Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
Singer-songwriter Melanie Hilmi will be this month’s Live at the Museum featured artist, performing an acoustic set at the Lennox and Addington Museum and Archives Oct. 25 at 7 p.m.
Singing songs from her upcoming solo release as well as tracks from her other project, The Belleregards, she promises to cover a wide array of musical tastes.
“As far as genre goes, we’ve written stuff for TV before, which is pop, we play more of a country-blues undertones and I write anything for pop to R n’ B,” said Hilmi of what to expect at her upcoming show in Napanee. “It’s hard to describe it per say as a genre. I would just call myself sort of a multipurpose songwriter. I just kind of write in the moment. It depends a lot of what I’m listening to at the time. It could be Rolling Stones, it could be some new indie band or it could be Dolly Parton.”
Inspiration from a multitude of sources also applies to the lyrics she jots down when writing songs as well.
“I could be inspired by listening to music of maybe something that’s going on in the world, or maybe just sitting down and feeling a certain emotion,” she said.
“Songwriting for me is a very present moment thing. It’s just that moment in time whether something pops into my head or I’m watching a documentary on TV and you draw inspiration from there. It literally changes day by day.”
The Belleville native has toured the globe as part of The Belleregards duo but for her show in Napanee it’ll be just her and her guitar. Her voice may be familiar to some as she’s been featured in national commercials for Nestle and McDonald’s. Her songwriting abilities has garnered her plenty of recognition as well, including a spot in the finals at the International Songwriting Competition, based out of Nashville, TN.
Samples of her solo music are available on iTunes, under the album name Revolution as well as www.belleregards.com. Tickets for her show are $3 and will be sold at the door.