REVIEWS OF "TREAD ON MY DREAMS" "There are many albums released to the market each year that appeal to the commercial or to a certain genre or fan base. It is the select handful that can most accurately be described as 'art.' Melinda Stanford's 'Tread on My Dreams' is that album. "Taking texts both known and unfamiliar, Stanford achieves an alchemy of words and music that is simply a new level of songwriting. One actually hears the most studied texts of Shakespeare, Cummings, Browning and Yeats for the first time anew to great emotion and revelation. Others become immediate classics, such as the stop-your-heart 'Funeral Blues' with text by Auden. "Yet contained within is humor, soaring-of-the-soul, and the simplest truths, all achieved with a purity of voice, an economy of music-writing and accessibility that is a lesson. "In this way, it is an album that can and will be enjoyed by an entire family, from the youngest child to grandparent, to the point of obsession -- and rightly so!" Joel Flatow Senior Vice President, Artist & Industry Relations Recording Industry Association of America "If you've always loved the music of poetry, this is your CD! The essence of poetry, and the essence of music -- Melinda Stanford gets it all. She makes you hear the poems anew through her music. Just listen to 'Amazing Grace' or a Shakespeare sonnet, and you'll feel you are rediscovering the classics. I loved it!" Linda Gottlieb, Producer of "Dirty Dancing" "Move over Norah Jones! Everything about Tread on My Dreams is winning: the title, choice of poetry, design, song order, composition notes, and above all, the wonderful songs and arrangements. My favorites: 'anyone lived in a pretty how town' - a perfect lead song, so upbeat and catchy; 'Funeral Blues'; 'The Soul Selects,' with its insightful and sexy take on Emily Dickinson. But there're all so good... a priceless gift." Maureen McCarthy Draper, Author of "The Nature of Music" MELINDA STANFORD PERFORMANCE REVIEWS "Stanford unveils remarkable cabaret skills...Displaying an impressive range in both vocal style and interpretive skills, Stanford was at her best here, often bringing out nuances in the songs that others might have missed... [a] singer to watch out for!" John Amodeo, Bay Windows "If you missed Stanford...don't despair. She'll be back... Melinda Stanford writes in every vein from blues to ballads. She's even set poetry like Robert Frost's "Reluctance" to music. Once you hear her gorgeous, bittersweet setting you'll be convinced his words and this music belong together...In addition to her skills as a songwriter, Stanford can deliver songs we associate exclusively with someone else and make them her own...She is a winning performer with a way of inhabiting a lyric. Her sweet demeanor gives her an easy rapport with the audience - so it comes as a bit of a shock when she launches into her darker material. She seems to have a direct line to intense heartache, something completely at odds with her fresh-faced exterior. Her exquisite delivery of Kander & Ebb's "Coloring Book" ("Color him gone...") had everyone searching their pockets for tissues. The plaintive ballad "Waitress Shoes", about dreams delayed, should soon become a standard on the cabaret circuit, and her ode on a friend's suicide-attempt captures desperation so acutely that you feel the pain in your own bones. What makes Stanford the performer a force to be reckoned with is her ability to infuse each song with a characterization - something which can lift cabaret from an evening of songs to an evening of theater." Beverly Creasey, Theatre Mirror ABOUT MELINDA STANFORD Melinda Stanford, a native of California, has been working professionally as a singer, songwriter, and pianist for over 15 years since she graduated from Yale University. Melinda has performed in a broad range of venues in New York, from the Rainbow Room to downtown clubs such as the Knitting Factory, the Duplex, and Cafe Sin-é. She has performed at the O'Neill Theatre Cabaret Symposium, where she studied with Margaret Whiting. She also wrote, produced, and performed in a one-woman show called "Where Do the Mermaids Stand?" at Eighty-Eight's. As a writer of both theater and pop music, she was one of a small number of composers selected to write for the BMI Theater Workshop in New York City. Melinda has won audiences throughout the East Coast, from John and Peter's in New Hope to the Wintertide on Martha's Vineyard, where she was featured in the New Artists Showcase and performed at Christine Lavin's Annual Singer/Songwriter Retreat. In addition, Melinda has performed in Japan, where she toured in Tokyo as well as Osaka, performing in many formats - pop, jazz, country, classical - and working with some of the top musicians in Tokyo. Two of her songs were featured on a popular radio program broadcast on one of Japan's major radio stations (FM Yokohama). She was also hired by Yamaha Publishing to coach one of Japan's top recording stars, Miho Morikawa. Melinda has been in the Boston area for the past ten years, where she performs individually and with bands, writes and acts, and is a vocal coach. She was a finalist for Cyndi Lauper's 1999 US tour, and has been nominated for an Outer Critics award for her cabaret performance in Boston. Melinda was also featured in the film A Wake In Providence as a soloist, and was a guest artist with Boston's comedy troupe, Little City Co. She has also performed in the cabaret series Boston Sings Boston since its inception and recorded a CD for the series. She is currently working on developing a one-woman show as well as several new CD projects. She lives near Boston with her husband and two children.