Melissa Etheridge on Karaoke, Her First Concert and Hitting the Road: 'It's Going to Be Me Like You've Never H

By
ETONLINE

It's a new day for Melissa Etheridge, with her first independently-released album out now and a brand new band backing her on tour.

"It's going to be me like you've never heard and I'm very excited about it," the legendary singer-songwriter told ETonline's Sophie Schillaci.

WATCH: Melissa Etheridge Performs 'A Little Bit of Me' on ET's Stage!

Melissa unveiled her latest full-length, This Is M.E., earlier this month, celebrating with a stop by the Entertainment Tonight studio for a live performance of her new song "A Little Bit of Me." Now Melissa is hitting the road to support the album with a nationwide tour, kicking off on Sunday, Nov. 2, in Connecticut.

She told ETonline that wife Linda Wallem will likely join her on tour for a few stops, when they can make it work, but that she hopes to meet up with some of her musician pals onstage.

"Those things happen organically with me," she said. "We usually let each other know where we're gonna be and we look at each other's schedules to see if they overlap, but sometimes it's just, 'Hey! I'm in town, heard you were in town' and we get together and have fun."

WATCH: Melissa Etheridge Opens Up About Surviving Breast Cancer

While Melissa has been rocking since the '80s, some fans might not know that Melissa actually got her start playing country music. Among her earliest inspirations was Buck Owens, who performed at the first concert she ever attended.

"He was an excellent performer, actually," she recalled. "He's quite a musician. I started out in country musically when I was in Kansas. Once I graduated high school, I got to playing rock n roll."

That was just one of the revelations from a rapid-fire round of questioning. Among the other topics: karaoke.

"I did karaoke once for about 15 minutes, and then I had to leave 'cause it got crazy," she said. "I sang 'Sweet Home Alabama,' which, I'll never do that again. It's kind of a boring song."

WATCH: Sam Smith Sloppily Sings Beyonce's Flawless at a Nashville Karaoke Bar

Then there was the time, Melissa confessed, that she almost stole the show at a karaoke spot in New Orleans. The song: her own.

"There was a bar and I could hear [karaoke] coming through the doors -- a woman singing 'I'm the Only One.' I came this close to running in and jumping up on stage and singing with her."

Unfortunately for that fan, Melissa said she just "wasn’t feeling it that day."

Ah, the viral video that could have been…

One star who's not afraid of a little karaoke? Samuel L. Jackson. Check him out in the hilariously awesome video below.

Follow Sophie on Twitter: @SophieSchillaci