1983–2000: Broken Bracelet To support Branch's interests, her parents helped her book local gigs in Sedona, and later financed her independent album
Broken Bracelet.
2001–2005: The Spirit Room and Hotel Paper In 2001, Branch signed a recording deal with
Maverick Records, The album,
The Spirit Room, was released in August 2001, "Everywhere" was later followed by singles "
All You Wanted" and "
Goodbye to You". In August 2001, she appeared on
Total Request Live after "Everywhere" reached No. 4 on the show's chart. Due to the mainstream success of those released singles,
The Spirit Room was certified Double Platinum by the
RIAA for selling over two million copies in the United States. Branch also sang on the song "Deeper" from Hanson's 2004 album
Underneath.
VH1 also released a
Pop-Up Video for her song "All You Wanted".
The Spirit Room has sold 3 million copies worldwide to date. Branch met
Justincase before her debut on Maverick Records, becoming friends over the Internet before meeting in
Las Vegas for a music convention in 2000. Justincase was signed to
Maverick Records in late 2001 with the help of Branch. A self-titled album was released on October 29, 2002, and included several collaborations with Branch, including the
lead single, "Don't Cry for Us". In 2002, Branch teamed up with
Santana, alongside songwriters
Gregg Alexander and
Rick Nowels, to produce the song "
The Game of Love", The album was met with mixed reviews. Its lead single, "
Are You Happy Now?", was a chart success, earning Branch a nomination for the
Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, but they trimmed it down to
the Wreckers. Their album attempted to combine their respective genres—
pop rock and
country. It was originally slated for release in June 2005 but was delayed because of reasons surrounding Branch's pregnancy. The duo's first single "
Leave the Pieces" was released in February 2006, while their album
Stand Still, Look Pretty was released in May.
2008–2012: Unreleased albums Immediately thereafter, Branch wrote an unreleased song for
Mandy Moore's 2007 album
Wild Hope, and also wrote "Together" for the soundtrack of
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2; it was also featured as the final song ever played on the CBS TV soap opera,
Guiding Light. In October 2007, she announced that she was working on a new solo album and later reported the title would be
Everything Comes and Goes. In June 2008, she played several live shows in preparation for the album's release with her sister Nicole singing backing vocals. In early 2009, she sang the song "I Lose My Heart" in a duet with
Chris Isaak on his new album
Mr. Lucky. A video for the first single from the album "Sooner Or Later" was released on July 28, 2009. Also in 2009, she recorded "
A Case of You" (originally by
Joni Mitchell) for the compilation
Covered, A Revolution in Sound which commemorated
Warner Bros. Records 50th anniversary. A video was made for the song "This Way" and uploaded to Branch's official
YouTube account in October 2009, but it was not released as a single and did not chart. (The video was included on a limited edition DVD entitled
The Video Anthology available on michellebranch.com.)
