Chapter Five: The Wreckers
Tattoo: A pinup on her forearm

After getting married, Branch still felt pressure from her label to do “poppy, commercial stuff.” But she wasn’t feeling very inspired. “I wanted to find a more organic singer-songwriter approach,” she says. So Branch and Jessica Harp, one of her backup singers, began writing and jamming on the bus every night. “I started getting so excited about the material that I told the label, ‘I want to make a country record.’ I think they were like, ‘Let’s just let Branch do this, and then we can get her back for a solo record.’ I had made my success on TRL as a teen artist, but I was growing up, and I don’t think they knew how to grow with me.” Branch and Harp recorded the Wreckers material and debuted it for the label. “The head of Maverick came down to listen to it, and he said, ‘Wow, it sounds classic.’ If anyone else told us that, it would be the biggest compliment ever, but we knew coming from him that it meant it sounded old and boring.”

About a week after that, Branch found out she was pregnant. “I wasn’t planning [the pregnancy] at all. I had this moment of, Great, I made a record that no one supports or believes in, and now I’m pregnant. Fantastic. The head guy at Maverick said, ‘I don’t want anyone in your band over the age of 21, and I want it really young and fun.’ And I just lost it, and I said, ‘You know what’s really young and fun? I’m pregnant! I’m gonna have a baby! That’s young and fun!’”

Chapter Six: First Solo Album in Seven Years
Tattoo: TBD

Considering that she’s chalked up 10 years in the music industry, you would think putting out her next record—her first solo country project— would be easy. “I’m really frustrated because it’s been the longest process of putting out a record that I’ve ever known,” she sighs. “I finished this record almost two years ago, and I’m stuck in this weird label bullshit.” (In short: A lot of people got fired when it was about to be released, and although she moved to the Warner Brothers Nashville label, there’s no official release date.) “I know it’s coming out this year because if it doesn’t I will lose my shit,” she says. “I’m in a weird spot. I’m anxious to get out on the road and play this music for people. I’m really proud of this record, and the most frustrating part is that I want people to hear it. I just want to move forward. It’s the worst case of bad timing ever.”

One thing she does know for sure? She’s not finished getting tattoos. “I’ve been planning an upper back piece for, like, five years,” she says, breaking into a grin. “It’s a huge ship on my back that says ‘Homeward Bound.’ Because when you’re on the road as much as we are, you’re always homeward bound.”