Michaela Anne: Making Something Old New Again

Words by Ree Miller.

Well, Super Bowl LIX is a memory. The Chiefs didn’t make it a three-peat, and the young Eagles are on their way toward their own history. A new batch of commercials launched: Brad Pitt, the Affleck Brothers, and Martha Stewart; When Hellman’s Met Sally; Seal kissed a lime; Doritos. The usual stars, soda, and chips brigade. YAWN. I missed them all.

But wait! There was one interesting ad I learned of: Rocket mortgage company’s “Own the Dream“:

Touted as a one-of-its-kind integrated ad, it’s a one-minute bit of celluloid and audio morphing into the Superdome masses singing John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” If you Google the story behind this ad, you will find some details of how the creatives of Rocket had the idea and had to get Fox Sports to implement the tech. But the real magic comes from real-life indie-country/Americana artist Michaela Anne lending her talent to this commercial.

She leads off, solo, with the first verse of Denver’s classic song. Scenes of lives marching though everyday events: pregnancy; an army transport flight; a child being bathed in a kitchen sink; football game attendees singing. The things that you dream of. All the while Michaela Anne’s voice, augmented by harmonies of Jess Nolan, Jillette Johnson, Neysa Murray, Maya Felber-Glick, Stephanie Boolean, and Robby Hecht, builds the heartswell for a merger with that stadium full of live sports fans.

Michaela Anne made that classic song something new again. For Michaela’s part, I think she deserves some recognition and a listen or 10. She has released a new cover of Shania Twain’s “From This Moment On,” and will be touring with Josh Radnor in May. Check out the dates here.

See Timothy Reidy’s gallery of Michaela’s 2022 appearance at Hangar on the Hudson.