Unlike most aspiring singer-songwriters who head to Nashville to follow their dream, Michelle Rivers chose a somewhat different career path. Although she grew up in the small town of Leipers Fork, barely thirty miles from Nashville, the bright lights of Music City were not for her. Instead, she headed north to Montana, where the more peaceful lifestyle and environment fuelled her passion for song writing. Her latest record, CHASING SOMEWHERE, which follows her debut recording BREATHING EMBERS from 2016, has been getting lots of love both in her homeland and Europe. It’s an album loaded with tracks delivered with discipline, confidence, and grace by Michelle, and includes gilt-edged playing by some household names in country music. Speaking with Michelle, we got the impression of an artist with a definite game plan, which appears to be progressing very much as intended to date.
Your father is a singer songwriter and had a studio in Tennessee, so music was there for you from a very young age. Did you buy into what he was playing or rebel as a teenager and seek out other music?
I loved what he was doing, especially when I was younger. As a teenager, I definitely went through a phase where I was listening to pop punk and bands like Green Day. I got really into that in high school. For me, it was the contrast between the very polished and perfect Nashville sound that I grew up with that I loved. But I didn't necessarily feel like I fitted into it so that was what drew me to punk music. I think it was just the wildness and the rawness of it. That kind of led me into bridging those two worlds and discovering Americana and Outlaw Country, Red Dirt Country, the different subgenres of country where the music is a little bit freer and less polished. It's not that I don't like music that sounds polished, but I just love the authenticity of somebody expressing themselves through music and not trying to create something that has a commercial sound.
Despite growing up in Tennessee, Nashville did not appeal to you career-wise?
I love Nashville, and I still love to visit Nashville. I’ve lots of wonderful friends and family who still live out there. But yeah, it just wasn't my place. So, I went to Nashville for that one year of college. That wasn't for me, then gradually started making my way west to Texas and went to the same college that many family members had gone to. But then after that, I was like okay, now it's my time to move to the mountains and also make music a part of my life.
Montana is a long way from Nashville. What drew you to that part of the world?
I had always wanted to live in the mountains. We grew up in Tennessee, out in the country. Walking down to the creek and walking through the woods, was a big part of my childhood. My parents would drive us to Colorado to learn to ski, but also to go hiking and fishing and all those things. That happened every summer and so when I became an adult, and it was time to make my own decisions, I planned to move to Colorado, but my sister had already beat me there as she found herself a rancher cowboy and moved there. My mom had visited Montana and she came home from that trip just raving about how incredible it was and that I would love it, So I ended up getting a job up here in Montana and never looked back. I moved here fresh out of college and just never want to leave.
Is there a strong music and art scene in Montana?
Yeah, there actually is. It's such an interesting place for music and for me as an artist to grow and develop. There are lots of artists who make pottery, paint and do different creative things, but also, there are quite a few singer songwriters. I live just north of a very quirky area called Whitefish Mountain Resort, close to Glacier National Park, which is very popular to visit. A lot of tourists come in summertime, which is good for musicians, except that there's also the expectation for artists to play cover songs. There’s such an interesting collection of musicians up here who can play shows five nights a week and get paid to do it. I grew up in Nashville where if you're a small independent artist, you don't really get paid to play until you've done your time. You have all these waitresses and regular everyday workers who are spending their nights playing for free or for tips. Up here, I can play music and I can get a little extra money for it and have the opportunity to play live music in a regular way. The area has also definitely helped me to grow as an artist and there are quite a few wonderful songwriters in the area that you just wouldn't think would live in the middle of nowhere Montana. It is such a beautiful place to live and such an inspiring place to live, I’m inspired by this kind of lifestyle. Montana has created a pretty neat musical culture. I'm not the only one that uses a ton of natural imagery and small-town life is woven into my music. That's something that quite a few of us are doing up here.
Have you found yourself more productive in your song writing since moving there?
Yeah, absolutely, I've always loved nature. I recognised a little bit later in life that nature is very calming and very healing for me, and when I go into a city it's fun for a while. I can handle it for a few days and I really enjoy it. I do enjoy just being around a lot of people and enjoy playing shows in cities. But that creative part of me is most inspired when there's stillness, and there's quiet.
There are a lot of songs on CHASING SHADOWS, fifteen in total. Were you tempted to save a few for your next recording?
