Despite what the song says, Michelle Poe is not "just one of the boys."
Even in boots, jeans, and honky-tonk cowboy hat, she'd never be mistaken for Bubba down at the garage. There's that long blonde hair, that honeyed voice, and ... well, you get the picture.

But that's not our point. Though obviously 100 percent certified drop-dead head-turning U.S. female, Michelle has also done more guy stuff than most dudes even think about doing. She's lived the player's life as a gear-schlepping, hard-jamming band rat, locking in with the rhythm section, learning about music from inside the song rather than from some comfortable cushion as a pampered diva. She's heard many a last call, stayed up to watch the sunrise, and still made it to church the next day.

Oh, yeah. She's also earned her private pilot's license -- "because," she explains, with a teasing grin, "I love being in control up there in the plane. But I also wanted to do something that people didn't expect from a girl. People suggested a flight attendant position, but I wanted to do the big job -- the man's job."
And she might be doing it still, instead of singing like a star and writing songs that nestle in your head and purr each time you think of them, if she hadn't broken her leg at that Jimmy Buffet concert ...

We'll get to that in a minute. First, put Just One of the Boys on and give it a spin. Start at track one and let it ride; treat these songs -- the sauce and swagger of her first single, "One of the Boys," the wistful romance of "Love Sure Looks Good On You," the good-time, dance-hall abandon of "Love City" -- as an adventure that's well underway and yet seems just about to begin.

Born in Toledo, Ohio, Michelle was raised by a single mom in South Florida. There was talent in her genes, and when her mother married a musician she had met at the Baptist church where she played piano, Michelle, all of eight years old, sang at their wedding. Her stepdad, who had played steel guitar on the road with Charley Pride, Billy Walker and Donna Fargo and as a regular on The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, organized the family into a four-piece band; they played at the Ft. Lauderdale Swap Shop, churches, retirement centers, private parties and the occasional club, and, when Michelle was eleven, cut their first record. For her brother Scott, who was six at the time, it was an auspicious debut: "He had tears rolling down his face in the studio," she laughs. "He cried 'I don't wanna be a country music star!' We had to wave five-dollar bills to get him to sing his part."
As high school neared its end, twin temptations pulled Michelle toward Nashville. The aeronautics program at Middle Tennessee State University kindled her ambition to become a pilot, while her stepdad's connections in the music industry opened the door toward her playing the music she had come to love. "I had learned to sing by listening to all my favorites on the radio in my car," she remembers, and then she counts 'em down: "Roseanne Cash, Patty Loveless, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, Ricky Skaggs, Steve Wariner. I loved Shenandoah and Earl Thomas Conley. I was a fan of Journey and Foreigner and all those eighties groups too, but country really hit home. I was always jammin' it out of the speakers in my convertible Mustang instead of rock and alternative, so I didn't really fit in with my peers that well."

And so, without second thoughts, she and her mom joined her stepdad, who had moved back to Tennessee to help her qualify for state resident tuition at MTSU. "He took me to all the local joints and dives," she says, "and gave me a good introduction to his network of musicians. When I was nineteen I was playing at Lonnie's Western Room, The Carousel or Skull's Rainbow on Printer's Alley. I'd get home at around six in the morning, and then by eight I'd be in class."
Somehow she made it through school with a BS in aerospace administration and a license to fly. "I remember the first time I flew solo," she says. "It was so amazing that I was actually singing while doing turns over the practice area."
This story gives an insight into Michelle, by the way. As exhilarating as it was to fly, the urge to sing was even more fundamental. But that didn't start sinking in until that Jimmy Buffet concert -- which, to hear her version of what happened, was almost as big a thrill, if not quite as uplifting. While attempting to leave from the last row of the balcony, she and a friend decided to avoid the crowd by climbing behind their seats into what they assumed was an aisle but turned out to be nearly a twenty-four-foot drop in total darkness.

Maybe it was something about free-falling out of control, but all of a sudden being a musician seemed like a more prudent career path than flying. More than that, Michelle realized that it was actually what she had wanted to do all along. "I thought of flying as a business. It was like a real job. But music has always been a fun job. Whatever mood I'm in, I can find a song that will make me feel better. It's not actually work for me at all. It's therapy."

Michelle left the hospital with advice from her mama -- "Be careful who touches this leg; it cost forty thousand dollars" -- and headed back to the clubs. She joined a band called Cactus Rose. She nearly landed a record deal with the Loners, a band fronted by James House. She worked with the Ken Taylor Band at Tootsie's three nights a week for four years. She toured with Curb recording artist Steve Holy. She played with other acts whose names she doesn't even remember -- "that was many beers ago," she jokes. Even now, when not working up her own act, she's still doing band gigs, most recently singing and playing bass on the road with Dierks Bentley. They spent 2003 playing in honky tonks all over the country and kicked off 2004 on tour with George Strait and Kenny Chesney.
Whether playing out of town or wedged against her bandmates on Tootsie's tiny stage, she relished every moment spent in the spotlight ...

