Bill Melton is a singer songwriter who is continuing on a musical tradition that has been in his family for over five generations. Bill is a multi-instrumentalist who has literally performed from the muddy banks of the Mississippi to the peaks of the Colorado Rockies. He has performed twice at the Iowa Governor’s mansion, as well as the Iowa State Fair, various county fairs and festivals, live radio shows, schools, churches, house concerts, and numerous clubs and private functions.
Bill has performed solo, as part of the Homegrown Tomatoes duo (with Steffen Heins) and as a “hired gun” with various acts in need of a multi-instrumentalist. For almost two decades he has been on the touring roster of the Iowa Arts Council.
Receiving his first guitar at age 14, Bill remembers his mother telling him, ‘I was never so proud as when you learned your first song, --but never so happy as when you finally learned a second.” Bill fell in love with the guitar and soon started writing original songs. Through the years Bill has learned to also play mandolin, fiddle, harmonica, and banjo and has performed with various bands from bluegrass to rock. His writing and performances have been termed as a “mixture of American Gothic yearning, mid-western practicality, and stubborn romanticism with humor and terminal sensibility”.
Besides his passion for writing, Melton says the next greatest pleasure comes from sharing music by performing, jamming, and teaching. In 2007 Bill accepted the position of Coordinator for the Des Moines Chapter of the Nashville Songwriters Association International, an organization whose purpose is to offer a variety of services to professional and aspiring songwriters. Writers interested in learning more about the organization can check them out on the web at: http://www.nashvillesongwriters.com/ or contact Bill directly for local Des Moines chapter information.
Learn more about Homegrown Tomatoes at: www.iowarecords.com
About Bill
