Sunday Telegraph – Jonathon Moran June 29th 2008
Kelly comes on board

PAUL Kelly was so impressed with one of Melinda Schneider's demos that he agreed to appear on the country music star's latest album, Be Yourself.

Kelly and Schneider (pictured left) barely knew each other but, after a chance meeting, the pair decided to work together.

"I was snorkelling at Coogee Beach and got up out of the water and there was Paul Kelly sitting on a rock,'' Schneider said of their first random meeting.

After a brief chat, Schneider, one of Australia's top country singers, sent Kelly a demo of the song, Still Here. The pair then recorded it at Kelly's Melbourne home.

"I love his vocals on it,'' she said. "The intimacy of it is really beautiful on that track.''

Kelly isn't the only familiar name to lend support to Schneider's new album, her first under the performer's own independent label, Be Music.

All Saints actress Tammy MacIntosh features in the video clip for the album's title track and its first single, Be Yourself.

Schneider's world-famous yodeling mum, Mary, also helped out, lending her daughter one of her 1960s dresses to wear for this stunning cover image.

And Schneider's aunt Rita's 1964 Maton guitar also came in handy. Schneider's album launch is open to the public, being held at the City Tattersalls Club on Thursday.

The West Australian 2nd July 2008
Country singer learns to be herself

Country singer Melinda Schneider is learning how to be herself.

It's a simple enough concept, but a little harder in practice.

It's also the title of her latest album - her fifth studio offering - which documents the period of personal growth for the Golden Guitar-winning artist.

“I think it's an album of healing, and awareness, and strength, and liberation, and just being yourself,” Schneider told AAP from her Sydney home.

“I realised the other day that Be Yourself is the first track and Courageous is the second, and I thought: 'Well it actually takes a lot of courage to be yourself'.

“It's not easy at times, often you face rejection or disapproval from people. But I still think it's the only way to make yourself happy.”

Schneider's previous release, Stronger, was her “divorce album“, following her split from producer/musician Graham Thompson.

Be Yourself, which is released on July 5, is about new beginnings.

It's her first release on her new record label, Be Music, which she formed after her contract to her previous record label ended.

Schneider said it's been hard work, but has given her a great sense of independence.

“I'm doing it all on my own label and it's a big job, and a very liberating time for me, but lots of hard work,” she said.

“I just wanted more control over my career and to be the master of my own destiny, I guess.

“It's tiring having to use my left and right side of the brain, with the business side of things and the creative, but I wouldn't have it any other way.”

The album is full of emotionally honest songs, with titles like People Don't Change, Awake Now and Safe.

Schneider said it's not always easy bearing your soul to the public, but it's the only way she knows to be a songwriter. “I just write from the heart - they're the best, most powerful songs,” she said.

“It's like, write what you know, otherwise I think people see straight through them if they're contrived.”

As she prepares to take her new material on the road, starting with some dates around NSW, Schneider said she is looking forward to getting Be Yourself out there.

“It's a time of adrenaline pumping through your body really,“ she said.

“It's a really exciting time. “I'm always excited, but even more so with this record.”

SYDNEY
AAP

TV WEEK

Melinda in TV WEEK....

"MELINDA'S ALL-STAR CLIP"

"CELEBS HELPED OUT ON THE SINGER'S NEW VIDEO"

Melinda talks about meeting Tammy McIntosh from the Australian hit series 'All Saints' during Olivia’s ‘Great Walk To Beijing’ and how Tammy took part in Melinda's new video.

Click on thumbnail to view full size image...

COUNTRY UPDATE - ISSUE 49 (MAY 2008)

Melinda shares the cover of Country Update with Alan Jackson. Inside, 'Just Be Yourself' - a 3-page feature...

"With her first album on her own label due in July, MELINDA SCHNEIDER still managed to fit in a trip to walk the Great Wall of China with some other notable Australians. Melinda talks inspiration, being true to yourself and taking steps in new directions with Lindsay Saunders."

See the article here...

COUNTRY MUSIC, CAPITAL NEWS - AUGUST 2006


growing stronger
by Susan Jarvis

For most of us, the ultimate goal in life is to be happy. For a songwriter, though, happiness often means a dearth of songs.

