Canadian Country Music Hall of Famer, ACM & CCMA Award-Winner Michelle Wright’s Newest Album “Milestone” Available Now
Sixteen-time Canadian Country Music Association award winner and BFD/Audium Nashville recording artist, Michelle Wright, premieres her tenth studio album Milestone to streaming services everywhere today, Friday, August 26.
To purchase or stream the project, CLICK HERE.
This album features her most recent releases, Small Town, an autobiographical track she co-penned with Danielle Bourjeaurd and Rick Ferrell, and Heartbreak Song, a smoky, pensive tune she wrote with Adam Wakefield of Texas Hill. Small Town debuted on the Official Academy of Country Music’s New Music Friday and Spotify’s New Music Friday Playlist on its release day.
Michelle recently took over Durango Boots Instagram and Facebook on Monday as she gave their audiences a sneak peek behind the music video for Heartbreak Song, where she was joined on screen with Wakefield. Today, she will be recapping and sharing the Milestone project journey with The Country Note’s followers during her Instagram takeover.
Milestone serves as both a reflection on Michelle’s incredible career and a sign of the sound and stories she continues to share with her fans. From her first U.S. major label release in 1990 to her Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame induction in 2011, she has countless, well-deserved accolades that have all led to this project.
“Making this record, I drew on all of my country influences and those R&B/Motown sounds” says Michelle. “Blending these influences is a natural, authentic way to express me in my music. It always has been that way and always will be.”
Milestone track list:
- Small Town (Danielle Boujeaurd, Michelle Wright & Rick Ferrell)
- Everything to Me (Michelle Wright, Jon Michaels & Jimbeau Hinson)
- Heartbeat (Daryl Burgess)
- Heartbreak Song (Michelle Wright & Adam Wakefield)
- I’m With You (Mickey Jupp)
- Lovin’ This Day (Joanna Cotten, Angie Russell & Daryl Burgess)
- Beautiful Thing (Patricia Conroy, Michelle Wright & Steve Mitchell)
- Faithless King (Michael Smotherman)
- Attitude Is Everything (Joanna Cotten, Angie Russell & Daryl Burgess)
- Take It Like A Man (Tony Haselden)
The final track revisits her breakthrough, signature hit Take It Like a Man, the song that made her the first Canadian-born artist in modern country music to have a Top Ten hit in America and win a major US music industry award, ACM “Top New Female Vocalist” in 1993.
Michelle has a special connection with this track, saying, “I remain so grateful for this song, and 30 years later, it is still one of my favorite songs to sing. When we laid down the track at Sound Shop Recording Studios in Nashville, we were listening to the playback, and Lonnie Wilson, the drummer on the session, said, ‘If this is not a hit, I’m going to sell shoes for a living.’ Lonnie, Bruce Bouton, who created the signature guitar lick on his weissenborn, Brent Mason on guitar, and Biff Watson on acoustic all joined me for this re-recording. Lonnie even used the same snare that he used on the original record.”
Canadian fans can catch Michelle on the Canadian Country Music Awards Legends Show during CCMA Week on Friday, September 9. Presented by iHeartRadio’s PURE Country, the CCMA Legends Show features Michelle Wright, George Canyon, Patricia Conroy, Lindsay Ell, Doc Walker, Jade Eagleson, George Fox, Aaron Goodvin, Jojo Mason, Jess Moskaluke, and Tim & The Glory Boys.
To stay updated on Michelle Wright, visit the following:
Website: michelle-wright.com
Facebook: facebook.com/michellewrightmusic
Instagram: @michellewrightmusic
YouTube: Click Here
Twitter: @thewrightmusic
About Michelle Wright
Like so many country artists, Michelle Wright cut her teeth playing six nights a week in clubs throughout Canada. In 1988, after teaming with Savannah Records President Brian Ferriman, Savannah Records released her first CD, Do Right By Me, in Canada. Michelle and her band set off to tour North America.
Do Right By Me was a major hit in her homeland, with seven charting singles and over 40,000 copies sold. That success opened many doors, landing her a deal with the brand new Arista/Nashville label. Arista/Nashville made Michelle one of its flagship artists, and, in 1990, they released her first U.S. album, Michelle Wright. American audiences enthusiastically responded to “that girl singer from up north with the snow in her videos.” Her first single, “New Kind Of Love,” became her first top thirty American hit.
In 1992, Arista released her second CD Now & Then, producing a total of six singles including “One Time Around,” “Guitar Talk,” “He Would Be Sixteen,” and the song that changed everything, “Take It Like A Man.” After the latter was released in February 1992, Michelle became the first Canadian‐born artist in the modern era of country music to have a Top Ten hit in America. She went on to secure a number one video on CMT‐USA (also for “Take It Like A Man”) as well as winning the Academy of Country Music’s “Top New Female Vocalist” award.The song also catapulted Michelle to superstardom, receiving a total of twelve music industry awards, including the 1993 Canadian Country Music Association’s Fans’ Choice Entertainer of The Year Award, and double platinum honors for Now & Then the same year.
Her career has been a dream come true. Her total of twelve album releases have sold millions of copies and produced twenty‐five Top Ten radio hits. She went on to win a total of 18 CCMA Awards. Michelle enjoys an international career that has seen her grace concert stages across North America, Europe, Africa, South America, Australia, and Asia. To date, she has garnered forty major awards, including her 2011 induction into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.