BRAVERY THROUGH MUSIC. Jerrika Mighelle releases third album, titled "Be Brave," inspired by her own experiences.  (Photos via Facebook)

Being brave may seem easy, but courage can be hard to muster for many people during trying moments. Jerrika Mighelle, an Eau Claire songwriter and musician – who will soon relocate to Minneapolis – released her third album, Be Brave, on July 7. The 12-song collection is about finding courage, but what does being brave mean to the musician?

“It just means, be true to who you are,” Mighelle said. “You don’t need to be anyone for anyone else but yourself. Be true to that. ‘You will go where being takes you,’ like my mom would always say.”

The songs on Be Brave were inspired by many facets of her own life, including a tribute to her mother, her struggle with queerness, and personal experiences with alcoholism and sobriety.

“In my sobriety I realized how I had shoved down my own queerness, my own queer identity, just to protect others around me and how I hadn’t shared it through my most favorite art form: music.”

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“I gave up drinking and once that happened the floodgate of sadness that I had drank away came through, and I had to figure out how to process all that, how to find my spark again, which I sing about in ‘All the Time.’ Then, fears that I drank away started surfacing,” Mighelle explained. “So songs like ‘The Fuel’ came out and ‘Be Brave’ came out. In my sobriety I realized how I had shoved down my own queerness, my own queer identity, just to protect others around me and how I hadn’t shared it through my most favorite art form: music.”

One track on the album, “The Fuel,” was also developed into a music video starring Jerrika and her niece, Madelynn. It was directed and shot by fellow local musician Sarah Elstran (AKA The Nunnery) and her husband, Erik.

The video follows Madelynn on her bike with flashes of Jerrika, showing her playing throughout the Downtown Eau Claire area. The song is one of Jerrika’s personal favorites, describing how humans can turn things that scare them into fuel that pushes them to follow their dreams.

“(‘The Fuel’) is one of the best songs I've ever written structurally and lyrically,” Mighelle explained. “It covers all the bases with verse, chorus, bridge. It has that structure which I never really wrote with (before), but this one came out that way and I love the message that is attached to it too.”

The album’s creation was an insightful, joyous labor of love from many folks, including Evan Middlesworth, who recorded, mixed, and mastered it; Matt Haapala; Lauren Anderson; and harmonies by Serena Wagner and Jerrika’s sister, Elizabeth Steans.

To celebrate the release of Be Brave, Jerrika is hosting an album-release-slash-birthday party on July 30, doors opening at 4pm. The event is ticketed (but free for those 15 years and younger) at a private residence, so the address will be given to ticket holders after purchase. The event will have performances by Jerrika as well as Carriage House.

You can listen to Be Brave and see the music video for “The Fuel” at jerrikamighelle.com. You can purchase tickets to the album release show at volumeone.org/events.