And that’s a mixed blessing, according to MELINDA SCHNEIDER — who over the past few years has become well known for expressing her most intimate and personal emotions through her music.

“Of course we all want to be happy — but ironically, emotional upheaval can mean a time of incredible productivity for a writer. Over the past year, I think I’ve written around 60 songs,” she said.

“On the other hand, songwriters can use music to deal with their emotions — I often process my feelings through writing. And I think you tend to think about things more deeply, and discover aspects of yourself you didn’t know were there. Let’s face it, the really
great songs often come from life-changing experiences.”

Melinda has just released her latest album, Stronger, the first following her split a year ago from husband Graham Thompson (who remains her record company boss at Compass Bros) after a 10 year relationship.

Stronger is unashamedly a journey through that traumatic time, with some songs that are so personal and intense they almost make you
want to look away. In particular, the album’s title track, Stronger, has a raw honesty about it that is emotionally compelling.

“There’s no doubt that Stronger is my most personal song on the album.A lot of tears were shed during the writing and the recording, and I still find it hard to perform live,”Melinda said.

“Anyone who has had a long-term relationship can relate to all those feelings that surface when a marriage doesn’t last. It’s very sad and there is a huge grieving process that goes along with it, but anyone
who can survive that and move forward in a positive way, no doubt, will be stronger because of it.”

Melinda has experienced more than her fair share of loss over the past decade. She was devastated by the death of her much-loved
father a couple of years ago, and says the end of her marriage was yet another blow.

“I guess I could describe the last 10 years as the best years of my life in many ways, but also as the most painful. I wanted to capture that in
the song — I see the lyrics spending these years beside you made me stronger as very positive.”

“The result of going through all that stuff is that I am aware that I can deal with whatever comes along — I’m not so frightened any
more. You logically know that you will survive anything life throws at you.”

In fact, that positive outlook on life — despite the pain and sorrow that any breakup involves — permeates Stronger, even on the saddest songs.
Melinda wrote The Letting Go during the end of her marriage.

“It’s a very sad song, but it’s about getting through the hard time. As I write, ‘the moving on is in the letting go’. No divorce is ever easy, but we’re doing it pretty well, I think.We work well together professionally and we like and respect each other and care what happens in
each other’s life.”

Melinda puts a positive spin on a very different kind of pain in Send Them Love, which was written after a close friend let her down.

“It happens to us all at some time, but I wanted to deal with it in a healthy way and not hold on to the negative emotions,” Melinda said. “One day the chorus just popped into my head, and I thought ‘Yeah, instead of continuing the feelings of being hurt, I need to make the decision to send them love’. It’s easier said than done, but if we could all do that a little more often, the world would be a much happier place.”

Melinda is justifiably proud of Stronger, which was produced by one of Nashville’s brightest new stars, BIFF WATSON. “Graham has always produced my albums in the past, but we were both just too close to
the songs this time, and things were too raw,” Melinda said.

“Biff turned out to be the perfect producer for me — he understood what I was trying to achieve, and loved the songs.

I wanted to keep my sound similar to that on my previous albums — a bit raw, not too slick, with a rootsy feel to it. I think we achieved that and more.”

Stronger has undoubtedly taken Melinda’s music to the next level.Whilst it retains that simplicity and very real sound, Stronger is also classy, clean and elegant — an exquisitely produced and performed album that is sure to have widespread appeal. It was quite a challenge to transcend
Melinda’s last album, Family Tree, which earned her two Golden Guitars in Tamworth in 2005 — for Album of the Year and Song of the Year.

“I must admit, I was nervous about that. But I really believe that on this album my music has evolved a big step further. The songs on Stronger are more universal — probably because I’ve grown and changed a lot in terms of my perceptions of the world,”Melinda said.

Melinda spent a lot of time in Nashville cowriting songs for Stronger. “I love co-writing, especially with people I connect to instantly. I often have a wonderful idea for a song and get most of it written, but then have trouble finishing it. That’s where bringing in a cowriter can help,” she said.

“And because my songs are so personal, I can sometimes be way too close to them. Having someone else involved in the songwriting process can make the difference between a good song and a great one.” And there are many great songs on Stronger. The first single, Big World, Small World is a wonderful, positive, perceptive take on tolerance and understanding.

