At TCAN with talented friends Paul Lee and Eric Luskin
Photo by Phil Knudsen
Mel
Green has re-emerged on the local Boston acoustic music scene as a songwriter,
playing and singing in a relatively new format... with keyboard and
bass accompaniment, played his friends Paul Lee and Eric Luskin, who are both formidable
musicians and songsmiths in their own right.
Performing with Keyboards and bass guitar has broadened Mel's musical palette, giving his songs varied backdrops which better serve the songs and their subject matter.
Mel's songs are evocative, and draw one in to his spare, interesting stories, gleaned from his life, his times and his personal, yet common-to-us-all, experiences. They are filled with references that most of us can identify with... everyday life, advancing age, the realization of being, early and recent experiences, love: now and then, family, and dreams.
He also performs regularly with his Folk-Rock-Americana-Adult-Alternative group, The Maple Street Project, a songwriting collaborative... from which many of his songs come, whether co-written or entirely his own.
He has been filling notebooks, and scribbling on scraps of paper since his late teens, and he began singing his own songs since arriving in the Boston area in 1972. After a long hiatus since 1975, he began performing again in 2000, continuing to the present day.
Mel emigrated to the US from South Africa in 1970. He set his guitar aside to raise a family, all the while writing his own healing songs about love, family, the environment and personal growth.
Mel was a solo recording artist in the country of his birth, South Africa, and started out originally with his group Mel, Mel & Julian, which enjoyed considerable fame during the 60s folk-revival.
Mel, or little Mel as he was then known, was a founding member of that successful folk/comedy trio during the 60s Apartheid years, hidden from view of the world due to the cultural embargo of that time. The group recorded three seminal albums for Columbia, and toured South Africa during the late 60s, establishing a formidable reputation as world quality folk artistes.
GIG CALENDAR 2008
I am very excited and psyched to be working on recording my first solo CD.
Tentatively titled "Taking My Time".
Please watch this space for CD release date and future gig announcements.
Enjoy summer!
Cheers, Mel
Quotes....
"The guy on the end who looks like a cross between Ben Franklin and
Bill Clinton"
Christine Lavin at Summerfest '05 before urging us "Sensitive
New Age Guys" on stage
"You have a great voice."
Don Everly,
of the Everly Brothersin 1969 after seeing Mel & Mel at The Johannesburg
TroubadourCoffeehouse,
touring with his band while on the Everly Brothers South African Tour
"Mel’s voice is like fine, painted, beautiful china. Far-reaching life experiences, in different parts of the world, have illuminated his lyricism, as he sprinkles his words and narrative with humor and humility." Angela Masciale, King Hooper Cafe, Marblehead, Massachusetts
"He
has an excellent voice and can improvise a good harmony part to anything."
E. Brad Meyer
"We were lucky to hear Mel Green, visiting from Boston, USA. Singing traditional and contemporary songs with clever, melodic arrangements and delicate guitar accompaniments ... we would love to hear him back again."
The Cornstalk Review : Mel's Loaded Dog Folk Club appearance, Sydney, Australia, 28 February, 2004
"There
were singers and guitarists that would take my breath away. Mel Green
sang like a bird and played
some of the cleanest guitar...."
Colin Shamley, South African Singer/Songwriter
1996 - 2008 Mel Green - Solo Singer/Songwriter
March 2008 Feature at the Emerson Umbrella Concord, Mass.
October 2007 Feature at TCAN, Natick, Massachusetts
April 2007 Feature at the King Hooper Cafe, Marblehead, MA
Feb 2007 Special Guest Main Streets Cafe & Market, Concord, MA
Oct 2006 Feature The Village Gate Folk Stage, Brookline, NH
Sept 2006 Feature Java Jo's, Jamaica Plain, MA
May 2006 Co-Feature South Shore Folk Music Club, Kingston, MA
November 2005 Feature withRiverSong, House Concert Arlington, MA
June 2005 Feature at Riverfest, Pawtucket, RI
May 2005 Feature at Cafe Ziba, Acton, MA
Jan 2005 Opener for Jim Scott, One World Coffeehouse, Essex, MA
Feb 2004 Guest Floor Singer at The Loaded Dog Folk Club, Sydney, Australia
Spring 2001 Cast Member Cambridge Spring Revels
1996 Feature with Maple Street Project at Club Passim, Cambridge, MA
Mel... TCAN 2008 Feature with Eric Luskin
Mel Green - Solo Performer – Back When
73 Opener for Rosalie Sorrels at Club Passim, Cambridge Mass.
73 Opener for Sandy Bull at Club Passim, Cambridge Mass.
73 Feature: Sword in the Stone, Boston
73 Bar Singer, Poland Springs Hotel, Maine
71-72 Gerde's Folk City, Greenwich Village, NYC
71-72 The Gaslight, Greenwich Village, NYC
70 Hotel Cabaret Singer, Poconos, PA
5/70 Guest performer at Cecil Sharpe House, London, UK
1970 Emigrates to the USA
2005 Guest Backup Singer for Kate Campbell
Jan 2005 Homegrown Coffeehouse, Needham, MA
May 2005 Beal House, South Shore Music Club, Pembroke, MA
Mel... Solo 1968
South Africa 1967 – 1970
Regular Feature: Minstrel Coffeehouse, Pretoria, South Africa
Regular Feature: Troubadour Johannesburg, South Africa
Headliner: Durban Folk Festival
Feature: Johannesburg Folk Festival
CBS South Africa / Columbia Recording Artist
His single "Mr. Nico" & "What is Love" (by David Marks) recorded with The Bats,
probably makes him the first folk-rock recording artist in South Africa!
Acts and sings in "What Is Love?" at Johannesburg's Langham Hotel.
Tours the Transvaal with "What Is Love?" A literary dramatic stage review
1968 Briefly joins The Dream Merchants, Billy Forrest & Billy Andrews, South Africa's "Righteous Brothers". Signed to RCA Victor (South Africa)
Mel, Mel & Julian '64
1964 - 1967 Mel, Mel & Julian
Residencies:
Edward Hotel Durban
Deal's Hotel, East London
Grand Hotel, Cape Town
Concerts at University of Cape Town, Durban University, Rhodes University
Winner: Redro Battle of the Bands - EP recorded
3 Albums recorded for CBS South Africa / Columbia Recording Artists
Aboard carrier USS Wasp, in Cape Town. Group sings for troops returning from Vietnam
Mel & Mel 1964
1963 - 1964 Mel & Mel
Feature: Johannesburg Folk Festival, with Louis Meyer
(Performing on the FIRST folk LP released in South Africa.
Mel, Mel & Louis featured with three cuts on the album...)
CBS South Africa / Columbia Recording Artists
Residencies:
The Troubadour, Johannesburg
Edward Hotel Durban
Deal's Hotel, East London
1969 Reunited for a sold-out show at the Minstrel, Pretoria... their last together.
HOME BIO CONTACT BOOKING PHOTOS HISTORY
