Bio: Songwriter, singer, piano, keyboard, bass and sometimes-guitar player, catcher of thoughts and maker of records, hailing from Milwaukee, Austin, and Kansas City.
TORNADOES (2010)
FROZENSTARPALACE (2006)
“Frozenstarpalace,” produced by Barry Goldberg (Smashing Pumpkins, Fleetwood Mac) was released in 2006. The album was well-received by critics and fans: “An artist who can claim brilliance as part of her vocabulary,” – Entertainment News and Views (Miami) and, “She has the unaffected delivery of her Midwestern heritage and the ability, reminiscent of Sarah McLachlan, to quietly insinuate herself into the spaces between conscious thoughts.” -No Depression Magazine.
STAND FALL REPEAT (2004)
Michelle’s first album, Stand Fall Repeat released in 2004, was recorded with a band of local veteran punk-country and rock musicians at the late great Jay Bennett’s (ex-Wilco) studio in Chicago. F5 (Wichita) summarized the album’s feel and writes, “Had Liz Phair gone to Los Angeles circa 1972 to make a record with Gram Parsons and the members of Sheryl Crow’s Tuesday Night Music Club, this might have been the result.” “Stand Fall Repeat” received acclaim from critics in the US and UK, including four stars from All Music Guide, and praise from the alt.country magazine, No Depression, in a “Town and Country” feature.
PERFORMANCES
Michelle has performed hundreds of shows, including the famed Mountain Stage (West Virginia), opening for k.d. Lang and Bruce Cockburn, Chicago’s WGN-TV Superstation’s Morning Show, SXSW (official showcase plus dozens of unofficial SXSW shows), Summerfest (Milwaukee), and notable venues throughout the country such as The Living Room, Knitting Factory, Antone's, and Schubas. She has performed on shows with Shelby Lynne, k.d. lang, Ben Folds, Mindy Smith, Amy Rigby, Robbie Fulks, The Silos, Junior Brown, Bob Schneider and Sophie B. Hawkins.
CREDITS
Michelle has performed as a band member for the The Silos - "Austin" band, and contributed vocals and keyboards for The Silos latest album, "Florizona." She sang background vocals and/or added keyboard credits for the late great Jay Bennett (The Beloved Enemy), West of Rome (Drunk Tank Decoy), King Tears and contributed the song "White Lies" to the Voices and Faces Benefit Project Volume 1.
CAUSES
She is an active supporter of the Voices and Faces project and has contributed the song “White Lies” as a feature download for the organization’s website.
FILM AND TV
Michelle’s music has been featured in the independent film Black Cloud (Rick Schroder, Eddie Spears, Tim McGraw) as well in releases of the television series “The Wonderfalls” and “Roswell.” Her songs have been heard in the MTV shows “Pimp My Ride”, “Making the Band”, and “Operation 17."
TORNADOES (2010)
After hundreds of live performances, a move from Milwaukee to Austin,TX and two albums that garnered critical acclaim, Michelle Anthony virtually left the live music scene for almost four years. She experienced an unexpected illness, HELLP syndrome, with the pregnancy of her first child in 2007; the recovery forced a shift in her songwriting, along with a new muse. The four years she spent away from the live music scene were gladly and gratefully spent as a mother to her now two children bringing an additional benefit: a renewed sense of appreciation for the pure enjoyment of songwriting and recording. The result is her third album, Tornadoes (2010).
On Tornadoes, Michelle is joined by her friends and highly respected musicians: John Chipman (Band of Heathens), Grant Tye (Robbie Fulks), Gerald Dowd (Robbie Fulks, Justin Roberts), Jay O’Rourke (Robbie Fulks, Material Issue), and her long-time composing partner, musician and husband, Scott Anthony.
The songs on “Tornadoes” are not a chronological storytelling as much as the representation of an emotional journey, starting with the sweet but in-your-face, Prince-meets-Spoon, “Spare Me,” followed by the title track that was inspired by recovery after the life-threatening illness she experienced with childbirth. The love songs, “Permanent,” and “Beautiful,” capture the enduring love. “Vacancy” is a bittersweet song about local artists’ passion for music. The album ends with the dissonant, ambient and reflective “Lights of Chicago.”
