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= Rod Melancon =

Rod Melancon is an Austin, Texas-based Americana musician and songwriter. After moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film, he decided to become a musician after witnessing his grandfather’s emotional reaction to a Hank Williams CD Melancon had given him. He released his debut album Rod Melancon in 2009, followed by My Family Name (2012), Parish Lines (2014), EP LA 14 (2016) and Southern Gothic (2017). His most recent album was Pinkville in 2019 and was released on Blue Elan Records out of Los Angeles, California.

Early Life
Melancon was born in Vermillion Parish, Louisiana. His mother was a theater teacher and raised him within the theater realm. In high school, Melancon played football and graduated from Kaplan High School in 2006. At 18, Melancon moved out to Los Angeles, California to pursue a career in the film industry. He studied film, got an agent, went on auditions, but ultimately chose to pursue music.

Early Music Career to Southern Gothic
Melancon started to pursue music after giving his grandfather a Hank Williams CD for Christmas. “It took him to a different place and time. It affected him emotionally.That got me thinking about music in a way I hadn’t thought about it before, and about the possibilities of songwriting and music,” Melancon told The Advocate in 2017. He taught himself how to play guitar and began writing songs while living on Beachwood Drive in Los Angeles. Melancon self-released his debut album Rod Melancon in July 2009.

Melancon released his sophomore album My Family Name in June 2012. The album was recorded at Richard Barron’s Sonora Studios and features L.A. musicians like Chad Watson, Dean Parks, Vern Monnett and Don Heffington. Melancon traveled to Nashville to record an EP with producer Dave Cobb, who had worked with artists like Jamey Johnson and Jason Isbell. The sessions utilized Jamey Johnson’s band and produced songs “Mad Talking Man” and “Mercy” and were released as an EP in March 2013.

Melancon released his third album Parish Lines in March 2014 on Medina River Records. The album was produced by Dwight Yoakam’s guitarist and songwriter Brian Whelan. Music blog Off Beat noted Melancon moved “from the pure Nashville country of his debut, My Family Name, to the more rock-oriented sound of this follow-up,” and No Depression mentioned in a review that Melancon “takes us by hand and dances us through the hypnotic fire that lies between the haunting American Gothic of  Springsteen’s The Ghost of Tom Joad and the harder blues-rock of Darkness on the Edge of Town.”  Later that year, Melancon was highlighted as one of CMT Edge’s “Five Rising Roots Acts to Watch.”

Melancon and Whelan teamed up again to release the five-song EP LA 14 in April 2016 on Blue Elan Records. The EP was a direct preview of the work he had been putting together in the studio for a full album release. Melancon released his fourth album Southern Gothic in June 2016 on Blue Elan Records. The album title is a tribute to late southern gothic writer Larry Brown, whose son Melancon was able to meet and have him take a tour of Larry Brown’s old office. Rolling Stone said the album “shines a light on those geographic roots with this summer’s Southern Gothic, an album anchored in the characters, challenges and occasional chaos of the Bible Belt.”

Pinkville
While in Los Angeles, Melancon befriended musician and songwriter Will Walden, who he’s been working and playing with since 2016. Will Walden is the son of Emmy-winning T.V. composer Snuffy Walden, best known for The West Wing and The Wonder Years. After Melancon moved to Austin from Los Angeles, Walden agreed to produce Melancon’s new record and via contacts at Blue Elan Records, Black Pumas multi-instrumentalist Adrian Quesada also joined as a producer. The team recorded in Austin, Texas at Level One Studios. In September 2018, his first single for the album, “Westgate,” was named one of Rolling Stone’s “10 Best Country and Americana Songs of the Week,” calling the song “equal parts talking blues and bar-band Southern rocker.” His song “Wanna Go For A Ride” from Parish Lines was also included in a Toyota car commercial at this time.

Melancon released his fifth album Pinkville in April 2019 on Blue Elan Records. The Austin Chronicle stated in a review “Rod Melancon's intense drawl and yawp paints literary psych-ward sketches of dank truck stops, sketchy pills, broken backs, and Iraq War veterans” and music blog Saving Country Music noted of the record’s sound “Pinkville inhabits a looser, tougher, sweatier sound that feels like it was as much crafted in a dingy garage as a recording studio.”