About That Song: Michaela Anne
About That Song #102
In our special series, singer-songwriter Sarah Morris interviews artists about the songs that shaped them.
Hi! I’m Sarah Morris. I’m wildly in love with songs and the people who write them. There have been a few songs in my life that have been total gamechangers—songs that made me want to be a songwriter and songs I’ve written that made me feel like I am a songwriter. About That Song is a space where I can learn more about those pivotal songs in other writers’ lives.
For our 102nd edition, I was happy to connect with Michaela Anne, Nashville-based recording artist, podcast host, songwriting coach, and more! We talked about songs and moments that influenced her artistic journey, and her upcoming sojourn to the Midwest, starting with a stint as a songwriting instructor!
Michaela Anne. Photo credit: Andy Doherty.
Sarah: Hi, Michaela Anne! Ann Powers of NPR Music declared, “Michaela Anne is an inspiring artist everyone should check out,” and I agree!
After a decade-plus of releasing and recording acclaimed records such as 2014’s Ease My Mind and 2019’s Desert Dove, you’re set to release These Are The Days this May—notably the first music of your career that you fully own. Congratulations! Additionally, you’re about to travel up to our neck of the woods as lead instructor for the second annual Lutsongs—A Songwriting Retreat, in gorgeous Lutsen, MN. This feels like a lovely opportunity to ask you a few questions about the songs that have brought you to this moment in your musical journey.
Do you remember the song you heard that made you want to be a songwriter? Tell us about that song.
Michaela Anne: Oh this is hard! I started writing instrumental songs when I was a child. Piano music that I gave titles to. My first one was “When Daddy Comes Home,” a moody minor piece about missing my dad when he was away at sea (he was a submarine captain in the Navy). But I don’t remember specifically thinking I wanted to be a songwriter. I didn’t attempt a song with lyrics until my senior year of high school in response to my grandfather being diagnosed with cancer, but it was an intuitive and instinctual way to process grief, not “I want to be a songwriter.” I do remember being in high school, sitting in an airport lobby and listening to “A Case of You” by Joni Mitchell and being utterly gobsmacked by the lyrics. I’d like to think that was a seed, conscious or not, that started me on the path of understanding what a well-written song can do.
Sarah: I think “A Case of You” has likely been the seed for so much songwriting—for understanding the power of A SONG. It sounds like songwriting has always been a natural creative outlet for you. Once you began writing songs with lyrics, did you feel like a writer immediately? It took me a few years of writing before I believed it—was there a song that gave you that “a-HA! I AM a songwriter!” moment? Tell us about that song.
Michaela Anne: Definitely not! My songwriting experience was a slow progression. I wrote a couple more songs my freshman year of college and continued to write through my undergrad time, but I was in a jazz conservatory so I still don’t think I really understood the “songwriter” title. I was just slowly evolving and making songs up. This is so interesting because I haven’t fully reflected on this experience until now with these questions!
Sarah: It’s interesting to me, because clearly there are songwriters in the jazz world, and yet, the title is perhaps worn differently? Maybe? I attended a classical conservatory, and perhaps similarly, the songwriter title felt … out of reach. Certainly out of the practice room!
“If Your Body Fails You,” from your upcoming album, opens with a promise—“If your body fails you, and nobody is there for you, I’ll be somebody to care for you”—and dives into big and good questions, beginning with, “Why do we try and hide the evidence of our life?” You lean into the word body with each offering; the drums punctuate the earnestness of the desire to make the listener feel … seen. Protected? It’s a stunner of a song. What can you tell us about that song?
Michaela Anne: My mom suffered a massive stroke when I was five months pregnant with my first child. I saw her lose so much. She became disabled, which was devastating, but I also witnessed the way people treated her differently in the world—even her vanity shifted. At the same time, I birthed a child and witnessed the growth of this little body, as well as what my own body was capable of as it transformed and changed. It all got me to reflect on the way we treat each other and ourselves with sometimes such cruelty based on our physical appearance or capabilities. The song became a love song and a mantra of sorts to my mom, to myself, to my child, to humans … that I would ground myself in loving what’s within us, not based on the physical body that carries our heart and soul.
Sarah: Oh, let’s please all ground ourselves in that spirit of loving what is within. It’s not easy, but such a worthy goal. And it’s good to have songs that remind us of this.
The 6/8 sway of the recent single “Two Pianos” offers a beautiful love song that feels aimed both at a partner, and in gratitude for all the ordinary good things that are stitched into a life: “’Cause we’ve got a house with two pianos / All that we’ve grown / we started from seed/ I need to remember to remember/that I have everything I dreamed.” Can you tell us about that song?
