Melissa Etheridge says come to her Women Who Rock show in Pittsburgh ready to rock

PITTSBURGH ― Now here's a perfect pairing: Melissa Etheridge headlining the Women Who Rock fundraiser at Stage AE.

Etheridge rocks all right, as the Grammy-winning, chart-topping artist ? hailed for her fiery guitar playing and raspy, hits-just-right vocals ? will remind Pittsburgh concertgoers Aug. 28.

"I've been meaning to be a part of this for a longtime, and it finally worked out where we could fit it into our schedule," Etheridge said in a July 19 phone interview. "I love this organization and wanted to support it."

Founded by Pittsburgh rocker Melinda Colaizzi, Women Who Rock raises money for life-saving women's health research at Magee-Womens Research Institute, a mission that resonates with breast cancer survivor Etheridge.

"They didn't even start testing medicines and other things on women until the '90s, so clearly, we've got some catching up to do on women's health," Etheridge said.

Etheridge's first western Pennsylvania concert since a 2017 Christmas show at the Palace Theatre in Greensburg will include her smash hits "Come to My Window" and "I'm The Only One" and likely her 1988 breakout rock radio single "Bring Me Some Water," backed by a full band.

"It's the full shebang, and I'm excited about that" Etheridge said. "We're just going to come in and rock from top to bottom. This is called Women Who Rock, so we probably won't do a ballad."

She'll also definitely play a new song written for her 2024 "I'm Not Broken" live album and docuseries recorded at the Topeka Correctional Facility for Women in her native Kansas.

"It's a rocking song called 'I'm a Burning Woman," Etheridge said.

"I grew up in Leavenworth, which is known for its penitentiaries, and I was 7 years old when Johnny Cash came to the federal penitentiary just a few blocks from my house. We did not get to see him, he played just for the penitentiary," Etheridge said. "And that got me thinking penitentiaries are a great place for music. As I grew up, I also performed at other prisons around; there's five of them within 20 minutes of my house. And I've always wanted to come back because the audiences were so appreciative. They were people who really needed the feeling of live music. And finally it happened and I'm very grateful."

Etheridge's last studio album, 2021's underrated "One Way Out," was culled from songs she had written much earlier but hadn't been ready to release. One track, "As Cool as You Try," champions being yourself, and not trying too hard to fit in.

"'As Cool as You Try' was the early 1990s when I just didn't know what to wear and what a rock star looked like," Etheridge said. "There was all this grunge, but I'd already been wearing jeans and flannel shirts since I was young. So I was like, what do I do? Do I have to be something else? There was this loss of oneself until finally I went, 'You know what: You're just as cool as you try,' otherwise, you'll drive yourself crazy."

Another of the album's cuts, "That Would Be Me" brims with righteous indignation via lines like "Someone's shouting at me/We're all going to hell/Well, it must not be too far away/Sometimes I cannot tell."

Etheridge said she wrote that song after she first came out in the 1990s, largely in response to the Rev. Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church whose controversial anti-gay views spurred protests by his supporters near the funerals for gay people.

"He would always show up at my concerts in Kansas and it's like, 'Oh, c'mon,' so I had to write a few songs about the whole thing," Etheridge said.

One of Etheridge's largest Pittsburgh shows came in 2012 when she headlined a Pride concert downtown.

"That was so much fun," Etheridge said. "That was my first performance at a Pride festival and I will never forget it."

The Stage AE show will be her first Allegheny County appearance since 2015 at Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall.

"I can remember last year going 'I still haven't played Pittsburgh in a while.' I actually thought that. So, I'm glad we're doing it this way."

Along with raising money for women's health research, the Women Who Rock concert offers mentorship to young women interested in pursuing music careers and includes a Rising Star Contest (won in 2022 by Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School student Ashley Marina).

Mentoring is the key to bringing women a stronger foothold in the music industry, "because you have to have women get the experience so they can say, 'Look, I can do this,'" Etheridge said. "That's what I try to do, to teach and mentor and give experience. Women love music. Women love a guitar just as much as a guy does. A guitar is the same feeling. It knows no sex. Women have rock and roll dreams, too."

Does any part of her feel like a role model?

"I would hope I could be. I'm still learning, still growing, still becoming a better guitar player and hope I can inspire," Etheridge said.

Her songs have appeared in numerous TV shows, such as "Charmed," "Shameless," "Parks & Recreation," "Glee," "Cold Case" and "Pretty Little Liars," but Etheridge has a different favorite: "Family Guy," in a 2017 episode where the male characters visit San Francisco.

"Because to my kids, it means I'm relevant in modern culture," Etheridge said with a laugh.

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With Etheridge on the phone, you got to ask about her two biggest hits, and why they've resonated so much with listeners.

First "Come to My Window":

"That just touches people," Etheridge said. "I think when you write something like the bridge in that song ? 'I don't care what they think; I don't care what they say, what do they know about this love anyway ? people can really grab ahold of that whenever they want. I almost didn't put 'Come to My Window' on the album because I thought people wouldn't understand what I was singing about, but they really make it their own, and there's nothing wrong with that."

As for "I'm The Only One" with its smoldering vow to walk across a fire to attain someone's love:

"That one's very clear," Etheridge said. "You cheated on me, but I'm better than that. I needed to write that bluesy song saying, 'No, you're not going to go on, because it's not going to be any better than I can do.' I'm the best.

"And I love playing it, as everyone's pumping their fists in the air and singing and moving. I love that."

Fans will be fist-pumping and singing along at Stage AE.

Colaizzi, the founder & CEO of Women Who Rock, said Etheridge "is the perfect artist to headline this year's Women Who Rock benefit concert because she embodies the resilience, strength and passion that define our mission. As a breast cancer survivor, Melissa's journey is a powerful testament to her courage and determination."

Colaizzi, continued, "Her advocacy for women's health and her trailblazing presence in the music industry inspire countless women. We are honored to have Melissa headline our concert, as her story and her music resonate deeply with our commitment to empowering women and supporting life-saving women's health research."

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Melissa Etheridge says come to her Pittsburgh show ready to rock