Michelle Branches Out With The Wreckers

Say what you will about Michelle Branch: She's got guts. After two successful albums in the alt-pop genre (2001's Spirit Room and 2003's Hotel Paper), she risked it all to do something she wanted to do—and to do it with whom she pleased. She didn't care who was put off in the process. On her Web site last year, in the course of a rant about her frustration with the music biz, she wrote that she was "tired of sucking [expletive] to get my music heard." She'd rather do what she liked and, if the fans wanted to buy it, all the better.

The result? A new band, The Wreckers, and a genre-shifting album, the countrified Stand Still Look Pretty, produced with her longtime friend, Jessica Harp. (They originally called themselves the Cass County Homewreckers but decided that sounded too trashy and negative.) Credit Branch with generosity, too. Even though she brings the star power to the act, Harp actually gets more songwriting credits on this compilation.

Alt-Country? Country-Alt?
To call this a country album, though, would not be 100 percent accurate. Sure, there are twangy guitars, some mandolin and a banjo. And you get certified country lyrics such as those on the lead single, "Leave the Pieces" ("And it's alright, yeah I'll be fine/Don't worry 'bout this heart of mine/Just take your love and hit the road/… You're gonna break my heart anyway/So just leave the pieces when you go"). The cuts "Tennessee" and "My, Oh My" (the latter co-written with CCM's Wayne Kirkpatrick) fall solidly in the country groove, too.

But other songs land somewhere in between Branch's earlier work and Harp's more traditional Nashville sound, most especially in the lyrics about troubled lovers and life's regrets. For example, "The Good Kind" would have fit neatly on either of Branch's earlier albums, both musically and lyrically ("Do you want to run away together?/I would say it was your best line ever/Too bad I fell for it/… Do you know I cry?/And it's not the good kind/You forced me to become strong/When I just craved to be weak").

One thing you can't say about Branch and Harp is that they're deep, and this shows through painfully in their choice to cover Patty Griffin's "One More Girl." The decades-older singer-songwriter brings talent, experience and a certain world-weariness to her songwriting, as well as an ability to turn a phrase ("I took off my iron smile/Because I found it weighed me down"). In comparison, Branch and Harp's writing can be flat and obvious, such as on "Rain" ("You never give up/I can't believe anything you say").

A Different Tack
Branch's earlier work was noteworthy for its clean content. A few songs contained lyrics that might be interpreted negatively, but given the benefit of the doubt, most families would have little trouble listening to those projects. Stand Still Look Pretty, unfortunately, takes more liberties, including several profanities, a song that takes a casual approach to cigarette smoking, and "Crazy People," which, while intended to be tongue-in-cheek, still makes light of drug dealing, theft and murder ("He left a reminder/With nine months to go/That's why I killed his wife/And wrecked up his home/… Well he loved his whiskey/And his fist loved my face/So I buried that man/And they won't find a trace").

More disappointing content comes on an accompanying DVD, which contains a music video of "Leave the Pieces" and a making-of featurette. The latter contains several more profanities, but it also finds Harp making a crude crack about the size of Branch's breasts. (Branch's low-cut cotton blouse helps accentuate this.) To her credit, Branch explains to the camera that she's a new mother nursing a newborn and asks that they change the subject.

The Wreckers fit in the music bin comfortably somewhere between Sheryl Crow and the newer Dixie Chicks sound. Some problems with the content, though, mean it's probably not going to sit as comfortably in many family's homes.