Editor's note: This is our third installment of 'Where are they now' and features well-known vocalist Michelle Botel. Something different this time – when asked for some background notes, Michelle sent the following and it will be published in her words!

By Michelle Botel

I grew up on the Queen Charlotte Islands, also known as Haida Gwaii on the west coast of B.C. and have lived in a few different communities around the province, including Victoria, Terrace, Hope and, most recently, 100 Mile House for a two-year period from 2006 to 2008. I am now back on the Queen Charlotte Islands for a time to bring some cohesiveness back into my family, as my kids have a need to be here.

My parents, Bruce and Carol Martin, have lived in Bridge Lake for several years as retirees (who will never fully stop working) on a 15-acre property that boasts some of the most incredible views and night skies I have ever seen! Our family has long had a special feeling for the Cariboo Region. On family road trips through BC, we would all pay close attention to the rolling grasslands and rustic beauty of this area. Our favourite driving game was counting barns between Prince George and Clinton!

During my two years in 100 Mile House, I was a homeowner and a business partner in The South Cariboo Healing Centre, which met its end after six short months due to a breakdown in the partnership. After this, I continued with my alternative healing practice out of my home across from Horse Lake, while one child attended Horse Lake Elementary and another attended Peter Skene Ogden. My middle child remained with his dad on the Queen Charlottes during that time, but was able to enjoy skating on Horse Lake and other winter fun while visiting over winter breaks.

I sang in a country/bluegrass band we called “Windy Mountain” and in addition to finding some kindred musical spirits therein with Vern, Richard and Brent, I connected with many other exceptional musicians and vocalists in this area through attending jam sessions and participating as one of the finalists in the 2008 South Cariboo Idol, not to mention achieving some professional quality recordings within two amazingly short and productive recording sessions with Rob Fry just days before I headed back to the QCIs! Did mention I am very driven in my need to share my music? My friend Lisa wrote to me on March 2, 2009, “your voice and spirit are so strong in these songs...what a gift you are giving in singing your messages...you are a warrior of truth! Thanks...it brought me home to my self too.”  These words beautifully capture the reality that music is a powerful medium by which we can speak to one another at many levels.

The wonderful part about being a songwriter/poet is that each interaction presents a wealth of potential material. While it is easy to write about something without having experienced it, a new level is added to a written work when music and voice are intertwined with such universal themes as love, heartbreak, desire, loss, etc. It is not that I write and sing only from my own depths and experience either: I come from a place of empathy and connection with others which, along with natural talent, blows the top off of things - it allows the limited to become limitless. The moment someone laughs or cries upon hearing a song is the moment in which human connection transcends time and space, and there is no separation. Chris Madden demonstrated this feeling well when he wrote to me, “love your songs, really great, they drew me in and I just got lost in your music for a while.”

For the past seven months, I have been developing my musical presence on-line through such sites as http://www.reverbnation.com/michelebotel and http://www.myspace.com/michelestunes as well as CBC Radio 3 and a Facebook page called the Michele Botel Music Page, which all Facebook users are welcome to join.

Presently, I have a digital CD entitled “Restless Soul” available on iTunes, Napster, and eMusic, which can be purchased by individual song or as the entire 9-song CD.

The ReverbNation site featuring over 300,000 artists, including many famous folks, is an intelligent database/spreadsheet which tracks a variety of statistics from day to day, including the number of site visits, song plays, most engaging song, new fans and many more. From all the statistics, a daily band equity score is generated, which reflects an overall measurement of an artist’s popularity with fans. Presently, I am holding at number 5 out of 718 artists on the Canadian Country Chart and number 109 out of 6184 artists on the Global Country Chart. My Reverb page has had over 9800 hits from other sites, 150 video plays, 1088 fans and close to 3000 visits and plays each directly on this page.

I am organizing a Restless Soul Tour throughout Canada with the first leg unfolding this November and December with shows booked in northern British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

In spring 2010 I will be heading across the country to the east coast with one show booked already in May 2010 in a renowned folk club in Regina, Saskatchewan. BC will receive my full attention in the summer of next year! Restless Soul t-shirts are on order and I am producing a hands-on CD (as opposed to digital) featuring many favourites and new releases to take on the road with me. My music is also in the trustworthy hands of Danie Cortese Entertainment Inc. for promotion to TV and Film, and my statistics reveal that music producers from the UK and the USA have been repeatedly listening in to my music.

Thus, I have been spreading my music around the globe and finding this to be an overwhelming amount of work, although it is my greatest passion second only to motherhood, and I would like to make music my primary career focus! Yet I am poised at the edge of wholeheartedly skipping down the musical path or continuing with my education toward a degree in teaching or psychology. Hailing from a long line of intellects, vocalists and writers, it is not by chance that I face perplexity at this fork in the road ~ it has been pondered by many previous family members and will be for many to come, judging by the musical talent in the new generation!