ProStudioMasters.com

Twenty years ago, Michael Reynolds was lead vocalist/songwriter for the acclaimed alt-country band Pinmonkey. Ten years ago, he quit the business. But while he may have stepped away from his music career, Michael Reynolds never quit writing songs. Now nearly a decade later, his Blue Élan Records debut album Tarnished Nickel Sky marks the wholly unexpected and altogether triumphant return of a genuine country original. The eleven self-penned tracks capture Reynolds’ gifts for evoking wandering spirits, dirt road epiphanies and finite lives poised on the threshold of forever. Five-time Grammy-winning producer Ray Kennedy (Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Chris Knight and Rodney Crowell) recounts “an effortless poetry that felt literary. His voice is the most evocative tenor since Vince Gill and it really pulls you in. With each song he sang, I knew exactly what the album needed to be.” For Michael Reynolds, Tarnished Nickel Sky is the unexpected next chapter in a story that continues to surprise the music industry, country audiences and, perhaps most of all, the performer himself. “Twenty years is a lifetime ago. I think about all the time I’d spent haunting Music Row trying to accomplish something. I’d listen to what was popular, and every trend that came along felt like chains that held me down. Letting go of any expectations, whether it was from Nashville or myself, was the most freeing thing I’ve ever done. Maybe that’s why the experience of writing and recording this album feels new again. I can point to Tarnished Nickel Sky with pride and say, ‘This is who I am.’” - Michael Reynolds