Michaela Anne

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Michaela Anne is a young Nashville based artist I've been following and she has a gig tonight (Friday) at the Cactus Cafe on the UTX campus. We had tickets to see her here at the Cactus Cafe back in 2016 with Carson McHone as the front act -- we weren't able to stay to see her that time so I'm pretty keen to see her this time.

Before the show Kate and I watched for the bats at the Congress Bridge and actually saw a few. It's been a warm month and the bats have returned, perhaps earlier than usual. I took Kate home afterwards and went to the concert on my own. Uber seems to have become quite expensive for the times we want to use it and I ended up driving to the show and parking on a side street. Parking in the university area is a nightmare, but there are some parking buildings.

We've been to the Cactus Cafe lots of times over the years. It's a good listening room in the Student Union Building on the University of Texas Campus. It's on Guadalupe in an area that used to be pretty active called "The Drag" -- there used to be a really great Tower Records store (remember records?). These days the area is pretty quiet and the club caters more to folks like us than the more youthful univeristy crowd.

There is a front act, a fellow from Austin who was pretty entertaining but unfortunately I didn't catch the name.

In talking to people in the queue to get in there are some who have seen her before. They tell me it promises to be a good show. I gather she stops in once a year or so -- she may have family in the area. It wasn't a well attended show -- the house was arranged with tables and chairs with perhaps 50 in attendance. For acts that get a good house they get rid of the tables and set the chairs out in rows to seat 100 or more.  That doesn't bode well.

I bump into her outside at the break on my way to the men's room (she's probably changed in the women's room). She is a tiny wee thing but has a great voice and has written some very good tunes. She has a full band with her on this tour to promote her latest CD who, like her, are all very young. A drummer who is very busy setting things up for her (he's creditted as being the "band leader"). A young fellow with a short beard on electric guitar. A "red dirt" fellow with a long beard on bass who sings some harmonies. A young woman on keyboards, electric guitar and harmonies. And Michaela on acoustic, sometimes electric, who has written all these tunes. Together they're a very tight band delivering studio quality performances.

They have some fairly complex music that requires the full band. But, at other times they play simple honky tonk and country. At the end of the show they all come off the stage into the audience and sang together with her on acoustic guitar. A nice way to close the show.

I have been listening to her music on Spotify for a few years now (since before 2016 when we had tried to see her) and took the opportunity to buy her 3 CD's at the "merch table". I now have physical copies of Desert Dove (2019), Bright Lights and Fame (2016) and Ease My Mind (2014). For completeists try To Know Where (2011) which I suspect is out of print. I'm pleased to have these three most recents CD's.... Kate discovered when we got home to Ontario that I had already picked up "Desert Dove" at Waterloo Records! Ok, well I guess there's another one for Mike's Christmas package.

If you're interested in her music take a peak at her albums on Spotify or her channel on YouTube. For her influences try her Spotify playlist "Songs to Run Away To".

Ps. I see on her social media that the band went out to the Whitehorse Tavern after their show to catch a bit of Friday night honky-tonk/swing. She says that Bill Murray was there!