Michaela Anne: My friend Zach Berkman came over one day and noticed my piano in the dining room. He nodded, and as a reference to the fact that he knew we also have a piano in our backyard recording studio, he said, “Hm. Two Pianos. What a beautiful life.” For some reason, it struck me. The simple observation was a deeper acknowledgment of gratitude. I shared that with my good friend Caroline Spence, and she said, “that’s a song.” So we wrote it together, honoring how we can look around and notice all that we have, even when some days can be harder than others.
Michaela Anne. Photo credit: Andy Doherty.
Sarah: Cheers to those good friends for saying the things—that’s a song, indeed! Back in 2019, you released “If I Wanted Your Opinion” co-written with previous About That Song guest Mary Bragg. I love its catchy country-swing underlying the powerful lyrics, “Don’t try to tell me how to be, I’m not some puppet on a string / And if I wanted your opinion, you would know.” Tell us about that song.
Michaela Anne: I saw an interview with the director Greta Gerwig, and she was talking about how she wanted to make art about and from women that was not informed by the male gaze. I started reflecting on how much of my life and behavior was informed by men—their opinions, their desires, their thoughts about me. I brought it to Mary, and we started down a rabbit hole of all of the sexism we’d experienced, especially as female musicians. It took several sessions and multiple re-writes until we finally got it to the place we wanted. We wanted to make a point but with a Shania Twain-esque vibe that would also be lighthearted and not overtly preachy. I think it makes the point though.
Sarah: It’s a big topic, and to my ears, you both handled it with an elegance that also leans into the Shania Twain-esque vibe that you referenced.
Soon you'll be traveling to the North Shore of Minnesota to co-lead the Lutsongs Songwriting Retreat. In addition to the group teaching you’ve done at places such as the legendary Song School at Planet Bluegrass Rocky Mountain Folks Fest, and the Americana Song Academy at Sisters Folk Festival, you offer 1:1 songwriting coaching. As a teacher, is there a song (by some other artist) that you come back to time and again as an example of “Ah, THIS is how you do it!”?
Michaela Anne: Lucinda Williams is my constant reference point. Her songs are just so beautifully written, evocative with vivid imagery as well as poetic lyricism while not following “the rules.”
Sarah: Oh gosh, yes. I just this past summer (JUST THIS PAST SUMMER) had my “fall in love with Lucinda” moment, and I’m near obsessed with looking at her songs for the “how in the heck does she do it?” To me, her songs marry accessible melody with lyrics that have space and also wild poetry in a way that few others do.
Michaela Anne: The thing I love most about working in camps or 1:1 with my songwriting students is constantly discovering that form, patterns and “rules” are there for helpful framework but are also meant to be broken when it works. The ultimate point is for each songwriter to develop their style of songwriting and write about what truly comes from their heart and minds.
Sarah: Do you have any upcoming Midwest shows where we might hear you sing these songs?
Michaela Anne: Yes! I’m playing a few shows with Fantastic Cat right after the Lutsongs Retreat. And will definitely be announcing more Midwest dates for the fall soon!
April 26: Appleton, WI at Gibson Hall
April 28: Columbus, OH at Natalie’s Music Hall
April 29: Millvale, PA in The Funhouse at Mr. Smalls
Sarah: Fantastic! And, if you’re in the Twin Cities area, nice reader person, Michaela Anne will be a special guest at Family Dinner at White Squirrel Bar on April 22 at 6pm! Michaela, thank you so much for coming to chat all about that song. I am so looking forward to learning more at Lutsongs!!
You too can come learn from Michaela Anne (and Siri Undlin aka Humbird) at Lutsongs A Songwriters’ Retreat April 23-26, 2026!
Listen to “Two Pianos”
These Are The Days Album Credits
releases May 10, 2026
Produced by Aaron Shafer-Haiss
Recorded by Aaron Shafer-Haiss at Vacationland
Mixed by Justin Francis
Mastered by Raelynn Jaenicke
Aaron Shafer-Haiss: drums, percussion, piano, synthesizers, melotron, acoustic guitar
Seth Taylor: acoustic guitars, banjo, mandolin, rubber bridge guitar
John McNally: electric guitars, pedal steel
Ethan Ballinger: electric guitars
Jimmy Matt Rowland: piano, organ, synthesizers, melotron, Wurlitzer
Owen Biddle: bass
Kristin Weber: strings and arrangements
Background vocals: Kyshona, Lyle Divinsky, Lauren Balthrop, Oliver Craven
Cover Photo by Andy Doherty
Creative Direction of cover photo by Phases Nashville
Georgia June Records
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sarah Morris. Photo credit: Tom Smouse.
Sarah Morris is a superfan of songs and the people who write them, and a believer that certain songs can change your life. A singer-songwriter / mama / bread maker / coffee drinker who recently released her fifth album of original material, she’s been known to joyfully sing with people in her Big Green Bathroom.
