Meet Michelle Edwards of WireWood Station in Monument

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Edwards.

Michelle, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Music is my passion – it was placed deep in my soul as a child. I always knew I wanted to perform music as a living. I love the energy behind music, how it brings community together and the rush of hearing the applause. During my childhood, music was my escape to another world where time stood still. In high school, it gave me a sense of belonging. College I was surrounded by others who loved spending hours crafting their art. New York City to Nashville that little piece of wood and wire under my chin allowed me to perform places and with people, I would have never met otherwise.

My background is classical, but I always felt something missing sitting behind a music stand. Don’t get me wrong, playing symphonies and being on stage engulfed in the sounds of an entire orchestra was magical, but I always felt music needed to be more interactive. This drive led me to start the band WireWood Station in 2012. Recently moving from Nashville to Monument, I wasn’t sure about the music scene but had the opportunity to open for Charles Daniels and love the sound from the wood of acoustic instruments – so raw and the wire form the strings that made the wood sing… thus the name WireWood Station.

I had played in many other bands from Branson theaters to Nashville studios but always someone else was in charge of the musical direction and the bookings. Excited to take experiences from the past and use the good, bad and the ugly to share a Rocky Mountain music journey with the audience.

Sometimes, folks who don’t own a business don’t understand the small business owner’s dedication, sacrifice and endless hours to achieve their goals. Playing the music was my passion but the business side of the sound equipment, travel, merchandise, and bookings took just as much time or more than the performance part. With grit and perseverance, WireWood Station is an award-winning band playing all along the Front Range and in the Mountain cities.

Fast forward to 2020, WireWood Station last year performed over 175 events and has won the Best Band in the Springs three years in a row in addition to the Best Acoustic Band in Colorado at the Rocky Mountain Music Festival – we are so thankful for these honors and thankful to do what we love… playing music!

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Some of the challenges have been getting venues to appreciate the craft of music. Most of us in the band are degreed musicians playing since early childhood… I had a piano teacher once say “Doctors start working on their craft in their 20’s in Med School and musicians start working on their craft at the age of 6!” Other challenges have been when we first started, some venues offered us less than minimum wage to play or worse “it will be great exposure.”

We are professionals musicians. You would never ask an engineer to design a widget for free, why would you ask a quality musician to play for free. Making music is our living, we have the same bills as everyone else and somehow, because we are having fun on stage, people think we shouldn’t get paid what we are worth. Thankfully as we worked hard to build our brand, this is no longer an issue and each year we have double what we made the previous year. It is great to work with venues who appreciate good quality music

Can you give our readers some background on your music?
We try to set ourselves apart as being a professional band – we run our band as a business. We enjoy playing for Conventions, Corporate Events, Weddings, Concerts in the Park to Breweries – but most of all we love to give our audiences an infectious brew of tight harmonies and driving instrumentals for a foot-stompin’ good time!

Probably what sets up apart is our members have toured internationally including stages in Europe, South America, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Red Rocks, Branson Theaters to Nashville Studios. WWS has opened for Charlie Daniels, BlackHawk, the Marshall Tucker Band and Dwight Yoakam to name a few.

“High energy Rocky Mountain Talent that leaves their audiences cheering for more!” – Craig Coffey, Fox 21 News

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success is doing what you love! For us is creating a product (music) that people love and enjoy. The creative process and the different performance opportunities that have come our way encourages us to keep working hard. Success is hearing the audience cheer! It is hard not to relate success to monetary gain, but if we all won the lottery tomorrow we would still book dates and create music…as the saying goes, if you love what you do you’ll never have to go to “work” a day in your life. We feel really blessed we get to do what we love and not go to “work”!!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.wirewood-station.com
• Phone: 719-660-7459
• Email: wirewoodstation@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wirewoodstation/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wirewoodstation/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/wirewood_band

Image Credit:
D & L Photography

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