What Happened To The Country Music Duo, The Wreckers?
Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp saw success with their early 2000’s band before an unplanned split. See inside their journey.

Photo Courtesy The Wreckers
In 2005, longtime friends Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp came together to form The Wreckers, an award-winning yet short-lived country music duo. Bringing Branch’s pop-rock style and Harp’s country style together under one umbrella, The Wreckers were unlike anything that the country music industry had seen at the time, seamlessly genre-bending to create smash hits like “Leave the Pieces,” “My, Oh My,” “The Good Kind,” and more.
Getting signed to Maverick Records and seemingly being on top of the world, Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp were seeing a great deal of success as a country music duo, however, they returned to their solo careers in 2008, leaving fans with just one burning question: What happened?
Debut Album “Stand Still, Look Pretty” Spawned Chart-Toppers
Just one year after The Wreckers was formed, Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp released their debut album titled Stand Still, Look Pretty, which reached the top five on the Country Music Albums Chart in the United States, the top 20 on the Billboard 200 Chart, and number one album on the United Kingdom Country Chart. In addition to this, the lead-off single from said album titled “Leave the Pieces” quickly reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs Chart, but the success of Stand Still, Look Pretty did not end there.
“My, Oh My” also made its way into the top 10, and “The Good Kind” – which was originally recorded by Harp as a solo artist – was featured on the television series One Tree Hill. Branch and Harp performed the song on said series, prior to embarking on the One Tree Hill Tour with superstars like Gavin DeGraw, Tyler Hilton, Bethany Joy Galeotti, and more. As far as touring goes, The Wreckers also secured their spot as an opening act on Rascal Flatts’ tour throughout the summer of 2006, as well as headlining gigs at smaller clubs from coast to coast.
After the success of Stand Still, Look Pretty, The Wreckers were nominated for Vocal Duo of the Year at the CMA Awards in 2006 – ultimately falling short to Brooks & Dunn – as well as Top New Vocal Duo or Group and Top Vocal Duo at the ACM Awards that same year. In addition to this, the duo was nominated for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for Leave the Pieces at the GRAMMY Awards in 2007, among numerous other accolades.
The Duo Unexpectedly Parts Ways
Despite the success of Stand Still, Look Pretty – as well as the seemingly bright future that The Wreckers had ahead – Branch and Harp returned to being solo singers in 2008, with the former admitting to The Hollywood Reporter years later that they “weren’t planning on breaking up.”
“We weren’t planning on breaking up. It wasn’t something that Jessica and I saw coming, and we had both been writing material together and separately for the next Wreckers album, planning on going down that road and making another Wreckers album, and having a lot of success,” she explained, before admitting that out of the blue the pair decided to go their separate ways.

Despite unexpectedly breaking up, both Branch and Harp achieved success as solo artists, especially the latter. Harp released her first solo single since the end of The Wreckers in 2009 – a tune titled “Boy Like Me” that ended up being a top 30 hit – prior to releasing her debut album, A Woman Needs, in 2010. Similarly, Branch released a song called “Sooner or Later” in 2009, before releasing a six-song EP, Everything Comes and Goes, the following year.
Nowadays, both Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp appear to have stepped out of the music scene for a bit, focusing on their children and their personal lives instead, but will The Wreckers ever reunite?
Will The Wreckers Reunite?
After their performance at his Million Dollar Show to benefit St. Jude Children’s Hospital, both Branch and Harp sat down with Bobby Bones to talk about all things The Wreckers, admitting that they had plans to reunite in 2020. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit – and when both women got pregnant – these plans were ultimately delayed, however, a reunion is not entirely out of the picture.
“Jess and I had plans to get together and just write and hang out and catch up, and then this thing called COVID happened and put a damper on our socializing,” Branch shared with Bones, before Harp added with a smile that they “keep having babies.”
“I think I wrote you and I was like, ‘I’m pregnant,’ and you were like, ‘Oh cool, because I am too.’ I was like, ‘Oh good, okay. Let’s just keep kicking this can down the road,’” Branch recalled.

To follow this rather lighthearted chat, the pair admitted that any time they are together, “It’s like no time has passed.” Because of this, both Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp believe that “the potential is there” for new music, and now it is just a waiting game for country music lovers.
Nonetheless, fans can connect with both Branch and Harp on social media for updates regarding the potential The Wreckers reunion. Until then, their music – both as a country music duo and as solo artists – is available to stream on all platforms.
Originally from Southern California and currently residing in Music City, Melanie graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a BA in Journalism before beginning her career as a music and entertainment journalist. Beginning to write for Country Now in August of 2023, she has also contributed to Holler, Music Mayhem, Country Chord, Celeb Secrets, Celeb Secrets Country, We Got This Covered and Decider throughout her career thus far. When she is not writing, Melanie enjoys going to concerts and music festivals, binging her favorite television shows, spending time with her friends and family and cheering on the Oklahoma Sooners (of course).