Michelle Branch, Jessica Harp and The Wreckers

Michelle Branch is one of those songwriters who (for me at least) always manages to say the right thing, tug the heart strings the right way and make me think "That's exactly how I feel!" No doubt this renders her well suited to late teens/early twenties singer-songwriting emotionally-turmoiled females like myself. BUT I should stress here that she does this not in an Alanis/Avril style (don't get me wrong, I have a HUGE soft spot for Avril) but in a Jewel-esque, Joni-esque country-rock-pop style which is so refreshing in the world of retarded britney-wannabies (how does a 'band' like the Pussycat Dolls achieve number one hits in the twenty-first century?) and the even worse wannabe 'singer-songwriters' like Katie Melua who make me WANT TO FUCKING KILL MYSELF. Apparently, there are nine million bisycles in Beijing - WHAT THE FUCK?! WHO THOUGHT THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA FOR A SONG? Oh yeah, her 'co-writer' who virtually wrote her entire record. *cough* anyway...

back to the decent 'female singer-songwriter guitarists' out there who put the idiots like Melua, Fefe Dobson, Katie Rose, Lucie Silvas, etc. right in their place.

So, as a little taster of Michelle's rapidly growing back-catalogue, i've picked the classic, heart-wrenching tune 'Goodbye To You'. Here's a rare live track from her 'Oxygen' concert, from back in 2004.
Goodbye To You (Live Acoustic)

Now, Michelle (if you read my previous post ;o) ) is friends with Nashville-born rocking country-esque singer-songwriter guitarist, Jessica Harp. Harp's best song available to download from her website, is Memphis. Here's the acoustic version.

Memphis (Acoustic)

The super-exciting news (forgive the corny phraseology) is that Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp now make up The Wreckers. Signed to Warner Nashville, this is excellent news for those of us that love the more countrified/acoustic Branch and Harp solo work. Now it comes rolled into one!

For those of you with the patience to listen through the amateur recording and the innane screaming/talking fans, this is an INCREDIBLE song, 'Lay Me Down'.
Lay Me Down (Live)

And/or, here's a more professional recording, of the equally brilliant 'The Good Kind', available on the One Tree Hill Soundtrack (don't let that put you off guys!), on which The Wreckers guest-starred to perform the song in person, back in Season 2.

The Wreckers recently toured with Tyler Hilton and Gavin DeGraw, Michelle Branch has toured with the Dixie Chicks and Sheryl Crow, covered Nirvana, Patsy Cline and released two singles with Carlos Santana. She also featured on Hanson's latest album 'Underneath' on the song 'Deeper' and she and her husband, bassist Teddy Landau were among those thanked in the credits on the latest Lifehouse album. Basically, they're getting around, have a broad appeal and deserve to be huge. One could even dream of a future collaboration between The Wreckers and say...Ryan Adams? or Tegan and Sara? That would be pretty hot!