ARTIST: Melissa Etheridge
TITLE: Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled
LABEL: Island Records
GENRE: Rock
BITRATE: 217kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 1h 12min total
RELEASE DATE: 2005-10-04
RIP DATE: 2005-10-03

Track List

01. Refugee                         3:36
02. Similar Features                4:48
03. Like The Way I Do               5:26
04. Bring Me Some Water             3:54
05. You Can Sleep While I Drive     3:18
06. No Souvenirs                    4:36
07. Ain't It Heavy                  4:25
08. I'm The Only One                4:17
09. Come To My Window               3:36
10. If I Wanted To                  3:56
11. I Want To Come Over             5:28
12. Angels Would Fall               4:39
13. Lucky                           4:00
14. Christmas In America            4:21
15. Piece Of My Heart               4:24
16. This Is Not Goodbye             3:35
17. I Run For Life                  4:21

Release Notes:

Tracks 1, 14, 15, 16, and 17 are unreleased.  Enjoy!

Melissa Etheridge became one of the '90s most popular recording artists due
to her mixture of confessional lyrics; pop-based folk-rock; and raspy, Janis
Joplin/Rod Stewart-esque vocals. But the road to stardom was not all smooth
sailing for Etheridge as she debated behind the scenes whether or not to
disclose to the public that she was gay early on in her career. Born May 29,
1961, in Leavenworth, KS, Etheridge first picked up the guitar at the age of
eight and began penning her own songs shortly thereafter. Playing in local
bands throughout her teens, Etheridge then attended the renowned Berklee
College of Music in Boston, MA. The up-and-coming singer/songwriter and
guitarist dropped out after a year before making her way to Los Angeles in
the early '80s to give a shot at a career in music. Etheridge's music at
this point was slightly more bluesy than her subsequently renowned folk-pop
style, as a demo of original compositions caught the attention of Bill
Leopold, who signed on as Etheridge's manager. Soon after, steady gigs
began coming her way, including a five-night-a-week residency at the
Executive Suite in Long Beach, which led to a bidding war between such
major record labels as A&M, Capitol, EMI, and Warner Bros., but it was
Island Records that Etheridge decided to go with.

Etheridge's first recorded work appeared on the forgotten soundtrack to the
Nick Nolte prison movie Weeds before her self-titled debut was issued in
1988. The album quickly drew comparisons to such heavyweights as Bruce
Springsteen and John Mellencamp, as it spawned the hit single "Bring Me
Some Water" and earned gold certification. In the wake of the album's
success, Etheridge performed at the Grammy Awards the following year and
contributed vocals to Don Henley's The End of the Innocence. Etheridge
managed to avoid the dreaded sophomore slump with 1989's Brave and Crazy,
which followed the same musical formula as its predecessor and proved to be
another gold-certified success. It would be nearly three years before
Etheridge's next studio album appeared, however, and 1992 signaled the
arrival of Never Enough, an album that proved to be more musically varied.

But it was Etheridge's fourth release that would prove to be her massive
commercial breakthrough. Tired of rumors and questions regarding her
sexuality, Etheridge decided to put the speculation to rest once and for
all, titling the album Yes I Am. Ex-Police producer Hugh Padgham guided the
album, which spawned two major MTV/radio hits with "I'm the Only One" and
"Come to My Window" (the latter of which featured a video with movie actress
Juliette Lewis); the album would sell a staggering six million copies in the
U.S. during a single-year period and earned a 1995 Grammy Award for Best
Female Rock Vocalist. But subsequent releases failed to match the success of
Yes I Am, including 1995's Your Little Secret, 1999's Breakdown, and 2001's
Skin, and it appeared as though Etheridge's personal life received more
attention than her music (there were numerous articles about her lover,
Julie Cypher, and their two children, both of which were birthed by Cypher
via artificial insemination and were fathered by CSN&Y's David Crosby). 2002
saw the release of Etheridge's autobiography The Truth Is: My Life in Love
and Music.