Over the past few years, a lot of ink has been spilled about outlier country artists who honor their heroes rather than chase the trends. The women often cited in that regard are Kacey Musgraves, Brandy Clark and Ashley Monroe — though lately, another wave has joined their fray, including Margo Price, Dori Freeman and Brooklyn-to-Nashville transplant Michaela Anne.
On her latest album, Bright Lights And The Fame, Michaela Anne works through weepers and hits the honky-tonks as every great country singer should. Song after song, her confidence and conviction shine through without casting a shadow on her craft. Rodney Crowell even makes a cameo appearance on "Luisa," further solidifying her dirt-road cred.
For the album's previously unreleased bonus track, "Where Will I Be Found," Michaela Anne recruited Kenneth Pattengale of The Milk Carton Kids to lend a different kind of cogency, his gentle presence a perfect complement to her own. "I've been dreaming of the West, somewhere warm and easy where I can rest," she offers, wearily running through her geographic options. A few lines later, she turns her lyrical gaze elsewhere: "Or somewhere deep down South, where the cotton grows and the wind can howl."
That searching sentiment is a tale as old as time, and an impossibly familiar one for those untethered to any person or place — and Michaela Anne's tender take expresses the enervating nature of the seeker's life. The simple, subtle tag line further ties the longing for home to a longing for Home in a spiritual sense: "Oh, my God, where will I be found?" The answer to that question might be just as simple and just as subtle.
Bright Lights And The Fame is out now on Kingswood.
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