Hotel Paper

Owning the longest running Billboard Top 100 record of the last 18 months (82 weeks) with 'The Spirit Room', Michelle Branch segued from her own record to a Grammy Award winning collaboration with Carlos Santana prior to beginning work on her latest release. "I spent the last 2 years of my life travelling so when it was time to begin work on a new record, I realized that the record had already been written in hotel rooms around the world, hence the name Hotel Paper". And those 2 years on theroad brought maturity, experience, and confidence to a songwriter who already owned a sense of melody that generated several top 10 hits.
The first single, 'Are You Happy Now?' is an aggressive statement about a personal relationship that took a surprising turn. Branch painfully comments, "Anyone who has been stomped on can relate". What is equally apparent is that the single sonically represents the strength of emotion that speaks directly to the man who is the source of her pain. Andradio agrees; the track has connected with audiences nationwide. Other tracks on the record with longtime producer John Shanks yielded deeper and more complex outcomes, including 'Empty Handed', which called upon famed string arranger David Campbell (Beck's father) to deliver the 22-piece orchestra into the mix. Other strong tracks with Shanks include possible singles 'Breathe' and 'Find Your Way Back', as well as the rootsy duet with Sheryl Crow entitled 'Love Me Like That'. "It sounds too good to be true, but John and I had the song and felt that it needed another voice. We picked up the phone, called Sheryl, and she came down an hour later".