Or, more accurately, just outside of the spotlight. "I loved being a part of a band," she smiles. "I'd always been backup. It was satisfying to me, to be kind of in the shadows, with just the occasional moment up front. But after playing at Tootsie's for so long I got a lot more exposure than I'd ever expected and became increasingly comfortable with the idea of fronting my own band."

So it was that Michelle met Alex Torrez of Sony ATV Tree Music Publishing. She was playing her last gig with the Loners at the Exit/In; Torrez immediately noticed the tall, knockout blonde with the mean bass groove. When he found out she was packing up to play right after that at Tootsie's, he followed her there. Later on he brought Sony Tree's chief creative officer and senior VP, Don Cook, to catch her act and, after introductions, sign Michelle to her first writing deal.

Immediately she was paired with some of Music City's top writers. "My first year was about listening and learning and understanding the Nashville method for writing songs," she says. "It was about the feelings I had grown up with but hadn't known how to get out. I had written in diaries and journals all my life, but putting it to music was an entirely different thing. I'm still amazed at being able to express myself this way."

Eventually Cook brought Michelle's four-song demo to James Stroud at DreamWorks; that was enough to speed the artist and the label together and hasten the creation of the album whose second or third track should be winning you over just about now. If you need a little help, though, Michelle is happy to oblige.

"I describe this music as 'margarita meets martini,'" she offers. "It shows me for who I am: fun-loving, with a gritty gunslinger attitude and tomboy tendencies, coupled with sophisticated songs that reflect my experiences in love and loss. So girls, if you've just broken up with somebody, put my record on, pour yourself a glass of wine, and treat yourself to a bubble bath. Guys, I'll
meet you at the bar and we'll hang out... maybe even pick a song or two with the band!"

In other words, forget about that pilot license -- Michelle Poe is just beginning to fly....SO HANG ON!

THE BASICS
Birthday: September 6
Born: Toledo, OH
Hometown: Plantation, FL
Reside: Nashville, TN
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde
Height: 5’ 8”
Marital Status: single
Children: none
Siblings: 2 brothers (Scott, Brett), 1 sister (Jessie)
Pets: 2 Pomeranians (Boss and Bear), Mini Yorkie "Bimmer".
Musical Influences: Steve Wariner, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, Ricky Skaggs
Instruments: bass & acoustic guitar
Hobbies: flying, water sports, Harley riding, reading
Pet Peeve: not being on time
I sleep in… Victoria’s Secret nightgowns
I never leave home without… lipstick

FAVORITES
Color: green
Food: sushi
Ice Cream: raspberry sorbet
Restaurant: Tokyo (Nashville, TN)
Place: Maui
Book: The Bible
Movie: “Shawshank Redemption”
TV Shows: Animal Planet, The Discovery Channel
Cartoon: The Simpsons
Sports Team: Tennessee Titans
Song: “Some Fools Never Learn” (Steve Wariner)
Musical Artist: Steve Wariner
Album of all time: I’M JUST THAT WAY (Mark Nesler)
Car: Jeep Scrambler

INTERESTING TIDBITS
I first realized I wanted to be an artist… when I realized that I wasn’t a very good pilot!
I want to be a singer/songwriter because… free therapy!
The most exciting part of my career so far… Singing my debut single, "Just One of the Boys" on the Opry!
Strangest gift I’ve received: a goat on my 21st Birthday
Most unusual job: a pizza delivery girl
First paying gig: Ft. Lauderdale Swap Shop (age 10)
Job I would rather starve than do: pizza delivery
My hero is… My Mama, for every reason
Posters on my wall as a kid: airplanes
First childhood crush on a star: Steve Wariner
Ideal date: A 4x4 with a tool box on the back for dancing to country music and a six-pack of something cold to drink
If I could meet anyone, dead or alive, and ask them one question, it would be… My Grandpa, I would ask him what heaven is like.

MY SOUND
“Margarita meets martini…sexy gunslinger attitude and grit blended with classy country production; sung with a maturity that comes only from real life experiences in love and loss.”

UPDATE:
After being dropped from her record deal with Dreamworks in 2004 due to a corporate merger, just two weeks before her album release date, Michelle has remained steadfast in her search for another label home. She is currently writing new songs and freelancing on the bass guitar with various bands and artists while recording a bluegrass record with multi talented singer, musician, and producer, Randy Kohrs. Michelle refuses to let her dream die...dead set on finding her hard earned and much deserved place in the music industry. She adds with determination... "I know that God gave me this gift for a reason and I am not going to disappoint Him. I am keeping the faith!"