“I wanted the first single to be a really positive song, and this one has a similar feel to Real People and Story of My Life — it makes people feel good,” Melinda said. “But it has a serious message.With what’s going on in the world at the moment, I just wanted to counteract some of the other messages out there in the media, including some music that’s been released.

“It’s a very non-judgmental song, about understanding and accepting difference — people are really all the same, no matter where or who we are in the world. We all want the same thing: peace, love and understanding. And we need it more than ever. I wrote this with my mate Jay Knowles in Nashville.”

The rest of the songs on Stronger cover a diverse range of subjects and emotions. The delightful Fifteen Again explores falling in love as a mature adult.

“As people get older, I think they feel it can’t happen to them again, and that they’ll never meet anyone they feel strongly about, but I believe there is someone for everyone out there,” Melinda said.

And That Was The Plan looks at the other side of the love coin. “It’s about kids, life, love and everyday challenges. and how only meaning to hold someone’s hand can get you into all kinds of stressful but wonderful predicaments,” Melinda said.

The secret of a good song is being able to look at love and life from a new angle, and Melinda’s achieved this over and over again on Stronger. Truly True Love, written with Jay Knowles, is about the reality of love.

“It talks about fighting, then making up — which is always the fun part — and seeing your partner warts and all … without their make up. That’s definitely truly true love!” said Melinda. And In Your Head — with a fabulous bluegrass feel — is about longing to get close to the object of your affection and really understanding what is going on inside their head.

“It’s really about communication — or lack of it. It’s full of frustration, which is reflected in the music,” Melinda said. The bluegrass sound is used in a very different way on Rest Your Weary Mind, cowritten with Elizabeth Cook. This is one of the album’s standout tracks, and clearly
comes straight from the heart.

“I wrote this in Nasvhille at a time when I was feeling emotionally exhausted and needing to fall into a soothing pair of arms,” Melinda said. “Especially being on the other side of the world, you can feel so alone at times. It’s real traditional bluegrass song, very raw and real
and heart felt.” You Are Something Else is another song that
touches the listener gently and leaves a big mpression. It’s an exquisite, gentle love song which conjures up some beautiful, evocative images.

“I wrote this song with Wayne Kirkpatrick and Gordon Kennedy, and I’m
really proud of it,”Melinda said. “It’s about being amazed by someone. It’s a very visually beautiful song, and it confirms my
belief in love.”

But there’s a time to put emotion aside and simply have fun.With the help of fellow songwriter Elizabeth Cook, Melinda’s done just that on two rollicking tracks that are sure to be a huge hit with her fans. Men In Trucks is a flight of fantasy to which many women will relate.

“Elizabeth Cook and I are always writing fun, quirky songs together and we just love the JOHNNY CASH feel of this. It’s old school country and it’s for all the macho men out there who have a big truck or would like
one!” Melinda said. The album’s final track is even more out
there. The title — Sometimes It Takes Balls (to Be a Woman) — says it all.

“I love singing this song. I also love hearing my band sing the lyric when they are doing the backing vocals,” Melinda said. “I performed it at Tamworth in January and got such a strong response from the women in the audience — it floored me. Very empowering for the girls!” Melinda said.

To record Balls, Melinda put on a few bottles of champagne and called on the talents of some of her girlfriends in Nashville, including Aussies NATALIE HOWARD and JEANINE LE CLAIR, as well as co-writer Elizabeth Cook. Not surprisingly, the session was a load of fun. Melinda will join forces with some other impressive women later in August), when she takes part in the second Broad concert tour of Australia’s capital cities.

She’s been invited to tour with DEBORAH CONWAY, KATE MILLER HEIDKE, MIA DYSON and ELLA HOOPER.

Earlier in the month she’s touring the NSW North Coast and doing several shows in Queensland — the first leg of the Stronger tour, which will take her all over Australia during the next 12 months. She’ll be supported on tour by Golden Guitar winners THE FLOOD.

The Daily Mercury (27th July 2006)
MELINDA KEEPS GETTING STRONGER
by Lindsay Saunders

IT has not been the easiest of roads for Melinda Schneider during the past 18 months or so.