Yes, I was tempted to and I was advised to consider that by some other independent artists and friends. People in the industry telling me:‘Well, it'd be smart if you release ten songs, and then a five-song EP later, or save some to be singles after the album.’ Every one of those people was totally well-meaning and I did consider it. It costs a lot of money to make a record and you do want to maximize what you've done profit-wise. We live in a generation where releasing content regularly is so important, and so I get that side of things. But when it came down to trying to narrow it to ten or eleven songs, I just could not let go of any of these songs because it feels like a complete body of work. So, it was a difficult decision, but I definitely feel like I made the right one. And you know, I do see more artists doing that. I mean, Zack Bryan releases nearly forty songs on a record, yet he has this incredible following of people who are listening to all of those tracks. I think sometimes, as independent artists, we try so hard to do what the ‘right thing’ is, make smart business moves and I think sometimes you can lose the artistic presentation of your work when you focus too much on that.
Was the album recorded in a studio with the various players or did they record remotely?
It was kind of a mix of everything. We recorded in October of 2021. I flew to Georgia, which is where my producer Jason Hoard lives. We could have recorded in Nashville, but Jason has a friend who owns this little cabin in the middle of Georgia and he's like: ‘I think that's where your record needs to be made.’ Jason has his own studio, so he brought all of his studio gear to the cabin. We recorded most of the bones of the album live. I did go in and cut my vocals later, as I sang a scratch vocal while we were recording live. We then sent it off to a few other musicians that we wanted to add in different parts, mostly players that my producer uses on his own recordings.
Those players include big hitters such as Jenee Fleenor on fiddle and Barry Bales on bass. You also had Al Perkins playing pedal steel.
Al Perkins is a family friend of ours from our Nashville days. When we were talking about pedal steel, Jason had someone in mind for it. I very shyly said that I would really love for Al Perkins to be on this record. It was an incredible experience to have him play on it. I'd heard him play live with different groups growing up and even heard him play at church. That was the closeness of our family friendship. Just to hear him play on my record and knowing that he's played with Emmylou Harris and Buffalo Springfield was really, really incredible. Right before my record, he played on Miranda Lambert's huge radio hit ‘If I Was a Cowboy.’
The track Buy Myself A Job on the album sounds autobiographical?
Yeah, I think I was reflecting on my journey as a musician. I don't own a Westphalia camper van, that's like a dream for me to own a campervan and just travel everywhere I want. But, you know, aside from that, it was mostly a reflection on the journey of all of these musician friends that I have, and just how hard it is to be playing for tips playing or free, spending gas money trying to do all of these things because you feel you are called to this music career. It’s a career that has not got a path, there is no path to take and the road is always winding and difficult. I tried to capture as much of that as I could in the song but at the same time, I had that hopeful feeling of someday I'm going on the radio, touring, and that things are coming to fruition. I think that that happens when you don't give up and you just keep that positive mindset, reminding yourself that this is what I'm meant to do.
Last Cowboy is another favourite track of mine from the album.
I actually co-wrote that with a friend, Jessee Lee, who I met in Wyoming at a songwriter festival. I'd been sitting on this song idea for a little while, it's really just about what a cowboy means to us. There's an old cowboy culture in Texas and a little bit in Tennessee, although it's mostly a horse culture and country music in Tennessee. Jesse and I both come from these rural backgrounds and have so many definitions for what a cowboy is and what that means. Is it that hat that makes you a cowboy? Is it the way you dress? Is it the fact that you actually have cows? What makes you a cowboy? All of those are the questions that kind of influenced us to write the song, so it's really just a reflection of who we think a cowboy is. My favourite line on the song it is ‘he's denim in a black suit kind of crowd.’ A cowboy isn't necessarily a very popular thing at this point in time and this particular cowboy is trying to live life in the city where he stands out like a sore thumb, even in a city like Nashville.
You have quite a number of shows lined up this year, where will you be playing?
I'm mostly playing Montana, Wyoming, and Washington this year. I still have a part-time, day job teaching elementary music for half days. During the school year, I'm like a weekend warrior. I'm really working hard to plan my first big tour in June 2023. I'll start with a regional tour then the southwest, the southeast, and I also want to come over to the UK and Europe. I think it makes the most sense to probably tour as a duo or trio at first.
How would you measure success for yourself?
That's such a great question. I think that the definition of success is constantly evolving for me. I try to set small goals, to focus on the next thing I want to accomplish. Over a year ago I decided that I'm going to make this record, so I feel like I'm successful right now. I think to be able to do music full time is what success would look like for me. I've been a part-timer for a little over a decade now. Just to be able to do it full-time and be able to make a modest living doing what I love would be a success.
Interview by Declan Culliton