Mel Washington Brings His "Whiskey River" To The Troubadour

LOS ANGELES, CA- Some music can only be written through lived experience. Authenticity can’t be mass produced. You can’t sing about heartbreak if you’ve never experienced it before, right? Mel Washington is a Charleston, SC based singer/songwriter and he embodies the genuine. With his performance at the Troubadour opening SUSTO at the Troubadour, Los Angeles got a glimpse of his soul through his music.

Formally a member of the band All Get Out, Mel went solo back in 2012 with his album Houses. He’s since been working on his follow up album, Feast of Famine, and if the music I heard at the show is any indication, it’s country leaning Americana stripped down to its musical and emotional core. “Whiskey River”, the project’s first single which was released late last year, pulls on all of the right heart strings, and Mel’s performance of it, solo acoustic, with his resonant baritone voice, filled the room with a emotional vulnerability that really connected with me.

“I actually wrote ‘Whiskey River’ on the rooftop of what used to be Soulshine Pizza Factory in Nashville, Tenn., with my good friend, Olivia Burnette. At the time, I was homeless, which I allude to in the second verse of the song, and it was one of those songs that, as we were writing, I looked at her and said, ‘I think we might have something very special here.’ ”

It was an understated performance, that really gave Mel an opportunity to let the passion and vulnerability in his music to shine. Some of the next music for his forthcoming album was co-written by SUSTO’s Justin Osbourne, so Justin accompanied on Mel on the keys for a selection towards the end of the set.

Follow Mel Washington on Facebook and Instagram. If you’d like to help fund his next solo project “Feast or Famine”, head over to his GoFundMe page to do so.

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