Let me say, it's very good to have a Michelle Branch album playing on my computer in 2017. I'm very happy to have you back. What does it feel like to officially be ushering in this new era of your career?

Thank you. It's a huge relief. I've been actively trying to put out music since The Wreckers broke up in 2007, so it's been a long time coming, and the fact that it's actually really happening is… It's huge weight off of my shoulders.

Can you talk about, in between your last album and then now, what happened that delayed this?

Well, it was a blessing in disguise, because I have a daughter who is 11. It enabled me to spend a lot of time off the road with her, which I am grateful for. But basically, when The Wreckers broke up in 2007, I found myself sitting with all this Wreckers material, because we weren't planning on breaking up. I was planning on going right back in the studio and making another record. So I decided, at that point, to record it myself and I turned that into Warner Bros. National, and right after I turned that album in, it was met with great excitement and support. And then suddenly, the label president was fired. And the label president, Bill Bennett, was a personal friend of mine, a dear friend of mine.

A new president was brought into Warner National, and he said, "This isn't country enough." So at that point, I took the album to Warner Bros. in LA, and they said, "This isn't pop enough." And so for three years, I re-recorded that record, and tried to get that album released on and off for three years. I just continued to write, and it was very, very frustrating, extremely disheartening to go through. And then finally, I was just like, "You know what? This is music. It shouldn't be this complicated. I have to start something new." Because at that point it felt like I was carrying around so much baggage with the material.

So I moved back to Los Angeles, and I sat down with Warner Bros. I said, "Hey, I'm gonna make a pop record. I've decided that if I make a country, alt-country record, that I will do it under the name of The Wreckers. And maybe one day we'll revisit it, but right now, obviously, it's not working for me as a solo artist. So I'll do a pop/rock record." They said, "Great. We love it. We support you." That was on a Thursday afternoon. And on the following Monday, they were fired.

And I waited for my new label president to get hired, and they fired my A&R. They fired my product manager. They fired all these people who I had worked with for like ten years. So I waited for them to rehire people. And then they said, "Hey, Michelle! Finally we got you a budget. You can go to make your new record." I go in and make a new record. We shoot the album artwork. We shoot a video. I'm out doing press. I have a release date. Guess who's fired? The label president. And suddenly, everything gets put on hold again.

I turned in two full albums from 2007 to 2014. I turned in two full-length albums that got shelved. And it was really, really frustrating. Because also I would be like, "Hey, you guys. Well then, if you're not gonna put out music, just drop me." And they wouldn't let me go. Basically I had my hands tied, and it wasn't until June of 2014 that I finally got off Warner Bros. and started writing this album.

What is going to happen to that music? Do you ever get that back, or is that just floating around somewhere?

No. As of right now, they're owned by Warner Bros. I could re-record them. There are some very, very passionate fans, who I don't know how they have recordings of it, but they do. So I'm sure if you really wanted to hear it, you could venture down a YouTube rabbit hole and find some of it. I mean, I don't know how people get demos and stuff, but they have them. And at this point, I could have recorded some of the songs for this album. But like I said, there's so much emotional baggage that I've attached with those songs, that I just wanted a clean slate. And signing with a new label really felt like a clean slate for me, so I decided to leave it in the past. I mean one day, maybe it'll revert back to me, and I'll be able to share it, but at this point I just wanted to move on.

How do you explain that to those fans who've been waiting? How do you communicate to the public that it's not your fault?

Well, there's like a thin line. People hearing an artist complain like that, it's hard to really understand the situation, because they're like, "You get to play music for a living. Why are you complaining?" But it was frustrating to open up my computer and sign in to Twitter or whatever, and have five messages from people that were like, "What happened to you? Where are you? You lied to us! You keep saying you have a record out, and it's not coming out." And so finally, I just had to ignore it. I had to know when music was really gonna come out and I announced it. That's when I'll be able to tell the story.