Michaela Anne showcases country storytelling at its best on the XPNFest Marina Stage
In the middle of the afternoon on Saturday, Michaela Anne and her band took the Marina Stage at XPoNential Festival, and it was a long-awaited arrival. Kristen Kurtis introduced the Nashville-based country group by saying Michaela Anne was scheduled to play last year’s festival, which was canceled due to COVID-19. “We’ve been looking forward to this since then,” said Michaela Anne.
The five-piece group played a forty minute set of heartfelt tunes with a twinge of country sadness. The crowd was eagerly listening, with a few people in the front mouthing along to the lyrics. Although Michaela Anne and most of her band are from Nashville, bassist Charlie Muench lives in Philadelphia. Michaela Anne’s last show in Philly was at MilkBoy in December of 2019, months before live music was canceled for the foreseeable future. Flash forward 21 months, and the band played their second ever show since the pandemic.
The fourth song in their lineup was the most memorable. Michaela Anne played “By Our Design,” the first song off their 2019 full-length album Desert Dove. The song starts by describing a simple life on a ranch with two cats, and ends with the realization that her family was expecting something new. At the beginning of the pandemic, Michaela Anne explained, they had two cats. “Then we lost one. I like to think that spiritually, we were making room for a baby.”
For more Michaela Anne listening, we strongly recommend Desert Dove in its entirety–many of the songs were featured in Michaela Anne’s setlist for XPoNential. Listen to the performance in full below keep a lookout for new music coming out soon.
One Heart
Child of the Wind
I’m Not The Fire
By Our Design
Somebody New
Desert Dove
Runaway With Me
Worrying Mind
Good Times