariash and his golden kit at Revolution Recording for ‘We Got This’

I know many of you still hope to contribute in the remaining 14 days of my campaign and it would mean so much if you do. The sooner the better so we can reach out to our musicians. You can check out the campaign and all the rewards HERE. Also if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me at melanieacts@hotmail.com (I am flexible with the rewards if there is something you have in mind, let me know!)

IN OTHER NEWS I’m looking forward to playing live in Toronto THIS Saturday Sept 25th for a matinee at Sauce on the Danforth. I’ll be joined by hunky Peter Collins on bass and lucky Peter Lambert on drums. The show will run 4-6pm, with two sets.

The show will take place on the patio as part of Sauce’s Cafe TO Patio Series and if there is rain the show will move inside. So, bring your passports!

Hope to see you out, if you’re in and around the Danforth.

Hugs and mushy stuff,

Melanie

We Got This – Side Two (!)

Hi friends!

I hope all is well with you. I am as busy as a beaver and that suits me just fine, being Canadian and all!

But I am writing to share some great news with you….

We’ve know each other for quite awhile. So, you know me and what I’ve been accomplishing with my last EP ‘We Got This’.

Now I have launched the ‘We Got This – Side 2’ campaign to raise funds to record and release a new six song EP. You can peruse my new campaign HERE Don’t miss the music videos if you’ve yet to see them!

Here’s the thing: it’s important to reach a 25% goal within 96 hours after the campaign launches. So, if you like my music and can help out with a contribution I will be forever grateful. (As usual I have lots of fun perks for you to choose from as I would never as you for a contribution with nothing in it for you.)

So, if you can get on board, let’s get this train a-rollin’!

Hugs and mushy stuff,

Melanie

PS- on another note (see what I did there?) I will be performing LIVE (gasp!) and online this Friday Sept 10th at 8pm EST. If you are Toronto based and up for a night out I hope you’ll come to the show! Details HERE If you would like to tune in to the live stream you can do so HERE Either way, it’s going to be an incredible night of live music, at a unique venue and I’ll be joined by hunky Peter Collins on bass and lucky Pete Lambert on the suitcase (yes, you read that right!) I’ll be playing your favourite Melanie Peterson songs as well as a brand new song written this past summer called “Lifeguard”. So excited! This show is not to be missed and it goes without saying I’d love to see you there, in person or virtually! xox

Mary Poppins Returns

Dear friends!

I’ve got a new video to share with you! Remember when I release my first album “Unbreakable” the BBC dubbed me “Mary Poppins with a broken heart?” Well I ran with it for this new video! I hope you like my Mary Poppins inspired lyric video for “Tailspin” from my recent EP ‘We Got This’. I hope will be kind enough to like it and share it. It’s my goal to get to 1000 views by the end of the month. With your help, I’m sure I can do it! Watch the video, which will be officially released on Tuesday, in advance HERE and feel free to share the private link with those you think might enjoy the video/song. And if you haven’t already, please subscribe to my YouTube channell, I’ve lots

“Everything is possible, even the impossible” – Mary Poppins

Hugs and mushy stuff,

Melanie xo

FRIDAY: Live-stream and Live Show!

Hey there,

Don’t forget to join me THIS Friday, July 23rd at 8pm EST for my first ever live-streamed live concert!

In case you missed the Facebook/Instagram/Twitter announcements:

  • We will be playing an hour long set of mostly original songs, one brand new song(!) and one cover song with two surprise guests joining us for said song
  • The show will be streamed from my Facebook music page
  • The concert will take place in Toronto, at Annette Studios(566 Annette Street): a recording studio/music venue/chapel (yes, you read that right)

RSVP and more info HERE

If coming to the in-person show, be sure to let me know so I can save your spot!

Can’t make it in person? CLICK HERE to watch from the comfort of your own home and I’ll look forward to responding to your comments either during the show or after the fact.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Hugs and mushy stuff,

Melanie