Yet at the end of it all is a new album that is just what the title says — Stronger.

During that period, her 10- year relationship with producer and head of Compass Bros records Graham Thompson came to an end.

The title track is one of the most personal, soullaid- bare songs about a relationship break-up I’ve ever heard. Was it hard to include it on the album considering the subject?

“It was something I had to do,” Melinda said. “There is a lot of healing in writing about it for me, to go into the sadness of that time.”

“I also think it is one of the best songs I have written so it just had to be on the album.”

While that deeply personal and emotional time might be the basis of much of Stronger, it is far from a sad album.

Graham and Melinda still work together, although for Stronger she travelled to Nashville to work with a different producer.

“Graham suggested Biff Watson and it worked so well,” she said.

“There is a lot of emotion in this album and Biff was great with it. I’d have a little cry about one of the songs, there’d be hugs and then we’d get back to work.”

Melinda wrote more than 60 songs between February 2005 and February this year — did you say 60 songs?

“I went to Nashville four times in that period to work with songwriters — some I knew and some new ones too,” she said.

“Each trip was about two weeks and I’d write 15 songs per trip. I was also writing a few at home in Australia.

“The trips to Nashville were so productive because I could lock myself in a hotel room and just write — there were none of the distractions of the daily grind at home.

“I could do some serious navel gazing and I just find my writing flourishes in that environment.”

But how did she pick an album’s worth — in this case, 13 songs — from all of those new songs.

“It wasn’t easy! Graham and I sat down and worked on getting the mix of songs right,” Melinda said. “Some of them had similar subject matter and we also wanted to mix up light and dark subjects and feels to make Stronger an uplifting CD as well as being very emotional.”

With the numerous trips to Nashville in recent years, is the US market in Melinda’s sights?

“It is definitely somewhere I’d like to get something more happening,” she said.

“But Australia is where things are working for me and as much as I love Nashville and the US, I’d rather call Australia home.”

Stronger is released on August 5. Melinda Schneider, with special guests The Flood, perform at Magpies Leagues Club, Mackay, on August 10.

melinda schneider
FAMILY TREE
What they're saying.....

Loaded with infectious, positive energy that exudes the natural character of the singer. This is a fine, coherent album brimming over with verve and heart.
Keith Glass, Country Capital News.

"The seeds sown with Happy Tears have grown and flourished on Family Tree, an album which truly reflects the heart and soul of Melinda Schneider from the ground up."
Bob Anthony, Country Update Magazine

"Its contemporary edge has successfully taken the substance of great hillbilly music into the twenty-first century"
Rosie Adsett, Country Update Magazine

ARCHIVED ARTICLES AND REVIEWS

BACK TO BASICS
Sydney Sun Herald 'Time Out' November 1999

TAMWORTH A TEST FOR NEW COUNTRY CROONER
The Australian - January 2000

MAKING UP IN THE CHORUS
February 2000

THE BULLETIN ALBUM REVIEW
Melinda Schneider My Oxygen (Compass Brothers)

READY TO WEAR
Country Music Annual August 2000

BACK TO BASICS
Sydney Sun Herald 'Time Out' November 1999

Country music is more than a novelty for Melinda Schneider, writes Susan Jarvis.


A DECADE ago, she was a talented teenager yodelling harmony with her famous mum, Mary Schneider.

Five years ago she caused a major stir in country circles when she reached the mainstream Top 10 with a techno-yodelling hit called Tighten Up Your Pants.

Today, 28-year old Melinda Schneider is being widely touted as the next big thing in country music.
Her first single, Love's Out To Get Me, has gained rave reviews from all over the country, and Jeff Chandler - who helped build the careers of James Blundell, Lee Kernaghan, Tania Kernaghan and Colin Buchanan - has stepped out of management retirement to take on Schneider's career.
"She was so impressive I couldn't resist. Hearing and talking to her just blew me away. This lady has everything it takes to succeed in this industry," Chandler said.

Being touted as a newcomer after 10 years of hard slog doesn't faze Schneider. In fact, she sees it as a real advantage.

