Michelle Branch’s The Trouble with Fever album is out. The ten-track record is in many ways the start of a new musical chapter for Branch, who penned all of the songs, as well as played most of the instruments, while working on the project during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We started this record in March of 2020, so right at the beginning of the pandemic,” Branch tells Everything Nash. “And really The Trouble with Fever kind of touches on the cabin fever that we all were feeling, just those sleepless nights of laying awake in bed and wondering, thinking about life and things you would change or things you wanna accomplish, and that feeling of being alone with your thoughts.”

By her own admission, Branch had to step pretty far out of her comfort zone to create what became The Trouble with Fever. Although a seasoned veteran at writing and recording music, both on her own and as one-half of the duo, The Wreckers, earlier in her career, being forced to craft an entire album without much outside support was a daunting task. Not surprisingly, Branch was up for the challenge.

“I’m very fortunate that we have a studio here at our house,” Branch acknowledges. “So when the pandemic first hit, I was joking because my younger sister was living with us at the time. And it was that period of time where we were drinking wine every night, having dance parties in the living room, eating everything under the sun, because we were like, ‘What’s going on in the world?’ And finally, in March, it was like, ‘Okay, how can we be more productive with our time? This is obviously not gonna last just a few weeks. This is gonna be a while.'”

The Trouble with Fever was produced by Branch’s husband, the Black Keys’ member Patrick Carney, combining their talents to create the record while at home together.

“It was Patrick’s idea that we come into the studio and just kind of revisit some ideas that had been started years earlier, in 2017 when we were finishing my previous [Hopeless Romantic] record,” Branch reveals. “So, it started as busy work, or something to do to keep our mind off of what was going on in the world, and then it turned into an album.”

Branch’s current single is “I’m a Man,” written by Branch and Carney. The song was inspired by Branch pondering the pros and cons of the different roles both men and women face.

“I often find when I’m writing songs that I just kind of sing gibberish until they turn into words. and I kept coming back to the lyric, ‘I’m a man,’ and started to explore at the time what it meant to be a man, and all of the pressure that men were facing,” Branch recalls. “Toxic masculinity was a hot phrase on everybody’s tongue then. And I was thinking about the pressure that men are under. And then, the opposite side of the coin was, as women, they always say that we can do the same thing backward in heels. I just started thinking about that, and that’s what inspired the song.”

Branch could have never predicted when creating The Trouble with Fever that she and Carney would separate only weeks before the album came out. While bittersweet, Branch still feels proud of The Trouble with Fever, and what they were able to create.

“I am proud of the project,” Branch boasts. “I feel like the creative relationship I have with Patrick still, it’s strong enough that it overshadows, or I can at least kind of separate the two. I am proud of this record and I have been excited for it to come out for a very long time, so it’s kind of like the silver lining, the nice distraction to focus on during all this. But, I would be lying if I didn’t tell you I was crying all morning ..There are so much different things going on, but it’s nice to at least focus on the positive thing, which is this beautiful record we made together.”

Branch is currently on her The Trouble with Fever Tour. Find all of Branch’s music and upcoming shows at MichelleBranch.com.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of True Public Relations / Sonya Jasinski