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Event
Michaela Anne and Brother and the Hayes
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 aheadsobriety, pregnancy, a global pandemic, the hemorrhagic stroke that would nearly kill her motherbut listening back in the warm glow of hindsight, its clear that the future was already weighing heavily on her mind.
Its kind of surreal the way this record turned out to be exactly what I needed to hear when I was at my lowest, she reflects. "These songs became healers, almost as if Id written them as letters to my future self.
Indeed, theres something deeply prescient about Oh To Be That Free, Michaelas second album for Yep Roc Records. Written before her life began to unravelbefore all of our lives entered the strange state of suspended animation that still lingers for so manythe collection is lush and cinematic, full of honest, insightful meditations on embracing the present and nourishing ones roots that couldnt have arrived at a more vital and necessary moment. The songs are profoundly vulnerable, hinting at everything from Brandi Carlile to Kacey Musgraves as they reckon with the flaws and faults that keep us up at night, but Michaelas delivery is tender and empathetic, insisting that were worthy of love not in spite of our shortcomings, but because of them. As humans, were inherently imperfect, prone at times to jealousy and envy and greed and selfishness, but were also impossibly beautiful, resilient creatures capable of growth and change and trust and forgiveness. And so the freedom Michaela sings of here isnt the wild freedom of youth or rebellion, but rather the spiritual freedom that comes from learning to accept what is rather than what ought to be, from learning to appreciate what you have rather than what you want, from learning to look in the mirror and love the person staring back.
At a certain point, Michaela reflects, I realized that I was never going to feel any kind of fulfillment if I was always chasing some kind of external validation. I was never going to feel satisfied if I wasnt willing to sit still for a moment and consider that I might have enough, that I might be enough.
For a searcher like Michaela, sitting still was no easy task. Born and raised in a military family that relocated often, she first began garnering national attention with the 2014 release of Ease My Mind, an old-school country collection hailed by The New York Times for its plain-spoken songs of romantic regret and small-town longing. After a move from Brooklyn to Nashville, Michaela followed it up in 2016 with the similarly lauded Bright Lights and the Fame, which prompted Rolling Stone to compare her to Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris. However, it was Desert Dove, Michaelas 2019 Yep Roc debut, that truly marked her critical and commercial breakthrough, landing her festival invitations everywhere from Bonnaroo to XPoNential alongside praise from Billboard, USA Today, The Associated Press, Paste, and more. The World Café raved that Michaela Annes voice shines like a beacon, while Rolling Stone named the album one of the years best country and Americana releases, and NPR hailed lead single By Our Design as one of those moody, breathtaking, stop-you-in-your-tracks songs with a lush, sweeping arrangement all anchored by Anne's stunning vocals.
Brother and The Hayes is a Tennessee based, Texas born, Americana-roots band led by siblings Jennie Hayes Kurtz and David Bingaman. They combine thoughtful lyrics with infectious grooves, pulling from an assortment of blues, bluegrass, and country & western influences including J.J. Cale, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, and Doc Watson.
Growing up in Texas, Jennie Hayes sang in the choir while David taught himself to play guitar by listening to blues musicians like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Lightin Hopkins. They both became interested in folk music and songwriting in college and began to collaborate. The siblings found that their love for the blues, country music, and bluegrass was the perfect vehicle for their playful, honest, and story-driven songwriting.
In 2017 Brother and The Hayes released their first recording project, The Dead End EP. They produced and released their first full length album Tennessee Nights in 2019 and in 2021 released The Art of Letting Go, an EP produced by Ken Coomer.
Brother and The Hayess latest project Another Strange Time was recorded in Nashville, TN at Aviles Sound. David and Jennie Hayes produced the record along with Diana Walsh who also mixed the project.
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LocationThe Barn (View)
136 Mac Davis Road
Columbus, MS 39702
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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