For Ferrick, another star turn in Ipswich
Melissa Ferrick has never made it to a class reunion, but there's always next year.
"I haven't been to one, but next year will be the 20th," said Ferrick, a 1988 Ipswich High School graduate and national touring solo artist whose "Live at Union Hall" CD was released recently. "I would love to go."
She'll be back for a reunion of sorts when she performs in a concert at 8 p.m. Saturday at Ipswich High School. The concert will benefit the Ipswich Music, Art and Drama Association, a parents organization that supports the arts in the schools.
"It's always a little more nerve-racking to play at home - even my Boston shows, when I play there - because there's a lot of family there, and a lot of people I've known a long time," said Ferrick, 36, speaking via cellphone from Iowa, where she was touring as the opening act for Ani DiFranco. Shortly after the Ipswich show, she'll be back on the road, touring with Martin Sexton.
Ferrick, who currently lives in Newburyport, has spent the past 17 years touring the country and making music in the classic mold of, as she calls it, "the blue-collar singer-songwriter." She spends about eight months each year touring, sometimes headlining small to medium (500- to 800-seat) venues, and selling her music via CD or music download. She plays a Boston show once a year, and has done a couple of local fund-raisers - for Ipswich High in 2003, and in 2005 at the Waring School in Beverly, where her father, John, retired from Ipswich schools, teaches math.
Based on that experience, she knows what to expect - old friends in the audience, and former teachers saying hello backstage.
"I just think that it's important to stay in the moment you're in and stay focused on the performance and not get all psychological about it," Ferrick said.
"It's a show, and people are out to have fun and have a good time," she said. "With this show specifically, they know it's for a good cause. I feel really proud of the fact that I can give back to the public school system that I came from. That's really why I'm going there. And the room is really beautiful; the sound is fantastic. It should be a great night of music."
Her father, who has seen her play in Madison Square Garden and the Berklee Performance Center in Boston, among many places, said that Ferrick is no less intimate with 2,500 strangers than he expects her to be with the crowd from her hometown.
"Every performance she's done has a personal feel and a warmth to it," he said. "She puts a lot of fun and a lot of herself into the performance, and brings the audience into her world."
Proceeds will go to a scholarship that was awarded to Ferrick when she was a trumpet and bass player with the Ipswich High School band, and a top pupil of Gerry Dolan, fine arts coordinator for the Ipswich Public Schools. She was drum major of the marching band.
"She was a remarkable student," Dolan said. "She was high-energy, just like her performances, but very thoughtful, and had a work ethic that was second to none.
"She was into jazz, but she was also writing, and playing guitar and singing all the time, on her own."
She attended the Berklee College of Music, and left after two years to become a singer and songwriter in New York City. Shortly thereafter, she opened for Morrissey in Boston and became his opening act.
Tickets to see Ferrick are $20 and may be purchased at Conley's Drug Store on High Street, River's Edge Fine Gifts & Home Accents on Market Street, and Ipswich Music on Hammatt Street. Tickets also may be reserved by calling 978-356-3137, ext. 368. All tickets are general admission.
For more on Ferrick, visit MelissaFerrick.com. 