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So they shifted gears and locales, heading across the country to Micah’s home state and putting their musical focus on songwriting and producing for other artists  -- a rewarding fresh start for the creative couple.

Then the phone rang and they entered “The Twilight Little House Zone on the Prairie.”  You can almost hear Rod Serling explaining that it’s a world in which they can live removed from the traps and travails of the music business, make music on their own, personal terms and still get it out to a large audience. Or is that Laura Ingalls Wilder’s voice?

In their own words:

“We were 100% surprised,” Lori says of the call from CBS Records consultant Larry Jenkins, who had worked with the duo while an executive at Columbia Records. “He called us out of the blue in our little town here in Virginia , and we’d put that side of our career at rest.”

Adds Micah, “We’d been writing and producing for other acts, so it was a bizarre experience with him saying, ‘Hey, what are you doing with your music?’ ”

“It was cool,” continues Lori. “We have a backlog of things we’d written and no one’s heard, and the thought of getting it out there on CBS is exciting. We love the music and it’s fun to write for yourselves again.”

So now, billing themselves as the Wilshires, they’re releasing How to Fly, their first new recordings in five years, five sparkling songs from the heart. Produced by the pair and recorded largely at home with Lori playing acoustic guitar, Micah on guitars and bass and a few other musicians brought in to fill the songs out as needed, the music is at once personal and embracing, comfortable and yearning, buoyant and rooted – just as the artists are themselves.

It’s further fitting that they relate the experience to two classic television shows, as TV exposure is a key component of the CBS Records strategy.

The Wilshires are one of the first acts signed to the re-launched CBS Records, which has brought a new approach to the music business allowing artists a tremendous amount of freedom and flexibility without sacrificing reach and exposure. The music of CBS Records artists is being integrated into CBS television programming and other avenues of both traditional and new media, with primary availability of the recordings coming via alliances with iTunes (www.iTunes.com) and other digital music retailers, taking full advantage of the efficient potential of on-line distribution. How to Fly will be followed later in the year with a second five-song set, together the two making a full album.

“That’s a big point to us, that the songs will be exposed through shows,” Micah says. “We’ve always heard comments from people, ‘Oh, your music would be great on TV!’ ”

The course of events that brought them to this has made them stronger as people and as artists.

“The thing with our New Universe record, it was going great for a second and then there was the typical shifting of powers at labels,” Micah says. “Obviously we were disillusioned. So we decided we just wanted to write music and produce. We always loved this area and just moved here. A plane trip is not that far – an hour for New York . Pretty close to D.C. too. For us it’s so peaceful out here. We needed change. Lori always said we’re the kind of writers who need drastic change.”

Says Lori, “It’s true. We need to shake things up by moving clear across the country. This could not be more different than L.A. No street lights and at night it’s so dark you can’t see your hand in front of your face. In L.A. we were used to helicopters and sirens and police action right in front of our house. Now we’re on first-name basis with everyone at the post office.”

Not to give the wrong impression, they note that nearby Charlottesville is hardly a backwater. The university town is home to many well-known figures from various arts and it’s not uncommon for the Wilshires to see John Grisham or Sissy Spacek or Dave Matthews at the grocery store. But it is removed from a mind-set that was hard to escape in L.A. and Nashville , where they’d first met and started their personal and professional life together.

“It’s been liberating because we feel we can write about whatever we want to write about,” Micah says. 

The decision to break free is clearly reflected in the tone and tenor of the new songs.

“The song ‘Whichever Way the Wind Blows,’ that for us was really mentally where we were and are, where we felt liberated,” Micah says. “After we had gone through the record thing, we just decided we were going to do what we want to do and felt this sense of freedom. I know it’s about a girl, but it’s also about us.”

The song “Already Home” reinforces the theme.

“We wrote that one right after a road trip from L.A. to Texas , which is where I’m from,” Lori says. “That really is a going-home song, getting back to your roots, appreciating where you came from and that those experiences changed you and made you who you are today. I was a stubborn kid, and Micah was too . . . ”

“Oh yeah!” he interjects.

“ . . . and that transformation made us take bold steps and do what we needed,” she concludes.

The two caution against taking the songs too literally as being about them – it’s more in terms of inspiration than exact details. But “Something Good” is as close to autobiographical as they get. The very fact that they can be as open as this, they say, is another sign of the changes they’ve undergone.

“That song pretty much documents our whole relationship,” Micah says. “It talks about when we got married.”

Says Lori, “And how young we were! 22 and 23, good grief! Can’t believe how young we were. We usually don’t get that specific about ourselves. But one thing with our previous records, we were trying to cover up that we were married because it wasn’t sexy. We’d been married awhile, covering up how old we were too. I don’t care anymore about all that. Now I want to be honest, and if that’s not cool, fine with me.”

In contrast, “How Long Lonely” is just a song.

“That’s made up, not biographical,” Lori says. “Whenever we write a love song, people say, ‘Oh, you’re the greatest couple ever!’ But when we write a break-up one it’s, ‘Are you guys okay?’ ”

“People know not to ask that any more,” Micah says. 

Micah and Lori met after each had moved to Nashville , she to study at Belmont University , he to work as a session musician. Soon both were performing around town and, inevitably, met. A musical connection was instantaneous and they teamed at first to play cover songs in clubs, but before long were focusing on their own material. After moving to L.A. in 2001, a self-produced version of “Special” led to a major-label deal with Columbia Records and New Universe was produced by David Tickle and the Wilshires both in L.A. and at his Hawaii studio.

Though the public trajectory of that album got stymied, today they see clearly that the path that led from there was true to them. Moving on was not just good, but necessary, a journey of discovery that put them exactly where they belong.

“We follow muses,” Lori says.

“Like we’re in one place and we soak up all we can and then have to keep moving,” Micah adds.

“People are puzzled here – ‘Why are you guys here? Why did you move from L.A. ,’ ” Lori continues.

“Hard to explain. But we follow the muse, and it was here.”

That goes for their Virginia locale and the shining songs of How to Fly. Their muse led them home.



Click here to read the biography for "New Universe"
Click here to read the biography for "Second Story"