Michelle Branch grateful to have a 'wonderful' ex to rely on

Singer Michelle Branch is thankful to her "very wonderful" ex-husband Teddy Landau for helping to care for their daughter while she worked on fresh music with new boyfriend Patrick Carney.

The Everywhere hitmaker divorced the bassist in 2015, but Michelle reveals they remained on good terms after their split so they could put little Owen's needs first.

"I luckily have a very wonderful ex-husband, and I can say that, and I know a lot of people in my shoes can't," the 33-year-old tells People magazine. "He's 19 years my senior. Everyone enters a relationship with the best of intentions, and we grew apart.

"Having our daughter together was really the balancing factor when everything was kind of coming to a close. It was easy to focus on her and worry about how she felt and making it normal for her; it allowed us not to get too caught up in our own s**t."

And the single mom was so grateful to Teddy last summer (16) when he looked after their now-11-year-old girl as Branch worked on her album at Carney's Nashville, Tennessee home, which Michelle and her kid moved into last summer (16) after their professional relationship turned romantic.

"(Landau) flew to Nashville and was at our house watching (Owen) when Patrick and I were working," Branch says. "It's like (TV comedy) Modern Family."

The former couple's smooth transition after its divorce proved to be a big weight off Michelle's shoulders as she was also struggling professionally, having been dropped by bosses at Warner Bros.

She managed to pick herself up and land a new deal at Verve Records, under which she is releasing her new album Hopeless Romantic, but she insists it wouldn't have been possible without the unwavering support of The Black Keys drummer Carney, who she met at a Grammy Awards afterparty in Los Angeles two years ago.

Michelle admits she was blown away by his commitment to her work throughout the whole development process, especially after the rocker "stuck his neck out" for her when the former head at Verve Records expressed concern about her new indie rock sound.

"Patrick was like, 'You've been in this situation, and emotionally you need to do this. You need to get this record out and move on with your life,'" she recalls.

Michelle was even more surprised when Patrick insisted he would cover the costs himself if label officials refused to get behind the new music.

"I'd never had someone who was that supportive," she gushes. "He's an amazing, amazing human. We both just jumped in with both feet."

Hopeless Romantic is Branch's first solo album in 14 years, the follow-up to 2003's Hotel Paper.