Music & Words

Melissa is a writer, poet, and musician whose work is rooted in themes of place, identity, and the interior rhythms of everyday life. Her creative practice blends lyric essays, poetry, and folk-influenced music shaped by her primary instrument, the autoharp. She also plays the fiddle, singing saw and shruti box, bringing layered, textural soundscapes to her performances and recordings. Melissa’s work carries an intimate, Americana sensibility, weaving together story, sound, and memory in ways that explore presence, connection, and the quiet space between the mundane and the sacred.