'Fearless' Melissa Etheridge talks Love, Equality and Broadway

Melissa Etheridge has sung about love before, with such famed lesbian tracks as "Come To My Window" and "Bring Me Some Water." But now with Fearless Love, her 10th studio album, Etheridge sings about what defines that love.

Touching on equality and singing out about gay rights in the wake of the passage of Prop. 8 with tracks like "Miss California" and the album's title track. SheWired.com caught up with Etheridge to discuss the new album, her advice for Constance McMillan, writing for Broadway and being a Dinah Shore virgin.

SheWired: How much has married life taught you what a “fearless love” is?

Melissa Etheridge: Everything! Every relationship is helping you define yourself and that's definitely an important thing.

SheWired: How much of the album was inspired by the outpouring after Prop. 8 passed?

ME: Definitely "Miss California" is a direct response to being spurned by my lover, California. The whole album is about being fearless; it's about this is a step and we keep taking these steps one by one: politically, socially, spiritually.

SheWired: Your daughter named the album. What does that mean to you?

ME: Awww. My family is the most important thing to me in the whole, wide world. That my kids were even interested this time around — they usually are like, "What ever, mom." But they've been finding their own music and their own delight in popular music and they keep seeing, "Hey, you're actually in this world." And I'm like, "Yeah!" (Laughs.) So they were interested in what I was creating and it was very nice that I had this dialogue with her during the whole process of making this album.

SheWired: As a parent, what advice do you have for Constance in the wake of Prom-gate debacle?

ME: To just love herself and keep walking this path truthfully because that's the most brave thing one can do in the world: To just quietly be themselves. And that's what she's doing. It's that sort of peace inside herself, like, "Hey, I want to go to my prom with my girlfriend." It's such a beautiful truth that can shape the whole world. That's how change happens.

SheWired: There's been rumblings all over the Internet about organizing a Big Gay Prom for Constance. Would you attend or get involved should that come to pass?

ME: A Super Prom! I don't know it would depend on what it was.

SheWired: How did reuniting with Breakdown producer John Shanks influence the record?

ME: It was absolutely everything I wanted. His talent as a producer now is untouched; he's so at the top of his game. And he's been like my brother for 25 years; he was my first guitar player in my very first band. He and I have a great relationship and I knew he could understand my desire to really get back to the rock and roll roots of myself and my music. He certainly did all that and more.

More on next page...