"It's just the right time for me now," she said. "Most so-called new American artists have been out there working and recording for years, doing their apprenticeship in the business and learning about things like stagecraft. That's what I've spent the last decade doing - the club scene, covers, just working hard at what I love - singing."

Schneider's 15 minutes of fame so far - the success of Tighten Up Your Pants - now embarrasses her a little.

"The song came about after a chat with producer Mark Moffatt, and it just took off, charting at number 5 on the dance charts and making it into the 1995 ARIA Top 40," she said

"It was a lot of fun although not really what I wanted to do permanently. The song was rejected for the Country Music Awards of Australia on the basis that it wasn't country, although Slim Dusty went on to do something similar. But that didn't really worry me at the time."

Schneider admits that, despite growing up with country, she had to experiment with all kinds of music before returning to her roots. That happened through a series of coincidences involving another of country's new stars, Adam Brand.

"I first met Adam when we were both 13 and we kept in touch by mail for years after that," she said.

"Then we lost contact for about seven years, and when Adam came to Sydney a couple of years, he looked me up and we've been great friends ever since."

Brand's songs so impressed Schneider that she immediately took them to her now-husband Graham Thompson, who was then working for Rondor Music. Brand was signed to a publishing deal and Thompson left Rondor to manage the young singer/songwriter.

"I suppose I saw what Adam was doing and that made me realise that country music was where my heart was," Schneider said.

Tamworth a test for new country crooner
The Australian - January 2000

Country singer Melinda Schneider is on a roll.

Her single, Love Away the Night - a duet with her friend and fellow rising star Adam Brand - has just reached No.1 on the country charts, while on TV she can be heard singing the theme song to the ABC's new early-evening drama series, Something in the Air.

To top that, she has been nominated for two awards, including best new talent, at the Country Music Awards, the climax to the 28th Tamworth Country Music Festival in northern NSW, which begins its 10-day program tomorrow.

Sydney-based Schneider is just one of hundreds of performers who will take part in the country music capital's annual shindig this year, during which the town's 50,000 population will double, as fans and performers crowd the streets, bars and concert halls from early morning until the wee small hours.

Star attractions include overseas artists such as Willie Nelson and The Amazing Rhythm Aces, plus our own Paul Kelly, making a rare visit to Tamworth on the strength of Smoke, his new bluegrass album with Melbourne band Uncle Bill.

As a solo artist, Schneider is a newcomer to Australian country, but it's a form that she's been close to all of her life.

She is the daughter of Australian yodelling star Mary Schneider. The two feature together in one of ABC TV's current signature ads.

Melinda Schneider has been singing since the age of 3. "I've been going to Tamworth since I was 8," the 28-year old performer says. "So it will be weird going this year and playing my own songs. It's a bit scary, but exciting too."

It has taken a few false starts and changes of direction for Schneider to get her solo career started, but with the awards pending and her first album due for release late this year, the new millennium bodes well. But she won't be following in her mother's yodelling footsteps.

"It's not so strange to me because I'd wake up in the morning and mum would be yodelling in the shower. Only now am I realising just how bizarre my childhood was."

Country music's popularity is on the rise in Australia.

Established names, such as Lee Kernaghan and Gina Jeffreys, are among the biggest selling local artists in any field, while the million-selling status of Canadian Shania Twain's crossover album, 'Come on Over', and the success of US acts such as the Dixie Chicks, is further indication of the genre's potential.

"People are becoming more broadminded about country," says Schneider.

Nevertheless, there's division between the traditionalists and those who think the Shania Twains and Faith Hills of the world are the way forward.

"Shania's not country," Schneider says. "She has country roots but the latest record is very pop. I'm not going out there to do that. I'm more Dixie Chicks. It's much more country, but it still has a modern element to it and a little more Nashville than Australian country."

And can Tamworth make a difference to your career?

"You've got to be part of Tamworth," she says. "If you want to get to that fan base, you really have to be there

By Iain Shedden

MAKING UP IN THE CHORUS
February 2000

Melinda Schneider is proof that penning a number one song does not necessarily involve blood, sweat and countless tears.

In fact, the daughter of local yodeller Mary Schneider wrote her latest hit with Adam Brand in a most unconventional way.

The country music duo, who met on a waterslide on the Gold Coast, were laughing and joking on a couch one day and set about putting their thoughts down on paper.

