Catching up with Michelle Murray these days is a very difficult task.
Between Michelle’s daily workout routine, song writing sessions, band rehearsals, local shows around Nashville and her upcoming United States Tour Schedule, Michelle is a busy woman. Not to mention she does all of this while at the same time balancing life as a mother of three children; Thomas 10, Faith 8, & Madeline 4.
Michelle has been very busy touring and filming for both the Documentary film, “My Finish Line” and her Reality Series “Long Road To Fame”. Michelle also released the single and music video for the song “Love Me Like You Love Your Truck” this past summer.
“My Finish Line” www.myfinishlinethemovie.com was filmed during the 2010 Indianapolis 500. It is the inspirational story of Indy Car team owner Sam Schmidt. The film was inspired by the touching song “It Won’t Be If But When” (Sam’s Song), penned by Michelle and fellow Nashville songwriter Paige Logan. “It is one of those songs that captivates and inspires you, bringing a smile to your face and a tear to your eye at the same time.” remarks Caroline Boyce widow of legendarysongwriter Tommy Boyce. The film was released to DVD this fall.
“Long Road To Fame” www.longroadtofame.com filming kicked off this September as Michelle’s management team has turned her life or ‘organized chaos’ into a television based reality show. “I get asked all the time about what it is like bringing the kids on the road with me. I just laugh and say want to come along??” The series is being produced by EMMY Award winning Sunrise Entertainment www.sunriseentertainment.com and will be filming the remaining episodes for Season I and Season II in 2012. Find out why Michelle always says “Singing is the easy part!”
“Love Me Like You Love Your Truck” music video was filmed at the Bauer Equestrian Centerand at Bootleggers Saloon, both in Yankee Lake, Ohio. The footage shot at the equestrian center features vintage Ford trucks ranging from the 1970’s to the 2010 Ford F350 Harley Davidson Edition and nothing but Firestone Tires. The video showcases two monster trucks: Gary Bauer’s Nightmare, which is on set, and footage of Joe Sylvester’s Bad Habit breaking the world record jump at the 2010 Cornfield 500. Live concert footage also appears in the video, shot at Bootleggers Saloon later the same day. Over 500 Country Music Fans braved the snow and ice to be cast as extras in the music video. It was directed by Adam Drake and edited by Sunrise Entertainment and was release in June.
Michelle was also honored by being named “Miss Guts & Glory” www.gutsandgloryrally.com in 2011. Guts & Glory is a 9,000 mile timed journey crossing America’s lower 48 states in just 11 days. A $100,000 Cash Prize, a hand built Dave Perewitz custom motorcycle and a custom Gibson “Guts & Glory” guitar go to the winner who gets closest to the legal travel time across 11 checkpoints covering this great nation. Each “leg” between checkpoints will have a pre-determined legal time to safely run a pre-determined course. The rider with the most points at the finish claims the Glory of the Grand Prize. Each bike will be tagged with a GPS unit and a laser timing chip to maintain both the proper course adherence and timing throughout every leg of the Rally. A dedicated website will allow the world to follow the race, updated daily and during the entire event. The entire Rally will be filmed in High Definition by Emmy Award winning Sunrise Entertainment. To promote the rally, Michelle Murray “Miss Guts and Glory” will kick off a 15 city Guts and Glory Promotional Tour beginning on June 25th in Winchester, Virginia. The promotional tour will help raise awareness for the rally, its sponsors and benefiting charities. Michelle Murray will co-host the 11 part reality/documentary series that is “Guts & Glory”, bringing this exciting, one-of-a-kind event into the homes of millions of people all over the world.
Michelle also signed with Bottles-Up Inc. www.bottlesupinc.com to develop her signature cocktail and her very own brand, Taylor Street Vodka! www.taylorstreetvodka.com The Bottles-Up debut party was held in Beverly Hills at the SLS Hotel with Rand Luxury, known for launching other highly acclaimed companies including Jimmy Choo and Juicy Couture. Michelle Murray has been selected as one of 15 celebrities to have a specialty cocktail named after her. Michelle is the first celebrity to launch a line of product through Bottles-Up. The signature cocktails were created by Bottles-Up’s Chief Mixologist and Bartender Hall of Fame™ Inductee, Raymond T. Srp. Taylor Street Vodka™ celebrates Michelle’s Italian and Czech heritage and will reflect back to a time long since gone and a generation that sacrificed so much. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Taylor Street Vodka™ will go to support programs at faith based treatment centers like Sober Recovery.
Michelle has continued her role as a spokesperson for the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation. www.samschmidt.org Sam, owner of Sam Schmidt Motorsports www.samschmidtmotorsports.com, was an Indy Car Driver who was paralyzed in a racing accident in January 2000. “He is such an incredible person whose strength and spirit is an inspiration to everyone he comes in contact with and I feel honored to be a part of his Foundation.” Michelle continues to enjoy making a difference through the Foundation and is excited about taking more active with the foundation and its fundraising efforts. Michelle will be hosting the third annual Stars & Strikes Celebrity Bowling Fundraiser taking place during the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis, Indiana. As host, Michelle was able to select the benefiting charity and as expected, named the SSPF as the benefiting charity. Michelle also made an appearance at the 5th annual Sam Schmidt “Racing to Recovery” Golf Tournament, held at Southern Highlands Golf Club inLas Vegas Nevada.
Michelle attended four INDYCAR events this season and experienced the ultimate high of being in the Winners Circle several times, including celebrating with Sam Schmidt and Dan Wheldon at the 2011 Indianapolis 500 in May to the gut wrenching and heart breaking tragedy of losing Dan Wheldon at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, just after Michelle’s performance at the INDYCAR Ministries Sunday morning service. Michelle performed our National Anthem LIVE on Network TV at the Kentucky Speedway and gave two FREE Concerts that weekend to support the Chris Griffis Family Fund (Sam Schmidt’s Team Manager, Chris Griffis passed away unexpectedly in September). Michelle also made an appearance in April at the Alabama Grand Prix, visiting that track for the first time. INDYCAR fans will be seeing Michelle at many of the stops on the INDYCAR Circuit in 2012.
Michelle never forgets to give credit where credit is due. “It takes so many people to make anything a success to run smoothly and it’s so exciting and amazing to see what happens when you put a multitude of talents together.” She will tell you the thirteen person crew is the backbone of her success, from her remarkably talented band, management, booking agent, wardrobe consultant, photographer and most importantly her Nanny. “Being a mother is the most important job in the world to me and it can be overwhelming trying to balance everything. There are many times when I just feel like I’m failing it all and I’m so grateful for the love and support around me, especially those helping with my children. We try to work my schedule around the kids school calendar so they can enjoy being apart of their school and have an opportunity to spend time with their friends. They love traveling though and get so excited every time we go on the bus.” Michelle and her crew saw almost 40,000 miles
on the road this year alone.
After a decade in the making, Michelle is beginning to see the fruits of her labor. With a rock solid foundation built on faith and love, Michelle has four albums under her belt, hundreds of concerts, performing for tens of thousands of people and has graced the cover of a handful of magazines. It has been a “Long Road To Fame” but that has made all the difference.
