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Stoneground Words
Studio album by Melanie
Released	1972
Studio	914 Sound Studios, Blauvelt, New York
Genre	Pop
Label	Neighborhood
Producer	Peter Schekeryk
Melanie chronology
Gather Me (1971) Stoneground Words (1972) The Four Sides of Melane (1972)

Stoneground Words is an album released by Melanie in 1972. It contains the singles "Together Alone" and "Do You Believe".

Production and Development

The album was a conscious effort to move away from the pop sensibilities of her #1 song "Brand New Key" and focus on more introspective material. “I saw Stoneground Words as a sort of statement, something that would remind people that ‘Brand New Key’ was a complete one-off for me."

The project was initially conceived as a double album. The unused tracks recorded during the 1972 sessions would later form the basis of Melanie's 1974 album Madrugada. In 2024, Melanie oversaw the release of a deluxe edition of the album to restore it to its initial double album configuration, stating “it was like restoring a precious antique… no, it was like being handed a bag full of broken china and realizing it was an ornament that you loved when you were younger, but which fell off the shelf and shattered. So you sit there and you piece it back together.”

Critical reception and legacy

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic

Allmusic praises the album as "mature, intelligent and ambitious" and an "under-heard classic."

U.K. music bible Melody Maker hailed the album as "the most sophisticated she's made. The naiveté of "Beautiful People" and the streaks of self-pity have been replaced by deeper, more comprehensive methods of expression."

NME conceded that "this album is... well, it's kind of nice, you know? A trifle over-arranged, and more than a little corny, but very soothing. All in all, possibly the most enjoyable Melanie I've heard, far more mature and purged of many of the more cloying qualities of her earlier stuff."

In a 2023 video for Amoeba Music, Josh Kiszka of Greta Van Fleet singled out the record as "very important to me...her voice is unique and her quirky lyric writing and her very unique melody writing is enchanting. She's this total bad ass gypsy queen."

1972 Track listing

All songs written by Melanie Safka except where noted

1. "Together Alone"
2. "Between the Road Signs"
3. "Summer Weaving"
4. "My Rainbow Race" (Pete Seeger)
5. "Do You Believe?"
6. "I Am Not a Poet (Night Song)"
7. "Stoneground Words"
8. "Song of the South, Based on a Theme from Song of the North, Adapted from the Original"
9. "Maybe I Was (A Golf Ball)"
10. "Here I Am"

2024 Deluxe Edition Track listing

Disc One

1. "Here I Am"
2. "My Rainbow Race"
3. "Wild Horses" (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards)
4. "Summer Weaving"
5. "Between The Road Signs"
6. "Together Alone"
7. "Maybe Not For A Lifetime"
8. "I Am Being Guided"
9. "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" (Randy Newman)
10. "The Actress"

Disc Two

1. "Pretty Boy Floyd" (Woody Guthrie)
2. "Lovers Cross" (Jim Croce)
3. "Maybe I Was A (Golf Ball)"
4. "Song Of The South"
5. "I Am Not A Poet"
6. "Pine and a Feather"
7. "Stoneground Words"
8. "Do You Believe"
9. "Holding Out"
10. "Love to Lose Again"
11. "Here I Am (solo acoustic)"

Personnel

• Melanie - guitar, vocals
• Sal DiTroia - acoustic guitar
• Hugh McCracken - guitar
• Bill Keith - steel guitar
• Don Payne - Fender bass
• Chuck Domanico, Richard Davis - double bass
• Roger Kellaway - piano, arrangements
• Ron Frangipane - organ, harmonium
• Donald McDonald - drums
• Johnny Pacheco - congas
• Al Cohn - tenor saxophone

Technical

• Brooks Arthur - engineer
• Tom Wilkes - photography

Charts

References

1. https://www.goldminemag.com/artist-news/melanie-stoneground-words-set-for-deluxe-reissue-in-march
2. https://www.goldminemag.com/artist-news/melanie-stoneground-words-set-for-deluxe-reissue-in-march
3. Stoneground Words at AllMusic
4. https://www.allmusic.com/album/stoneground-words-mw0000839458
5. https://melaniemusicsociety.tripod.com/STONEGRD.htm
6. https://melaniemusicsociety.tripod.com/STONEGRD.htm
7. "Greta Van Fleet - What's In My Bag?" (video). youtube.com. Amoeba Music. July 25, 2023.
8. https://easyaction.co.uk/product/melanie-stoneground-words-deluxe-double-album-version-2x-cd/
9. "Melanie". Billboard.
10. https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/70s/1973/Cash-Box-1973-02-03.pdf
11. "Hits of the World" (PDF). Billboard. No. 23 June 1973. p. 75. Retrieved January 8, 2024.

• 1972 albums
• Melanie (singer) albums