Michelle Branch's latest album is "Hotel Paper."
Singer-songwriter
makes her Shell debut
A new generation of female singer-songwriters has been cropping up in recent years -- women such as Sheryl Crow, Jewel, Björk, Melissa Etheridge and Alanis Morissette. These days, the list includes the young Michelle Branch, who makes her Hawaii debut tomorrow at the Waikiki Shell.
(In one of the oddest and most incongruous musical double-bills in recent memory, Waikiki club veterans Tino & The Rhythm Klub will open for Branch, rather than one of Hawaii's own female singer-songwriters.)
Michelle Branch
In concert: 7 p.m. tomorrow
Place: Waikiki Shell
Tickets: $20, $30, $35 ($20 lawn seating goes up to $25 tomorrow)
Info: 591-2211 or ticketmaster.com
As for Branch, the main order of business these days appears to be promoting her album, "Hotel Paper," and avoiding any more snide comments in the press about her recent marriage to her bassist Teddy Landau.
"Hotel Paper" has sold more than a million copies over the past year despite lukewarm reviews. The numbers follow the gold status her first album, "The Spirit Room," achieved in 2001.
Branch also earned a Grammy award for Best Pop Collaboration for her 2002 duet with Carlos Santana on "The Game of Love."
All things considered, her latest album is worth more than the two-star rating it received from Rolling Stone. True, it sounds a lot like the work of other women out there, but the same is true for most mainstream acts, whether they play hip-hop, punk, Jawaiian or pure country.
Branch's star was already on the ascendant when she was tapped to join Carlos Santana in the recording studio.
It was the teen band Hanson that gave Branch her first big break back in 2000 when someone got the brothers a copy of her demo tape. An invitation to be their opening act followed, and it just so happened that someone from Maverick Records was in the audience the night she opened for them.
"Everywhere," her debut single, established her as a successful singles artist as well, peaking at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2001. There've been a few setbacks along the way, but she always seems to bounce back.
Branch hasn't slowed down in 2004. She followed as a series of mainland college dates last spring with her marriage to Landau in June, celebrating her 21st birthday on July 2, and a performance at the Democratic National Convention.
A line of nail polish and lip color, Michelle Branch/Flirt!, is scheduled to debut in October.
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