Dave's Music #163 Michaela Anne - Oh To Be That Free

Ever since the quickly scheduled house concert at Big Fat Bloody Mary House Concerts, Michaela has been getting spins in the the library, both digitally and on vinyl.  Greg Tooke landed the house concert after their gig in Chicago got cancelled.  On sudden notice in December it wasn't as crowded as it should have been, but wow she was a sweetheart telling stories about family and a great story about when the picture on this album was taken.  Not sure if it was before or after the infamous massage.  (You'll have to hear her in concert to hear the story.)

Yep we're in 2023, and still talking about great releases from 2022; basically get over it.  If you haven't heard it, it's still new and fresh.  I do like to start these reviews with a search to see what others are saying:

Entertainment Focus's writer saw her open for Joe Pug and yes just how I love to see an artist; alone on stage with a guitar.  If it's a good listening room, you can really hear the lyrics:  

‘Oh To Be Free That Free’ was inspired, in part, by travels undertaken during the enforced isolation of the pandemic. I first heard the album’s strongest track, ‘Mountains and Mesas’, when I saw Michaela open for Joe Pug in January. I was impressed with then, even in bare, solo acoustic format, and I’m even more impressed with it now that I’ve heard it in a full arrangement. She really has a talent for writing simple, beautiful lyrics that capture natural scenes and events. This song works so well because it’s trimmed to the bare minimum, and it doesn’t hang any fat on its bones. Andrew Leahey, whose songwriting I’ve praised, told me the best advice he ever got was to make your songs as small as they can be, and then make them even smaller. Michaela does that here to salutary effect. ‘If Only You Knew’ isn’t quite as stripped down, but it also allows Michaela to use her gifts for naturalistic imagery.

Brooklyn Vegan (what publicist found them and not me?) 

The album includes "Who You Are," as well as the just-released second single "I'm Only Human," which opens the LP. The new song is a gorgeously stirring dose of string-laden Americana with soaring harmonies from Madi Diaz and Lauren Balthrop, and you can hear it below.

I do love the beginning of The Boot's review, but balancing being a mom and a musician... if she finds time to think only of herself, I'd say "Damn Right!"

Oh to Be That Free, the fourth album from Nashville singer-songwriter Michaela Anne, begins with an admission of selfishness: “It feels good to not think of anybody else / Not even you,” Anne sings on “I’m Only Human,” the album’s plainspoken opener.

The rest of the album finds Anne struggling to balance her own desires with the needs of others, while trying not to chide herself over her tendency to prioritize the former.

Let's start listening and with that first great song: (btw... since I own the vinyl and got a Yep Roc Records download, it might appear I don't own this on Bandcamp.  Funny I was listening to it on Bandcamp and found out how they politely tell you that you have reached the number of free spins.  It's so cute, they bring out a heart and say it's time you open your wallet.  I click no thanks and the heart broke.  Dang I almost bought it again.)

1) I'm Only Human

Hey Michaela don't let the Boot or anyone else make you feel guilty about being human... love this song great opener to the album:

2) Trees

Love the way the piano accentuates this song that brings trees in the metaphor of life in it's silent pace.

3) Chasing Days

My favorite type of song because in 4 minutes Michaela takes from a little girl, to moving port to port, and to realization as an adult that she just wants to settle down.

4) Who You Are

She slows and pleads... beautifully and with just the right amount of strings in the background.

It’s hard to look at you and not see my own face
How to love for love’s own sake and not for my own gain

I want to see you I want to know in the end
Who you are baby who you are my friend

5) Oh To Be Free Again

She describes in the liner notes an up coming song but it sets the mood for the title track, and the imagery used in the song is priceless that I needed to share a few lines.

“If only you knew what was in front of you / Would you do the things you wanted to?” Michaela Anne was on a beach in Morocco when those lines came to her, the exact moment of inspiration captured indelibly in a photograph that now graces the cover of her gorgeous and aching new album, Oh To Be That Free. At the time, Michaela had no way of knowing what lay ahead—sobriety, pregnancy, a global pandemic, the hemorrhagic stroke that would nearly kill her mother—but listening back in the warm glow of hindsight, it’s clear that the future was already weighing heavily on her mind.

Barefoot running through the green pastures
smiling at her mom and dad
Sun kissed skin, no t-shirt
grass stains covering her legs

Mama’s looking on at her grandbaby
It’s a summertime cookout
Gazing at the one named for wild things
Family’s all around

Oh to be that free again
Oh to be that free
Never looking back never looking on
It’s the only way to be free

6) Good People

A slow ballad with strings and that accentuating piano, in the realization that good people can hurt good people too.

7) Dirty Secrets

Another favorite, I love the mix arrangement in this song, definitely fits this suspenseful song.  Now what does she know?

You can’t shovel all your dirt on me
No you can’t hide all of your hurt in me

I won’t ever tell your dirty secrets
It’s enough to know that you know I know
I won’t ever tell your darkest pieces
It’s enough to know that you know I know

8) Does It Ever Break Your Heart

I love the study of a well written planned song.  I added a snippet, so you can see at a glance who she gets into the chorus with the finest country ballad style, and then comes back to Anthony da Costa on the nylon guitar and strings.

9) If Only You Knew

The lines written in Morocco.

10) Mountains and Mesas

Has a mystical mix and a nature journey that almost feels mushroom inspired as each landscape is explored.

11) It's Just a Feeling

This is where you step back and say to yourself Michaela walked you through a great set of music from a strong opener to a settling a closer.  It's a not just a feeling that I will be keep following her and buying more of her music.

Aren't too many times that I can end a review with a concert and you might have wondered "Dave where are the song videos?"  Well when I saw these two videos out there I thought this should be your focus.  The first one from World Cafe is like an Album release show, matching outfits, excellent videography, strings and everything.  I could have put this first and maybe should have.  Now I'm off to listen to it again because it truly needs more love than only 1,600 views.  Truly I am on record that I fall in love with a great set of beautiful brown eyes... this video has that effect on me too.  15 minutes of joy.

Michaela Anne performs a 4 song set for a World Cafe Session with host, Raina Douris. Recorded at Bastion in Nashville,TN on 3/16/2022. Set List: I'm Only Human, Does It Ever Break Your Heart, Oh To Be That Free Again, Who You Are

Then this recording at The Current had to be filmed in December when she was on tour trying to stay warm in a sweater.  Yes the same time as when we had a chance to see her at the house concert.  While I love the studio version of the songs above, I would buy it over if she released them all this way too.  Especially a nod to The Current for such a crisp recording.  You get two of the same songs above "Oh to Be That Free" and "I'm Only Human" plus you get "Chasing Days" 

Ok, ok, ok... I've always said if there are official videos for the release I will include them in my reviews and edit and add them in the future if they are released later (yes I'm hoping for Dirty Secrets), so here you go:

Finally ... I tagged Yep Roc Records earlier and they are very proud that Aoife O'Donovan is up for a Grammy and getting a lot of well deserved screen time on TV as well.  I do own that album, and I listen to this one from Michaela more... just sayin'.

All my Reviews are both for you and me as I learn more about the artists when you slow down and listen.  Click here to see the past releases. You can find and follow us on Facebook  and as always Good Music has NO Expiration Date, so if you are listening to this ten years from now, it still will be awesome music.  If this is a first time visit, check out the index of themes for past Reviews and Playlist editions and for the Reviews alone, click here.  Find out why I do this here,  who I am here, and why I hate Spotify here.

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