About Michelle

Michelle Cashman makes music for the messy middle — the place between breaking and becoming, grief and gratitude, surviving and learning how to live.

Rooted in folk and Americana, her songs pair unflinching honesty with tenderness, humour and hope.

Her writing is shaped by a life lived outside the lines — leaving home early, recovery, late-diagnosed neurodivergence, love, loss and the long, imperfect work of learning to stand beside herself.

Her music does not offer easy answers or pretend that healing happens in a straight line. Instead, it offers something more human: a place to feel understood, catch your breath and perhaps feel a little less alone.

Born and based on the New South Wales South Coast, Michelle writes with the same contrasts found in the landscape around her — still water and wild weather, softness and force, refuge and reckoning. Her voice can float quietly over a melody before rising into something raw and commanding. Beneath it all is a belief that even the most difficult parts of our lives can be transformed into connection, meaning and something beautiful.

Songs. Stories. Solace.

Michelle’s work extends beyond the songs themselves. Through intimate performances, personal storytelling and genuine conversation, she creates spaces where laughter and grief can sit at the same table.

She shares what she has learned through more than twenty years of sobriety and ongoing recovery — not as someone who has arrived at a perfect destination, but as someone willing to keep learning out loud.

“I’m not 'healed', and I haven’t 'arrived'. I still feel everything intensely. The difference is that I no longer abandon myself when life becomes difficult. I’m learning to meet the woman in the mirror with honesty, courage and kindness — and to share that process so other people feel less alone.”

Michelle has performed on national television, including appearances on Australian Idol and The Voice. Her music has received national radio airplay, including high rotation on ABC Country and Triple M Country, and her album was named ABC Country’s Album of the Week. Her work has also appeared on CMC, reached the country music charts and connected with a committed community of listeners who value music with substance.

Alongside her work as a singer-songwriter and storyteller, Michelle is a qualified yoga and meditation teacher and holds a Diploma of Health Science. These practices inform the way she understands creativity, recovery and the nervous system, and occasionally find their way into her workshops, retreats and community offerings.

Whether she is singing from a stage, telling the story behind a song or creating a quiet space for people to reconnect with themselves, Michelle’s work is grounded in the same purpose:

To turn lived experience into music and meaning — and create something that helps people feel less alone.

Empowering hearts through authentic stories and music, Michelle Cashman is a guiding light for those navigating the complexities of life. With compassion, wisdom, and vulnerability, she inspires growth, healing, and self-acceptance, one melody and word at a time.