Premiere: Rod Melancon’s Heartbreakers

Tribute song from a dark place: Pinkville

Rod Melancon’s songs tell their short stories in sparse, striking detail that immediately transports listeners to his time and place. Another writer might encounter his dream girl at an unnamed bar or club, but Melancon saw her “last Friday at the Sno-Ball stand. She had a cotton-candy sucker dripping down her hand,” and the audience experiences the event.

A southern writer rooted in the oral tradition of Cormac McCarthy and Larry Brown, Melancon’s songs lean toward darkness, and his voice supports the mood required: a croon, a rough-edged howl, the occasional spoken-word delivery. Pinkville, his fourth release, makes plenty of room for that diversity. There are psychedelic soul songs, Rolling Stones-inspired rockers, tributes to icons like Freddy Fender and Tom Petty, and a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “57 Channels (And Nothin’ On).”

Pinkville begins in the swampy backcountry of Louisiana and follows one of Pinkville‘s central themes: the hard truths that either make or break a person. “Heartbreakers” celebrates the influence of Tom Petty—one who made it, and who, like Melancon, grew up in the Deep South before migrating to Los Angeles. Melancon told Elmore a bit about “Heartbreaker’s” history, and in the process revealed a bit about his own evolution.

“The song was born on the road. We probably started it over two years ago while touring the Deep South. I had always envisioned this sort of Tom Petty origin story. When you’re having to play three hour sets and don’t have three hours’ worth of music, you start to improvise. It’s a great time to try out new ideas and the crowd, including the booker, is usually too drunk to notice. The first version of this song was performed at a sleazy-as-hell biker bar in Myrtle Beach called ‘Suck Bang Blow.’ Will Walden [the album’s lead guitarist and co-producer] had this cool riff he started playing and I sang ‘Skinny lil’ white boy standing on the corner. Way deep down in the swamps of Florida.’

“I relate a lot with Tom Petty. We were both born in the swamp and we both moved to Los Angeles at a young age with a big dream and a cigarette dangling from our mouth. When Tom died I knew I had to finish the song. I envision the outro as a rock ‘n’ roll version of Taps, sending our rock ‘n’ roll hero into the heavens. Tom Petty, forever.”

Pinkville blurs the lines between roadhouse country-rock, Texas blues, Louisiana soul, and all points between. It’s haunted-sounding music for the heartland, and it delivers Rod Melancon focused and willing to chase the muse into territory where few have gone before.