We were lucky to catch up with Melanie Champagne recently and have shared our conversation below.

Melanie , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I’m currently recording and producing a collection of songs and field recordings from my hometown, Collinsville Connecticut. This project, Spring, is both a reflection of my town during the spring time and an insight into the life I’ve created. Recording a collection of songs entirely on my own always felt like an unobtainable goal but as I leaned into the concept, its unfolding felt natural; better to embrace the resources I do have then, to get caught up in what I do not.
Spring includes six tracks, each one a piece of what feels like a self portrait. The ep begins in the same way that most of my days do, on the river dock. It’s here that I find myself drinking my morning coffee alongside the blue heron and so The Dock / Blue Heron serves as an ode to these beautiful creatures and the morning fog that coats the river.
The church bells more often than not wake me from my morning meditation and bring me back down to earth. Every now and then I walk myself across the bridge and exchange my dock for a pew. Religion has grown into something that feels fluid to me and it only took a few months of exploring different options and environments to decide that my dock could serve as my church and that if God was out there, that is a concept he would understand. Let the second track, Arriving, shine light onto the church bells, the morning birds, and to whatever higher power it is that you may believe in.
Begin Again served as the first single off of the ep and I suppose that is because it is where it all began. I refer to the summer that I wrote it as the summer that I laid in my driveway. I wasn’t tired enough to sleep and it felt like all I could do was lay in the sun and look up at the sky~ receiving what felt like a form of rest that had been long overdue. I remember a moment in which I was looking down at my feet as I stood barefoot in the grass contemplating where the next chapter of my life would take me. Begin Again is a song about realizing that the concept of finding yourself is a life long journey, a journey that leaves you standing barefoot in the grass wondering who you are and what you’ll become.
It is only a matter of time until the late spring thunderstorms move in and so the unraveling begins. Unraveling is recorded on the upright piano in my kitchen that is named after my mother, Francine. Slightly out of tune, this song represents the unraveling of one’s sense of self and shines light onto the moments in which I’d sit and play my piano beside an open front door as the thunderstorms passed over me. It represents the discomfort one has to face in order to find clarity~ a moment to close your eyes and surrender to the sound of the rain.
I’ve always felt that clarity and comfort can be found hiding, more often than not, inside my fire pit. Firewood serves as a comfort in the same way that the burning logs always have. Firewood, originally titled Garbage Day / Fire at Mark’s, was written on the night that my neighbor, Mark Wallace, passed away. Mark was a sweet man who would watch as I laid my clothes out for the week alongside the campfire so that I could smell the smoke on them as I went about my life. Mark had a hard time getting around and so he allowed me to use his garbage cans in exchange for rolling them up and down the driveway each week. The day after his passing was garbage day and I still remember clearly what it felt like to walk his garbage cans up the driveway for the last time. This song holds mourning and grief before it transitions into the moments of stillness that follow. Rest in peace Mark and thank you for bringing Christmas dinner to my door for the two years that we lived beside one another.
All seasons must come to an end and it is here that you’ll find Swan’s Lullaby resting beside life along the river at sunset. This song is a deep breath and serves as a candle in the dark~ a light within the unknown. And so is the conclusion of Spring but not of my life in Collinsville; a town that has held me through it all.

Spring in it’s entirety will be released on August 8th though you can find the tracks available now on all streaming platforms.

Melanie , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Melanie Anne Michaud and I am the youngest of five girls. I was born and raised in Bristol, Connecticut though I am grateful to call Collinsville, Connecticut my home. I spent my childhood singing on the swing set and have been humming about my days for as long as I can remember. I began playing guitar as a child after my close friend Stephen handed his left handed nylon over to me.
“You’ll have to re-string it but it’s yours if you want it.”
How grateful I was then~ and how grateful I am now. That guitar still sits in my closet and at the time all it took was me learning a few chords until my dad arranged for me to take lessons at the shop in town. I have brought you to this shop because it is here that I met Brian and Cindy Burgess. It pains me to say that they are no longer with us and so they live on through the memories I have of them and the Bristol Guitar gift certificate that hangs framed in my kitchen. Brian was a sweet old man whose white hair traveled long down his shoulders into a half done braid. He sat on tennis balls to level out his back, used super glue to close off the calluses on his fingers, and scrunched his nose anytime I cracked my knuckles. It’s safe to say that as a child, he fascinated me. I spent many hours in his shop listening to him play the songs that lived beneath his fingers only instructing him to stop when he stumbled upon one that I wanted to learn myself. Brian was the one who told me about Lasalle Market and Deli’s Open Mic and as a result, introduced me to Collinsville, Connecticut. Brian Burgess changed my life.
I have grown into a singer songwriter over the years and if it was up to me I suppose that is all I would do. I have found myself, more than ten years later, intertwined within my community in ways that I could not have imagined. In an effort to make a stable life for myself, I pursued art education and have found that my garden has come to include titles such as art educator, yoga instructor, artist, and so on. These titles allow me to call Collinsville my home and give me the foundation to pursue my dream of songwriting from a place of want rather than a means of survival; a struggle that most, if not all, creators face. I am proud of both the life I am creating and the person I am becoming.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I suppose the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is having the ability to express myself in a way that can be seen, heard, and felt by others.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson that I’ve chosen to embrace during this chapter of my life would be listening to my inner voice. I suppose through that I have had to untangle core beliefs and thoughts that became settled in my mind. Trusting my inner voice has allowed me to move forward with grace and understanding for myself, my art, and for those around me. I am hesitant to share more in that I believe this is a powerful and personal journey that we are all meant to find ourselves on.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: melanie__champagne
• Facebook: Melanie Champagne
• Youtube: Melanie Champagne

Image Credits

Stacy Walsh DeMonte (image of single performer)

Bill Benson (image of three performers)

Melanie Michaud (picnic table)