Nov 14, 2003  |  By: Yusef Najafi  | COMMENTS     

MUSICIANS MELISSA FERRICK, Amy Ray and Doria Roberts have more than a few things in common. They’re lesbians. They write their own music. And their talent and unwillingness to compromise their artistic integrity guarantees they’ll be around longer than the average pop star.

“These are people working really hard and living their dream,” says Lynda Allen, a D.C. filmmaker. “They won’t give up just because it gets difficult.”

Ferrick, Ray and Roberts are among seven female musicians Allen and Wendy Tumminello talk with in “Hitting the Right Chord,” a documentary to be screened at 8 p.m. at the Rosslyn Spectrum Theatre in Virginia on Tuesday, Nov. 18. A live performance by Roberts follows at 9 p.m.

Their struggle to make the types of music that they enjoy and their rejection of commercialization is a major focus of the film.

“Hitting the Right Chord” features interviews and performances by seven female musicians. In addition to Ferrick, Ray and Roberts, the other artists are: Jane Siberry, a Canadian singer/songwriter; Michelle Lewis, a songwriter who won a Canadian music award; Toni Blackman, a D.C.-based musician recognized in recent years for hip-hop workshops she created for young boys in Arlington, Va.; and Kate Schellenbach, a solo performer and former member of Luscious Jackson, a now-defunct alternative band.

THE TWO FILMMAKERS discovered that most independent female musicians are connected in one way or another.

After five years of shooting footage, however, Allen and Tumminello had too many artists to include in the one-hour documentary. So they narrowed it down to seven.

Besides being an openly gay performer, Ray, who comprises one half of the Indigo Girls, has never been one to compromise her beliefs. She started the independent music label Daemon Records 13 years ago to support and encourage independent musicians.

In 2000, Ray embarked on a solo tour and recorded “Stag,” without her well-known stage partner, Emily Saliers. The Indigo Girls are still going strong, however, and continue to influence and inspire musicians such as Ferrick.

Ferrick got her big break in 1991, when she signed with Atlantic Records. After two album releases failed to bring commercial success, she was once again on her own — and happy that way.

“I don’t need to kiss ass on an indie label,” she says in the film. “I don’t need to suffer for my art anymore.”

Tumminello stumbled on Roberts by accident. After hearing Roberts introduce herself during her concert, the filmmaker remembered the name from an interview she had done with Ferrick.

Roberts, who describes herself as queer, was more than willing to take part in the film.

The 32-year-old folk singer based in Atlanta was an ideal candidate: She is gay, biracial and an independent artist.

“[As an independent artist] nobody’s telling you what to do — there is no formula to follow,” she told the Blade. “So it takes a tremendous amount of focus.”

Roberts added, “I try not to look at what we do as a phenomenon because when you present yourself as an exception, you can’t inspire people to do the same.”

Her music mixes folk, jazz and pop with lyrics about everyday life.

“I don’t worry about writer’s block,” she says, “as long as I have experiences I’ll have enough to write about.”

For the past seven years, Roberts has been the executive producer of Queerstock, a concert showcasing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered artists. The “Grassroots Queers,” an activist group, created Queerstock in Philadelphia in 1995 and invited Roberts to perform in what would be one of her first appearances as an openly gay artist.

“It had a huge effect on me,” she says, “and as a Yankee lesbian of color, I moved to the South and tried to put Queerstock on the map.”

At the time, it was difficult for Roberts to find other openly gay musicians to take part in Queerstock.

“In ’96 we didn’t have ‘Queer as Folk’ or ‘Queer Eye [For the Straight Guy],’ so people were offended by that word,” she says. “And you had to be out to play, since that was the whole point.”

Roberts uses Queerstock to raise money for youth advocacy groups around the country.

“I’m not raising a million dollars, but it’s ‘poor man’s philanthropy,’” she says. “Sometimes people walk away with more knowledge than they had.

“I have a very diverse fan base, so if I can get a 70-year-old straight white guy to donate to these organizations, it’s great,” she says, “because awareness is just as important as money.”