“Tornadoes” is dense with guitar solos, long, artfully winding drum intros and layered outros that push beyond the boundaries of traditional pop songs and refuse to answer to modern time constraints. The songs live out the energy of a late 60s, early 70s rock band, with the song at the helm. Deliberate attention was given to keep the musicians’ emotional performances palpable. Mixing engineer Jay O’Rourke, who also produced all of the guitars on the album, was the key to keeping the energy on this album. "We wanted it to sound like a band rather than a singer-songwriter’s album,” says Michelle.
On Tornadoes, Michelle is joined by her friends and highly respected musicians: John Chipman (Band of Heathens), Grant Tye (Robbie Fulks), Gerald Dowd (Robbie Fulks, Justin Roberts), Jay O’Rourke (Robbie Fulks, Material Issue), and her long-time composing partner, musician and husband, Scott Anthony.
The songs on “Tornadoes” are not a chronological storytelling as much as the representation of an emotional journey, starting with the sweet but in-your-face, Prince-meets-Spoon, “Spare Me,” followed by the title track that was inspired by recovery after the life-threatening illness she experienced with childbirth. The love songs, “Permanent,” and “Beautiful,” capture the enduring love. “Vacancy” is a bittersweet song about local artists’ passion for music. The album ends with the dissonant, ambient and reflective “Lights of Chicago.”
“Tornadoes” is dense with guitar solos, long, artfully winding drum intros and layered outros that push beyond the boundaries of traditional pop songs and refuse to answer to modern time constraints. The songs live out the energy of a late 60s, early 70s rock band, with the song at the helm. Deliberate attention was given to keep the musicians’ emotional performances palpable. Mixing engineer Jay O’Rourke, who also produced all of the guitars on the album, was the key to keeping the energy on this album. "We wanted it to sound like a band rather than a singer-songwriter’s album,” says Michelle.
FROZENSTARPALACE (2006)
“Frozenstarpalace,” produced by Barry Goldberg (Smashing Pumpkins, Fleetwood Mac) was released in 2006. The album was well-received by critics and fans: “An artist who can claim brilliance as part of her vocabulary,” – Entertainment News and Views (Miami) and, “She has the unaffected delivery of her Midwestern heritage and the ability, reminiscent of Sarah McLachlan, to quietly insinuate herself into the spaces between conscious thoughts.” -No Depression Magazine.
STAND FALL REPEAT (2004)
Michelle’s first album, Stand Fall Repeat released in 2004, was recorded with a band of local veteran punk-country and rock musicians at the late great Jay Bennett’s (ex-Wilco) studio in Chicago. F5 (Wichita) summarized the album’s feel and writes, “Had Liz Phair gone to Los Angeles circa 1972 to make a record with Gram Parsons and the members of Sheryl Crow’s Tuesday Night Music Club, this might have been the result.” “Stand Fall Repeat” received acclaim from critics in the US and UK, including four stars from All Music Guide, and praise from the alt.country magazine, No Depression, in a “Town and Country” feature.
PERFORMANCES
Michelle has performed hundreds of shows, including the famed Mountain Stage (West Virginia), opening for k.d. Lang and Bruce Cockburn, Chicago’s WGN-TV Superstation’s Morning Show, SXSW (official showcase plus dozens of unofficial SXSW shows), Summerfest (Milwaukee), and notable venues throughout the country such as The Living Room, Knitting Factory, Antone's, and Schubas. She has performed on shows with Shelby Lynne, k.d. lang, Ben Folds, Mindy Smith, Amy Rigby, Robbie Fulks, The Silos, Junior Brown, Bob Schneider and Sophie B. Hawkins.
CREDITS
Michelle has performed as a band member for the The Silos - "Austin" band, and contributed vocals and keyboards for The Silos latest album, "Florizona." She sang background vocals and/or added keyboard credits for the late great Jay Bennett (The Beloved Enemy), West of Rome (Drunk Tank Decoy), King Tears and contributed the song "White Lies" to the Voices and Faces Benefit Project Volume 1.
CAUSES
She is an active supporter of the Voices and Faces project and has contributed the song “White Lies” as a feature download for the organization’s website.
FILM AND TV
Michelle’s music has been featured in the independent film Black Cloud (Rick Schroder, Eddie Spears, Tim McGraw) as well in releases of the television series “The Wonderfalls” and “Roswell.” Her songs have been heard in the MTV shows “Pimp My Ride”, “Making the Band”, and “Operation 17."