Bay State acoustic rocker plans Maine stop

It’s not easy being an “indie-rock goddess.” But Melissa Ferrick wouldn’t have it any other way.

Ferrick, who will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday at 100 Donald P. Corbett Business Building, University of Maine in Orono, has seen all sides of the music business. She’s been on a major label. She’s toiled for an independent label. Now she’s boss of her own label, Right On Records.

The 32-year-old Massachusetts native, who founded Right On in 2000, knows the pros and cons of running a record label.

“I love it,” said the acoustic rocker by phone from a tour stop in Columbus, Ohio. “I’m in control of [such things as] art and packaging. But at the same time, it’s interesting to face the truth. There are days when I want some pity, or some help, and there’s not anyone else [at the label] to go to for a pat on the back. Then it takes an enormous amount of will to keep going. I’m [adding help] very slowly. I don’t have the funds to do it all, so I’m taking care of the most important things first.”

For much of her decade-long career, the lesbian singer-songwriter has enjoyed critical acclaim. Billboard’s Larry Flick said of her: “She’s still cranking out the kind of unbridled, from-the-gut acoustic rock that could [and should] make superstar counterpart Melissa Etheridge cringe with competitive envy.”

Ferrick appreciates the kind words.

“Some days, when I get in a certain frame of mind, I can’t believe that people pay me to stand up and sing songs,” she said. “On those days, the only thing that sticks in my mind is that a lot of writers like my records. It’s an affirmation for what I’m doing. When you’re doing music because you love it, that helps.”

Ferrick started out as a trumpet player at Berklee College of Music in Boston. But in the late ’80s, inspired by Tracy Chapman, Michelle Shocked and Shawn Colvin, she picked up and learned to play guitar, her first step on her current life path.

Her first big break came when a local promoter called her to open a Boston gig for the British mope rocker Morrissey. She brought along a demo tape, which Morrissey liked, and before she knew it, Ferrick was in England, opening on his tour there.

She signed a seven-album deal with Atlantic Records in 1992, recording 1993’s “Massive Blur” and 1995’s “Willing to Wait.” Then she was gone from the label in a mid-’90s purge, along with more than 30 other acts.

“I thought I was going to be there forever, that Atlantic was the label for artist development,” she said. “But everything comes down to a number, rather than potential.”

She released her next three albums on the What Are Records? label, an experience that led her to found her own label.

“Working for an independent label was worse than anything,” she said. “With Atlantic, there was an enormous amount of money available. My living status, keeping an apartment and eating, wasn’t threatened.”

Her most recent album, “Listen Hard,” released last spring, was co-produced by Ferrick and her drummer, Brian Winton. Her next project is a Mac movie for her fans, kind of a 10-year video compilation.

She’s still a ways away from being ready to record again. She plays 200 to 250 dates a year, which leaves her only eight weeks a year at home. Since she’s only this year been able to write songs on the road, she’s got a lot more writing to do before her next album.

“I don’t write an enormous amount of material,” she said. “I take what I can get. I know artists who are touring on buses and eating catered food, who then can sit down and write every night. I’m not there yet.”

Ferrick’s voice is scratchy on this recent day, and pacing herself for the long haul is a constant concern.

“I’ve been sober since 1996,” she offered. “I wouldn’t be able to do this if I was still drinking. I drink an enormous amount of water, and I try to eat good food. When I’m not driving, I’m sleeping in the back of the truck. After he’d been with me awhile, Brian said, ‘I get it now. You need to build yourself up with enough rest, then you can do it all again.”

For Ferrick, the hardest part of being constantly on the road is keeping up relationships.

“I miss my family and worry about being a consistent figure in their lives,” she said. “I work very hard at friendship by phone and e-mail.”

Ferrick has two kinds of concerts. One is a show at rock clubs, with Winton supporting her, which draws 16- to 25-year-old girls and women. Then there’s her solo folk shows, which attract her dedicated fans, women from 30 to 60 years old.

It’s on stage that Ferrick is most at home.

“It’s what drives me,” she said. “It’s the only time I’m free of the train in my head that keeps running. I get to do what I love every day.”

For more information on the Melissa Ferrick concert, call 581-1508 or access www.wrc.umaine.edu.