Its been a minute, My use of social media has been less frequent lately. I have been enjoying some time away from the screens creating music.
I have a new song called "Songbird" that I want to share with you soon, plus others that I am working on. I don't have the funds to do fully produced studio recordings at this time but have a better microphone set up now on my Chromebook and phone so that I can make better quality acoustic recordings.
I have posted a few new videos on YouTube, you can check out here. I am setting up a time to interview Matt Steady, an amazing musician from the UK(his work is here) - fun fact - he has played electric guitar on some of my tracks! You can here him on the guitar solo in Little Girl - here
I have some big news! I am partnering with another local singer-songwriter(her name is Breanna Elaine and you can find her stuff here) and we will be opening a nonprofit healing arts center in our area. We want to offer sound healing, yoga, music concerts, drum circles, songwriting groups, Reiki...we have so many ideas! We would like an online component as well. We are at the very beginning stages of this. We will be writing a business plan, finding a space, doing fundraisers, applying for grants...hope to be up and running by Spring. If you are local and reading this, we are looking for artists, healers, board members, right brained peeps who can do stuff like payroll, grantwriting. If you are not in this area that is ok too! We need your support and positive vibes to help manifest it! :-) If you are a healer that does stuff online we could partner together and do some workshops online as well.
I keep saying that this is not my healing arts center or Breanna's, its the community's arts center and we will need your help to make it happen. The world needs this so bad right now! I am feeling strongly called to make this happen! Breanna did a drum circle recently that I attended and it was so powerful and healing and you could feel everyone from all walks of life in the room connecting and it was so beautiful.
I will keep you posted as things develop with my music and the healing arts center. Thank you for your support.
All the best,
💜Melissa D

Updates & shenanigans😉 from the desk of Melissa D
WOW! I'm Leaving TikTok in Style - See My Hilarious New Tune!
A couple of blog posts back, I mentioned that I wrote a funny song about not doing TikTok anymore. Here is a video where you can check it out and have a chuckle.
>>>Goofy TikTok Song<<<
Enjoy!
All the best 💜Melissa D
In case you haven't heard 👂
An acoustic performance of a new song called "Angel's Song" is now available as an MP3, FLAC or stream on my Bandcamp site. There is also a video of the live performance to watch there as well. You can listen/watch here
This song will only be available as a video on YouTube and on my Bandcamp site. I will not be adding it to the major platforms(like Spotify, Apple etc..) If you want to check it out on YouTube you can go here
I wanted to give a shout out to Tim Ellifritz and Pete Plumley who captured this live performance. They did such an incredible job at recording/mixing my vocals and guitar and put some real magic into this simple, little song that has a big heart and longed to be out in the world and now that has happened thank to the amazing team at Ten Elephants Studios.
I have a 23 second video that sums up the meaning behind the song if you want to "nerd out" a bit more about it ;-) it can be found here
All the best
💜Melissa D
A Few Changes Around Here! 😲
I have several updates. I have been on a hiatus the past 10 weeks. I needed to take a breath and a break and recharge and mindfully decide the next steps on my journey.
I am listening to divine guidance a lot more now in my life and am learning better self care and this has been the year of decluttering, physically, emotionally and letting go figuratively and literally of things that no longer serve me in both my personal and professional life.
As an empathic and sensitive person that tends to care "too much," it is easy for me to get swept up in the world's needs and lose touch with what I need/want so this has been both challenging and liberating at the same time. This has also been such a time of healing and growth for me.
Three changes in terms of my music, One is I will no longer be doing TikTok. I wrote a funny song about it and will be sharing it in the weeks ahead so stay tuned! I have also stopped posting on Twitter for similar reasons. Maybe I will do those platforms again someday when I have a bigger team that can help me share stuff but for now it is not serving me and my highest good.
I have also decided to change the name of my mailing list from "Kindred" to "Songbird". This move was inspired by stumbling across a children's book called "Willie Was Different" by Norman Rockwell. The message resonated with me in a BIG way and spoke to my inner child(I literally got chills when I read it) and why I do music and am feeling guided to make that change as it reflects better who I am and my purpose.
