Homeward Bound Tattoos

.... In 2003, the single “Are You Happy Now?” from her album Hotel Paper was Grammy-nominated for best female rock vocal performance. During that time, Branch also tried acting, with roles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charmed. Then, just as quickly as she’d risen, Michelle seemed to disappear from the mainstream scene—first getting married, then having a baby, then putting out a country album under the name The Wreckers. Although the Wreckers song “Leave the Pieces” was Grammy-nominated (noticing a theme here?) and Branch’s new country duo was touring with genre superstars Rascal Flatts, some of her fans were confused, wondering, Where’s that cute girl we knew and loved from MTV?

Today, nearly 10 years after her music hit the landscape, Branch is the first one to admit that her career has been a wild ride. Now she ping-pongs back and forth between Nashville and Los Angeles with her husband, Teddy (the bass player in her touring band), and their 4-year-old daughter, Owen, and is anxiously awaiting the release of her next album, Everything Comes and Goes. It’s been in limbo for, well, longer than she would like (more on that later).

A charming raconteur who doesn’t take herself too seriously, Branch agrees to chronicle her various life chapters—and their corresponding tattoos—thus far. “I have 13 tattoos,” she says proudly. “I call them stickers. It started off when I was younger, getting smaller random stickers all over my body.”