Everything Comes and Goes was finally released as a six-track
extended play on July 16, 2010, via Branch's website and would be available at all retailers one month later. In 2010, Branch and R&B/hip-hop producer
Timbaland collaborated on a pop/
R&B song entitled "Getaway" and released a video. In December 2010, Branch announced her return to her pop/
rock roots for her album,
West Coast Time. In early 2011, Branch released three previously unreleased songs from
Everything Comes and Goes including, "Texas In the Mirror", "Take a Chance on Me", and "Long Goodbye", the latter a duet with
Dwight Yoakam. On March 22, 2011, in a video regarding updates on the third studio album uploaded via Branch's YouTube account, Branch confirmed that half the album is finished and added that "it's sounding really really good....it's all going well and it's all on time." On April 14, 2011, it was announced that Branch had finished recording the album, she also added that "only mixing/mastering left. Michelle practiced and recorded a few tracks with Tilted Head and FIVE lead singer Joshua Barton, however it is still a work in progress." On May 26, 2011, Branch hosted a live webchat with fans in which she previewed her new single "Loud Music", which was released to the
iTunes Store on June 14, 2011. The song was co-written and produced by
British writers
Jim Irvin and
Julian Emery who collaborated with Branch on several songs on the album. In the webcast, Branch also mentioned songs on the album called "Mastermind" and "The Story Of Us" and also added that "Through The Radio" would be a hidden track on the CD. In a previous webcast, she premiered a song from the album called "Spark". During a live outdoor performance at the Warner Brothers building she performed another new song, dedicated to her then-husband Teddy Landau, "For Dear Life". In June 2011, she released the album's first single titled "
Loud Music". It has charted on the
Adult Pop Songs chart. On July 12, 2011, Branch performed "
God Bless America" at the
MLB All-Star Game, in
Phoenix, Arizona. In September, a new song "Another Sun" was featured on
Fox's TV series
Terra Nova. On October 29, 2011, she gave a small concert to approximately 200 fans at the
Egyptian Room in downtown
Indianapolis, as part of the Gravedigger's Ball. On December 12, 2011, Branch released a song titled "If You Happen to Call" for free download on the official website. In February 2012,
VH1 hosted the "100 Greatest Women In Music" special and she was nominated in both the "Pop" category and the "Greatest Female Artist of All Time". On April 3, 2012, Branch performed "
Leave the Pieces" with
Kelly Clarkson in Los Angeles as part of Clarkson's
Stronger Tour. On September 5, the singer premiered a new pop-rock track "Mastermind". In September 2012, Branch joined chef
Michael Mina as a co-host of
Cook Taste Eat, an online cooking show that aims to teach viewers how to cook quality food at home. As with her release,
Everything Comes and Goes,
West Coast Time has seen numerous delays for, as yet, unknown reasons. Branch has confirmed on her
Twitter account that she knew as much as the fans did about the delay. In January 2011, Branch confirmed in an interview with Katie Krause from Hollywire.com that the album would be released later that year. On June 1, 2011, Branch announced that the album was called
West Coast Time and slated for a September 2011 release date. On December 25, 2012, Branch confirmed that
West Coast Time was scheduled for release in Spring 2013, but the album has not yet been released.
2013–2017: New record deal and Hopeless Romantic in
San Francisco, July 21, 2017. For much of 2013, Branch wrote songs and moved on from the unreleased
West Coast Time. On November 5, 2013, Branch announced that she had started recording a new album in
London with
Martin Terefe. On February 2, 2014, she confirmed on Twitter that the rest of the album would be recorded in Nashville for a pop-rock sound. In October 2014, she recorded a cover of
Radiohead's "
Creep" which was subsequently used in an episode of
Stalker. On July 17, 2015, Branch announced that she had signed with
Verve Records. In May 2016, she appeared on
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee to sing "Goodbye
Ted Cruz", a reworking of her song "Goodbye to You", as a tongue-in-cheek lament to the suspension of
Ted Cruz's US presidential campaign. In December 2016,
Entertainment Weekly announced Branch's new album,
Hopeless Romantic, which was released on April 7, 2017. Branch announced in September 2017, that she had parted ways with Verve Records. Branch and
Patrick Carney performed a cover of the song "
A Horse with No Name" for a
season 4 episode of
BoJack Horseman titled "The Old Sugarman Place", where the title character drives through the desert. This version also appears on the soundtrack album of the series.
2021–present: The Spirit Room 20th anniversary album and The Trouble with Fever During a January 5, 2021,
Livestream performance for
Snapple, Branch confirmed that she would be re-recording her album
The Spirit Room in March 2021 to celebrate its anniversary. On September 10, 2021, Branch performed the album in its entirety during a special virtual concert. An afterparty and Q&A session followed. It was released on October 15, 2021. On July 12, 2022, Branch announced on social media that her new single titled "
I'm a Man" would be released July 15, 2022. The single was included in her fifth studio album,
The Trouble with Fever, which was released on September 16, 2022. The album art for
The Trouble with Fever is a photograph taken by Branch's father-in-law, James Carney. ==Musical style and influence==