Nashville-based Colorado-bred singer/songwriter Michelle Mandico has unveiled a beautiful new video for “Ptarmigan,” the title track of her widely-praised LP released in 2018. "Ptarmigan" was filmed on the ski slopes at Loveland Pass in Colorado; Mandico, who grew up on these same slopes, wrote the song on Christmas Day in 2015, after she skied the silent, empty slopes alone, contemplating a challenging time she was going through personally and within her family. She spent most of her time using a lift called Ptarmigan - a ptarmigan is a cold climate-dwelling bird that changes color (from dark to light) with the seasons for survival. She wrote the song that night and began to identify with the ptarmigan's symbology, thinking of it as a metaphor for that season of her life, an artist passing through darkness into the light. "The stripped-down acoustic-guitar based song features Mandico’s delicate vocals as she contemplates her place in the world," said Billboard in its premiere. “My hope is that this video as a visual story conveys the metaphor that this album has become for me. The courage and awareness to speak up about the blind spots that depression can cause and in contrast to the bright, wide ideas that artists flow through, oftentimes quietly riding the ups and downs of life, purpose, and existence," Mandico told Billboard of the video. The song features Scott Mulvahill and Luther Dickinson on guitars, and Ryan Joseph (Alan Jackson, Kacey Musgraves) on fiddle. The song (and album) was co-produced by Mandico and Kevin Houston and was executively produced by Dickinson.
WATCH: "PTARMIGAN"
Mandico traded in the snowy Colorado slopes for the warm sounds of Nashville to deepen her career as a writer and musician. Encouraged by a musical family, she grew up singing with her sisters before learning to play piano at age five and began songwriting shortly after. Her debut full-length album, PTARMIGAN, is a colorful tribute to her crossing from the Rocky Mountains to Music City. Venturing into Americana, Western-folk, and roots, Mandico began recording with Kevin Houston in Coldwater, Mississippi at Zebra Ranch, the legendary studio of Jim Dickinson. Stripped down to live takes with no click and a handful of esteemed collaborators, the songs of PTARMIGAN lead with vocal intimacy and devoted lyrical imagery. Besides pursuing her music career, Mandico teaches yoga and encourages others to practice emotional wellness by holding space for honest conversation around mental wellness, openly sharing her struggle with anxiety and depression, and how she’s directed these dark times towards artistic inspiration, like the ptarmigan.
On April 10th, Mandico will release Something New, a three-song piano and vocal collaboration with jazz pianist Eunha So. Be sure to follow her for the latest updates.