Today we’d like to introduce you to Ellen Melissa Story.
Hi Ellen, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I grew up in the farmlands of West Tennessee, close to Memphis. That particular area is steeped in Old Time, Appalachian, and Bluegrass music, as well as deep-rooted Southern Gospel traditions, and was formative in my musical upbringing. I began playing the violin at 3 years old in the Suzuki Program (a method of classical musical education) when my father, a musician himself, noticed that I had a proclivity for music and a sensitivity to pitch. In addition to classical private lessons and group classes at the University of Memphis, I gained performing and recording experience through playing with my family in The Appleton Family Band, as well as a newgrass project called “Will Tell” with my fellow Suzuki-violinist-turned-fiddler, Steven Bowman.
As a junior in high school, I received the amazing opportunity to leave home and attend the prestigious Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick, MA, in association with New England Conservatory. Upon graduation, I attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, studying with some of the greatest musicians in the folk/fiddle world.
The strange and winding road of life led me from Boston back to my family farm in Tennessee and then to the big city of Houston, TX, where I began playing in churches and became a founding member of an amazing group called Western Bling. This became the bedrock of my life as I navigated divorce and big life changes – the country music scene became my salvation and my path upward.
Today I enjoy playing in several groups (most notably The Broken Spokes, recipients of the TCMA Awards “2022 Western Swing Artist of the Year”) and working as a session player all over Houston.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s easy to look back on one’s life and see the thread that ties it all together – but experiencing life in the moment can be a different story altogether.
I would say that my biggest struggle in life has been the feeling of not quite “fitting in” or “belonging” anywhere.
In my youth, a lot of my time was spent in solitude, and while I truly believe I gained much for my artistry from this, it was still a lonely childhood. I had a few close friends but always felt separate and utterly different from my peers.
The thread of my life began to take an interesting turn when I was accepted into Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick, MA, and I left my childhood home in the middle of my junior year of high school. I began to flourish around kids who were like me – and yet, there was still that nagging sense that I still wasn’t fitting in. The Walnut Hill music program is affiliated with New England Conservatory, and while it is world-class in the classical world, they didn’t know what to do with a fiddler from Tennessee. The teacher I was placed with made no effort to hide her disdain of me and my playing – it took everything in me to remain true to myself in the face of toxic conservatory culture. I knew what made my musical heartbeat faster, and I wasn’t going to let anyone diminish that, but there were still major scars left.
My freshman year of college found me jaded and questioning my musical path – in conservatory; I had been told that my failure was inevitable and to not even try. That all changed in my first private lesson at Berklee College of Music in Boston. I walked into the room with a certain expectation – in my prior experience, the teacher sat while the student stood during a lesson, but what I saw that day were two chairs facing each other. We sat down together, and for the first time, I felt treated as an equal and a peer, not a subordinate. Life changed!
Since then, I have absolutely found my sense of belonging in the Houston and Texas music scenes and am so proud to call these places home.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a multi-instrumentalist performer and vocalist; fiddle is my main instrument, but I also play mandolin, guitar, and piano professionally. Singing is one of my greatest joys in life, and I have the incredible honor of getting to sing in all of my projects, whether country or in church. I am also a composer, songwriter, and arranger.
What sets me apart is my “ear” and my improvisation. I have perfect pitch (the ability to hear music and know what key it’s in or hear a pitch and automatically know what it is); my best explanation of this phenomenon is that it’s like seeing the face of someone you love. You don’t have to think about who that person is – you instantly recognize them.
As far as improvisation, I began doing this on my violin in church at a young age, where a supportive worship leader saw my gift and let me run freely with it.
In my eyes, the voice of a violin is exactly the same as that of a vocalist, and the highest compliment I have ever received is that my playing sounds like singing.
As a “fiddler,” my greatest strength is my feel and groove, and I can attribute this to my training at Berklee College of Music.
In addition to music, I am a certified yoga instructor, tai chi practicioner, dancer, maker of handmade items (fiber arts), and writer.
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
One of my life words is “fearless.”
I have taken many major and challenging leaps of faith in my life (leaving home at a young age, staying true to myself, both personally and musically, going through a divorce and starting over completely, establishing myself in a town that I’m not from), and I wholeheartedly believe that life is about taking risks and being brave.
If we can cultivate the courage to follow our callings through taking risks and leaps of faith, we can grow and evolve.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ellenmelissamusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellenmelissamusic ; https://www.instagram.com/honeybee.story
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Honeybee.Story.Music
Image Credits
Ashkan Roayaee
Alan Cho
TexasRedd Images