I appreciate you being on this journey with me and am looking forward to sharing the road ahead with you.
All the best,
Melissa D
It's that time of year again...
Happy 2023! Hope its been kind to you so far.
It's that time of year again... where I donate to the local animal shelter with 10% of the proceeds that were received from my VIP community in the previous year(2022).
I wanted to let my VIP members know (in case you missed it in the community post) that I just sent the donation over to Homeward Bound Humane Society in Middlebury, VT for 2022.
Homeward Bound is a community-centered shelter that supports the human-animal bond through compassionate care, adoption, education, and advocacy. Your support of my music has made a difference in the lives of vulnerable animals.**high five!! Here is a link to their website if you would like to learn more about them.
https://www.homewardboundanimals.org/
If you are not in the VIP community, I would like to invite you to join! You get access to my entire catalog of music - stuff you won't find on Spotify or the other major platforms plus lots of other stuff - too much to type out so its easier to visit here to learn more.
Thanks for all that you do and for being you! 💜
All the best,
Melissa D
Help me find myself ;-)
I've recently updated my social media handles and my Bandcamp site so that they reflect better what I do and are now the same on all the platforms. Heads up: You might notice some broken links if you have me favored in any of your web pages. A bit of an inconvenience at first but will make it easier for people to find me in the long run.
So all my social media platforms now have the same handle @melissadsings and the Bandcamp store and listening room is now melissadsings.com(you can also access my store thru the main website melissadmusic.com)
My Vermont Made Songs custom songwriting business can be found at melissadmusic.com/custom-songs which is a page on the main website.
I hope that you are having a wonderful holiday season so far. I appreciate you and your support and helping me find myself ;-)
All the best,
Melissa D
Justice is served
Just a quick note to let you know that a stripped down mix of my song Justice is now streaming on most major platforms and is now available at my store.
To listen at my store go here
To listen on your favorite streaming platform go here.
Thank you for being you and for your support.
All the best
Melissa D
New paths!
On February 27th I will be releasing my last episode of Crooning & Coffee, my You Tube show, for awhile. I might pick up doing the show again at a later time, but for now I am headed down a new path, focusing on some other projects. I will keep you posted on updates and will still post random video clips and shenanigans 😉 I have enjoyed doing this series since 2019 and it kept me sane during the toughest months of the pandemic. Most of the episodes will be available for binge watching on You Tube for many years to come. 💜☕🎤🎵
I'm a little late getting this done
I hope that your 2022 is off to a good start.
I wanted to let my Crooning & Coffee Club supporters know (in case you missed it in the community post) that I have recently made a donation to Rutland County Humane Society with 10% of the proceeds that were received in 2021 from this community.(I'm a bit late getting it out this year. Usually I do it the first week of January.)
RCHS is a shelter in Vermont that rescues dogs and cats(and other small animals too like bunnies) and finds homes for them. Your support of my music has made a difference in the lives of vulnerable animals. Here is a link to their website if you would like to learn more about them. https://rchsvt.org/
The other cool thing is that our donation was made as part of the #BettyWhiteChallenge that the shelter was part of and they doubled everything that went to them under that campaign.
If you are not in my subscription community, I would love to have you! You get access to my entire catalog of music plus bonus tracks and lots of other stuff(like helping homeless animals) too numerous to fit into this post. Visit here to check it out.
Thank you so much for your support and for being in my world ❤😁🐾🎵
Peace
Melissa
It's here! It's here! :-)
My new song Justice is officially out in the world and now available on all the major streaming platforms. Go here to have a listen!
To celebrate the occasion, I had some cool t-shirts made up. A shout out to Mandy Wheeler(Vermont artist who does my graphic designs and cover art) who did an amazing job on them! You can check those out here. Purchase of a t-shirt comes with a digital download of the song!
💜
Melissa