Ashland's unsung superstar

Alice Di Micele — a singer with a sultry, five-octave range — has traveled around the country performing in theaters, coffeehouses, pubs, community centers, and at many music festivals. She has shared the stage along the way with people like Bonnie Raitt, Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, Janis Ian, David Grisman, Steve Winwood, and Michael Franti. In her twenty years as a singer, songwriter, and musician, Alice has recorded nine solo albums on her own independent label — Alice Otter Music — and after taking a five-year sabbatical working as a river guide, she has recently returned to recording and performing with the release of her new album, "By ebb and by flow."

DT: Were you always interested in making music?

Alice: I grew up listening to the radio. Stevie Wonder. The Beatles. Rock and Roll. Whatever was on. I started writing songs when I was five. I'd walk my dog Scruffy — or he'd walk me, pulling me down the road — and I'd make up songs and sing, and go home and write them down. I saw my first concert, the Grateful Dead, in the early 80's. And then the David Grisman Quartet at Carnegie Hall. I picked up the guitar almost immediately afterwards.

DT: Where did you go with your music as you grew older?

Alice: I was the lead singer in a band called "White Rabbit" in high school, but I really didn't want to be dependent on a band. Immediately after graduating from high school I went "on tour" with the Grateful Dead. I'd play music outside the shows for tickets and money to get to the next town. It was a crazy and very fun time. After about a year of traveling, I returned to the east coast and enrolled at SUNY New Paltz, a liberal arts university. I studied music therapy, women's studies, black studies, and various other subjects for two years.

I realized that as a music therapist by trade I would work in hospitals and institutions, and while I knew I could do good work in that field, I believed my music could be "therapeutic" in any setting and felt called to travel and sing for people in a wider variety of situations.

DT: So you went on the road, and shared the stage along the way with some pretty incredible people.

Alice: I was on the road from 1987 to 2001, doing about 100 shows a year. I had some great gigs. Shared the stage with a lot of great people. Being onstage performing and looking over at Bonnie Raitt and Joan Baez dancing to my music was a great moment, as was having Steve Winwood and his band dancing backstage when I opened for him at Britt.

By 2001 I'd done eight albums and was preparing to be on the road more, but I'd recently learned how to kayak, and the more I did it, the more I realized I needed a break from the lifestyle I'd been living. The constant travel, eating out, and sleeping in different places was taking its toll. So I took a sabbatical, and for the past five years was a river guide.

DT: What effect did that have on you?

Alice: It was so good for me. Having started my career at 21, my personal identity was pretty darn wrapped up in who I was as a musician. In order to be a clear channel — even though I hate that term now — I needed to take some time, take care of myself, and let it be. The music has its own life, and I have mine.

DT: It freed you both up?

Alice: Yeah. It was amazing. I didn't give up music completely. I'd bring my guitar on the river. And, on the river, instead of people having a bunch of expectations, it was the opposite. My boss would tell people, "Your guide has brought her guitar." And I could see them thinking, "Oh great, she's going to play 'Kumbaya' every night." That freed me up. A lot of my songs have always been about the river. About water. I wrote "Celebrate the Rain" — a song recorded on my very first album""when I was eleven years old, walking home from school in the rain. I'd play for people on these trips and it was fun to watch them go from having very low expectations, to enjoying the music. And I got to see what songs people most related to, what songs people from different walks of life appreciated.

DT: You have used your music to help highlight issues that you are passionate about, such as traveling around the country with the Ancient Forest Rescue Expedition and an 800 year old tree to show what was happening to our ancient forests. And, for two years, you raised money at all of your concerts to help support Judi Bari after she and Darryl Cherney (Earth First! activists) were bombed. Is your music your form of activism?

Alice: I get involved with certain things, for sure. Music has been my main form, vehicle really, of activism. But if you listen to my music, it's not super in your face political. It's celebratory of the things that are beautiful in this world. Of things worth fighting for, and saving.

DT: You've just released a new album, by ebb and by flow. What kind of a response is it getting?

Alice: It's already been getting airplay all over the country and last week my songs "Mexico" and "Made Out of Water" were added to RadioioAcoustic (not a typo), an Internet station which has a very large listenership and connections to iTunes. It's very exciting.

DT: Where do you hope to go next with your music?

Alice: I'm not looking at filling stadiums or for out-of-control fame and fortune, though I would like to play to bigger audiences. I'd just like my music to go as far as it wants to go. I'd like to make a living with it, and spend time on the river and in the wilderness . . . and for my music to make people feel good.

Alice will be co-leading, with Keith Greeninger, a four-day musical rafting retreat on the wild and scenic Rogue River in August. For more information, go to www.wildrogue.com. And to learn more about Alice and her music, log on to www.alicedimicele.com.

Debi Smith is a local Tidings correspondent. Your comments, or suggestions for future profiles, can be sent to debi@mind.net.