Michelle Branch Gets Mileage From Break-Up

Michelle Branch of The Wreckers on the CMA Awards Red Carpet at "The 42nd Annual CMA Awards" on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008, broadcast live from the Sommet Center in Nashville on the ABC Television Network. Photo courtesy of the Country Music Association.

Aug. 19, 2009 — When the Wreckers kicked off their foray into country music in 2006, they did it with the single "Leave The Pieces," a break-up song in which the duo’s Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp insisted "I’ll be fine/Don’t worry about this heart of mine."

Oddly enough, the song could’ve been the theme for Michelle’s forthcoming album, Everything Comes And Goes, since much of it was inspired by her split with Jessica after just one CD.

"It's been a long process," she told LiveDaily.com. "When it really dawned on me that the Wreckers were no more, I started writing a lot about that experience, and once I started writing about that, it just opened the flood gates. I hadn't written by myself in so long."

Prior to the Wreckers album, Stand Still, Look Pretty, Michelle — who was originally signed as a pop artist to Warner Bros. through pop label Maverick Records — had to fight to get the duo’s project made as they envisioned it. Once they went separate ways, that tug of war with the label apparently did not get any easier.

"I really started this record almost two years ago," Michelle said. "It's just been going back and forth and back and forth. I've been wanting to make this a country album, and I've been trying to make all the cooks in the kitchen happy because I still technically am on Warner Bros. — and not Warner Bros. Nashville. I think everybody wanted a record, so I was trying to keep everybody happy. But the funniest thing is, the song I really wanted to be the single a year ago, they ended up picking it. I wish they had decided a little bit sooner, but I'm a firm believer [that] everything happens for a reason."

That single, "Sooner Or Later," was sent to radio stations in July. A release date for the album, which includes a guest appearance by Dwight Yoakam, has yet to be announced.