My Brave Love
Mesquite, Texas, United States | SELF
Music
Press
author: Miami Dan Yoe
I first heard My Brave Love's music on my tinny little computer speakers on garageband.com. After hearing this music on a full stereo system, though, I'm blown away. It would be tempting to call this something like The Lost Carpenters Album, but that would be doing a disservice to these ladies. It's true that Michelle Wisner sounds uncannily like the late Karen Carpenter, but what is also true is that both the songwriting and performances on this disc prove that the work of My Brave Love stands quite well on its own without any comparisons to other artists. An endearing combination of up-tempo rockers, mid-tempo toe tappers and ballads that will pull at your heartstrings, "Heaven In Your Arms" is the best Country/Americana album that I have heard from an indie label artist in years. You need this disc in your cd player and My Brave Love deserves to heard by a much wider audience. Buy this cd and then do what I just did - buy a couple more for your friends.
- CD Baby
A great country love song by Michele Wismer. She does the singing as well. You probably should catch this while you can because I have a feeling about these folks that they won't stay undiscovered indies.
- Your Texas Music
Song: Unrequited Love
There's a tear in my beer....oh, sorry. This has a classic country sound in the production, instrumentation and the sound of the singer's voice. The pedal steel guitar carries the weight of the lead lines but the layering techniques used by the production team allows fiddles and acoustics to also have some nice melody runs as well. Her voice is strong and the beautiful twang and delivery style is a mix of old school country singers such as Patsy Cline or Loretta Lynn but also has hints of Bonnie Raitt sprinkled through her pipes. The lyrics are pretty cliche in the verse but I like the hook "bleeding on the inside". It has a definite visualness to it, is instantly catchy and drives home the emotion behind not only the lines being sung but also in how she is singing them. Her delivery style, phrasing and the vibrato all have that retro feel that could fill the Grand Ol Opry. The intrumentation is pretty standard and adds to the retro sound but the layering was impressive. We all know the real star of the show is the singer and rightly so. This song was perfectly written for her vocal range and style. Great strong voice and she won't be undiscovered for long. I would rather listen to this style of country than ninety percent of the modern country played on stations these days. Her voice is a pleasure to listen to and the song just wraps itself around her like a warm blanket a chilly autumn day.
Reviewed by: triptofan from Foggy Valley, Iowa - Garage Band
Discography
Heaven in Your Arms (album, 11 songs) 2008
Photos
Bio
"Heaven in Your Arms" is a much anticipated debut album by My Brave Love. This band took its name from a song by their favorite songwriter, Dana Cooper. In the mid 1980's Michele Zabel (now Wismer) and Kathy Kennedy (now Nichols) were greatly inspired by the music and style of an alternative rock band - Dana Cooper and the DC3. Their prior influences had been folksingers like Don McLean and Arlo Guthrie. Dana himself had folk music roots both as a solo artist and in his work with Shake Russell. But the presence and the energy of Cooper's alternative rock band made a huge impact on the women, who secured a drummer, Lisa Hammack, so they could develop a more forceful style and convey a similar energy. Originally named Back to Zero the band began to receive critical acclaim from the Dallas Observer, the Dallas Morning News, and other publications for both its performance and original songs written by Michele. But with no record label and no money to record a commercial album, the band split up in 1990 - reuniting briefly in 1991 to open for Crosby, Stills, and Nash and Michael Hedges at Starplex. Michele played solo gigs for a few years while Lisa and Kathy went off in separate directions to play with other bands. Eventually all got non-music jobs and stopped performing altogether. In 2007 Michele and Kathy decided to start jamming together just for fun. After a few months Kathy decided to get the band back together to make a CD that would convey the essence of Back to Zero. During the recording process Michele wrote several new songs that were included in the new album. Also the band changed its name when it became clear that there were numerous other bands called Back to Zero. The album brings to fruition both the vision of the original songs and the expression of the band itself. Prior to release, several tracks have earned numerous awards from Garage Band including "Track of the Day". The song "Heaven in Your Arms" was awarded "Best Female Vocalist in Americana" four weeks in a row. Songs from the CD, released 9-30-08, are now receiving airplay in the U.S., Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. The band will be rehearsing with new lead guitarist Mark Bodiford in January and February of 2009 and will be playing gigs again starting in March.
Links
