Notes from Michelle, Fall/Winter 2021

Wow! It is SO good to be vaccinated!! It is also great to have a plan to get back to the music. Graham & I are doing a special project , STINSON BEACH SESSIONS, with my Lead Engineer, Sammy Fielding doing all the technical work. We will record the entire project at Stinson Beach with the most basic recording equipment, a piano, a couple acoustic guitars (& maybe a violin) with Graham and I singing after the New Year.  We look forward to doing this project old-school, at the beach, simple & sweet. Stinson Beach Sessions will be quiet, raw & beautiful. The boys & I plan on being back in the studio at Pine Mountain for our 1st band record of 2020. We are ready to GO!!!!  We have 3 BIG projects in the works, including DETROIT GIRL 3.

I hope that you all took away something positive from this unprecedented time. For the first time in my adult life, I had a chance to stay in one place, organize everything in sight, and focus 100% on writing. I have missed making music with my band, but have always been a person who looks for the lessons in situations, good and bad. This time has been no exception. I’ve learned to slow down and be more flexible. Though I have always appreciated the small things, I have learned that I no longer want to cram my days with so much activity that my life zooms by too quickly. I always tell my band, Ram Dass’s famous words “Be here now” and I am starting to listen to my own advice. I have also taken this time to really get healthy in all areas; physical, emotional and spiritual. There has also been such a strong need for people showing up for those struggling and it has been my honor to wake up each day and see where I can offer help.

I spent some time in Costa Rica in July, where the warmest people and best coffee are, and then flew back to my hometown, Detroit to spend time with my family. I had hoped to meet up with some of my bandmates, Graham, Jeremy, Will & our new drummer, Dan Schwartz, in the studio to record the acoustic record but the Delta Variant had different plans for us. I spent a month in my beloved Paris with some of my closest friends, catching up after such a long time apart. I was SO lucky to be in Paris for the once in a lifetime CHRISTO wonder, the wrapping of the L’Arc de Triomphe. I also saw the Pinault Collection and the most amazing exhibit in the Fondation Louis Vuitton against the backdrop of the modern FRANK GEHRY building. Old art in a modern setting with old Paris in the background…so memorable.  My dear friend Celine, a born and raised Parisian, has taught me to “look up” if I want to see the real Paris, so that’s what I did.

Packing lots of N95 masks, I will be in Hualalai to watch the whales migrate with friends I haven’t seen since before Covid in November, and all the intense organization will begin to get the whole band back together at Pine Mountain Studio after the New Year. It takes a lot of planning long after the songs are written and the boys & I show up Day One of a session. It will be great to welcome our new drummer and fellow midwesterner, Dan Schwartz, to the band. Pine Mountain Studio is coziest in the winter months, and the boys and I are looking forward to being back together, making music again.

Unfortunately, our Annual Benefit Concert for Little Wishes is postponed this year. We will look for a date when more people are more comfortable being in closed spaces, maybe after the New Year or early Spring 2022. Little Wishes will still get a big check to support their beautiful work, from 100% of all sales of my music, so thank you for supporting my music and this important organization. I will also be in Detroit in November, Munich and Paris in December, then spend the holidays with family & friends.

“If you love what you do, it’s not work”. It will be wonderful to be back with my talented band and engineers. We have so much planned for the New Year. And spending time with the people I love is something I yearn for. I lost a lot of people I loved during Covid and know that time with loved ones is really the most important thing. In fact, we will record DETROIT GIRL 3 as our 1st project back, in honor of my dear Uncle Carl who died this summer. He was instrumental in encouraging me to follow my musical dreams and was my first music manager, so this one will be for him. And to the extent in which it is possible with the Delta Variant #s rising, I hope for a gentle re-opening of all of our lives. Please keep in touch and stay safe…and GET VACCINATED!!!

God bless,
Michelle