Strange bird in flight.

Lesbian singer-songwriter Michelle Malone unleashes her favorite live cuts in a new "authorized bootleg"

Atlanta-based singer-songwriter Michelle Malone admittedly doesn't think much about being a lesbian, though she certainly doesn't hide it. "I've always been out, ever since I can remember," says the outspoken yet down-to-earth 30-something performer. "It's just as much a part of me as is the music. I've been married to the same woman for 11 years, and I just am. I'm Michelle. I couldn't change if I tried."

Malone determined at a young age that music was her calling, having toured with her jazz-singing mother, Karyn Malone, through most of her childhood. "Not only did I think that she hung the moon," Malone says of her mother, "but I thought it was a really cool way to live. I just always figured that that was what I'd end up doing."

By the age of 10, Malone had taught herself to play the saxophone and the guitar; by age 19, she was playing between sets for the Indigo Girls. She left college to pursue her musical career, and after a short-lived stint with Southern rock band Drag the River about a decade ago, the gravelly-voiced singer started over as a do-it-yourselfer. Recording for various independent labels throughout the '90s, Malone eventually launched her own label, SBS Records, in order to regain complete control over her career.

"This whole independent thing has changed my life, and it's been amazing," she says. "It's been really difficult, frankly, but I'm really enjoying the journey."

After the success of 1999's critically lauded Home Grown, Malone decided to put together her third "authorized bootleg" collection and her eighth album, Strange Bird Volume 3. "I feel like there's a huge difference between a live recording and a studio recording," she explains of her propensity for live recordings. "My live show is incredibly energetic, and somehow it's never quite captured the same way in the studio."

Culled from over a year's worth of performances recorded during 1999 and 2000, Volume 3 assembles what Malone considers her best efforts. Highlights include staples from her decade-long career like the blues-rocking "Grace," the honky-tonk country rocker "On My Way," and the hook-laden acoustic-pop number "My Green Thumb."

Also included are a few previously unreleased fan favorites. "`Butter Biscuit,' `Tanya Tucker,' and `Feels Like Christmas' are a few that people have been wanting for a long time but I never released because I thought they were kitschy," Malone says, laughing. "But if Bruce Springsteen can put `Devil With a Blue Dress On' on a live record, then anything can happen."

Coble edits Dance Music Authority magazine.