An hour later they had a song and weeks later a new hit.

Love Away the Night is about a guy who loves footy, his race car and forgets his anniversary while his girl loves to shop and buy shoes.

They often drive each other crazy but a twinkle in the eye and a phone left off the hook helps them make up and love away the night.

Following Adam and Melinda's meeting on the waterslide, the couple renewed their friendship three years ago when Adam moved to Sydney to pursue his career as a country music singer.

They released a duet of Words Cannot Say on a single and Melinda sang on Adam's self titled debut album.

The pair have a special chemistry when it comes to song writing. "We had an idea that wasn't quite working and decided to start from scratch," Melinda said.

"Adam came out with this line about how I was always in the fridge or on the phone, then we started talking about all the things we would say to each other if we were in a relationship.
"We decided to fight in the verses and make up in the choruses!"

These two budding stars take the mickey out of each other in song and in real life, resulting in a partnership which strikes a chord with people who like their country music fresh.

THE BULLETIN ALBUM REVIEW
Melinda Schneider My Oxygen (Compass Brothers)

Schneider has a pure, clean country voice (she also co-wrote six tracks, to her credit), the picking is top shelf, and the mix of teary ballads and rootsy pop is just about right. You have to figure it's only a matter of time before Nashville comes calling.

by Jeff Apter

READY TO WEAR
Country Music Annual August 2000

Enchanting songs coupled with eye-catching outfits? A sure-fire recipe for success

Melinda Schneider may appear to be one of Australia's most fashion-conscious country acts, but it's purely a matter of skill, and economics. A fashion designer by trade, Melinda can make anything, whether it be women's clothes, or men's tailored suits. "It comes in handy when I need to whip something up last minute," she said.

Impeccably dressed on stage, Melinda's sense of what looks good combines with a talent that has already earned her a Golden Guitar award for Vocal Collaboration of the Year. That was for her duet with Adam Brand on 'Love Away The Night', at the 2000 Toyota Country Music Awards of Australia in January.

Tamworth is a far cry from the inner city dance clubs where Melinda was the voice behind the Audio Murphy techno tune, "Tighten Up Your Pants'. Showing off her yodelling skills, which she inherited from her mother Mary Schneider, the song hit the Top 5 of the Australian dance charts towards the end of 1994.

"I knew I couldn't be a techno yodeller forever…I knew it was only a one single thing," Melinda admitted. She spent the next four years writing songs and 'trying to find my sound'.

"And that brought me to this album." The success of 'Love Away The Night ' and another single, 'Love's Out To Get Me' in 1999 paved the way for Melinda's debut album My Oxygen , released on Compass Bros Records mid-way through 2000. Recorded in Nashville, My Oxygen quickly garnered interest through the song TV or Me, which deals with what she believes is a universal issue. "A couple that I know used to have arguments about her man watching too much TV and not paying enough attention to her," explained Melinda, who promptly set about writing a song on the subject
Co-writing six of the 16 tracks on My Oxygen gave her the opportunity to put her imagination to music, particularly with the song 'Rapunzel'. Driving over the Gothic-styled Northbridge Suspension Bridge near North Sydney gave her the inspiration for the medieval type lyrics for the song. Melinda also wrote 'Three Rings', inspired by her marriage to Compass Bros label co-director, Graham Thompson. The wedding took place in New York City, where the clothes-conscious Melinda spotted another fashion accessory - a pair of red knee-high boots. However, she soon dismissed the theory that it's only women who have a shoe fetish.

"I've had a few blokes reacting a bit strangely to my boots," she said. "One guy, he was about 35, and his parents were saying how much they enjoyed the show. He kept looking at my boots, and I said, 'Are you okay?' And he said, 'It's the boots, I've had goosebumps all night over those boots'." Melinda also has in her collection a pair of hot pink, snakeskin-styled boots which she describes as 'fantastic'.

With that style of wardrobe, Melinda is probably more at home in metropolitan Sydney than the Aussie outback. And she doesn't pretend otherwise, steering clear of rural subjects in her songs.
"My music is still country, but it's about love and subjects that anyone can relate to, no matter where they live.

by Jenny Hele