Michael Meanwhile / National Flower

Michael Sheridan arrived in Portland’s Eastside from the boroughs of New York City in early 2004. He released his first solo EP, produced by Paul Umbach, and began performing around town as Michael Meanwhile... The EP quickly joined the ranks of “CDBaby’s Top Sellers” and earned immediate attention with 4 songs regularly featured on the WB’s “One Tree HIll”, “Jack & Bobby” and “Summerland”. Two songs were placed in the ABC show “Wildfire” and another on FOX’s release of “Party Of Five” to DVD. Jeep adopted a track to launch it’s 2004 “Camp Jeep” promotion and several independent films featured songs from the album as well.

All the while in Portland, Michael was searching for a not so typical cast of musicians who could bring to life his growing notebook of songs. He was looking for players with diverse musical backgrounds, but a shared belief that all great music starts with honesty. This unlikely quarry resulted in a tremendous ensemble of some of Portland’s favorite sons. Scott Pemberton (Triclops, Conanza, La Dome) was the first to sign on playing lead guitar, pedal steel, bass and organ. Ji Tanzer (Rebecca Sanborn, Jujuba), a long time friend of Scott’s, was the next to come aboard bringing drums and percussion. Finally, Joey Cunningham (Sponge, Rubberneck, The Decemberists) stepped in to round out the line up playing everything from Sax to Melodica, Rhodes to Glockenspiel. Each Boasting a long and colorful list of credits, Scott, Joey & Ji are widely considered among the premier players in the Northwest.

The evolution of the project, nudged Michael to shed his solo moniker and release a self produced/recorded album under a new band name, National Flower. Early recognition of the single, “Rise & Fall”, has already been received from the folks at Mountain Stage and Performing Songwriter Magazine. It was selected as a finalist in their “NewSong Contest 2005”, and later declared a winner after a series of live performance rounds in West Virginia.

Refusing to be forced into a genre, National Flower has created their own. They affectionately call it Northwest Americana, which translates to great friends, making timeless music, from the most honest of places.