New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Shore Fire Media) On Oct. 22
Brandy Clark releases 12 Stories, her full-length debut, on Dallas-based Slate Creek Records. A celebrated songwriter of notable hits including two Country No. 1s (The Band Perry's "
Better Dig Two" and
Miranda Lambert's "
Mama's Broken Heart") and Kacey Musgraves' "Follow Your Arrow," it's Clark's voice that's front-and-center on this anticipated 12-song collection.
Teaming up with producer Dave Brainard (Jerrod Niemann),
Brandy used her writing gift and distinctly Country voice to craft a record that has touched everyone lucky enough to hear it. Marty
Stuart is a vocal fan, as are
Miranda Lambert,
Sheryl Crow and Kacey Musgraves. All of them are attracted to Brandy's unfiltered take on the human experience, its joys and especially its frailties.
"I think my music is a dark comedy, just as I think life is a dark comedy," says Brandy. "The truth is funny sometimes. I don't ever want to come across as corny or novelty, but you have to laugh at things. I feel like this record is about what's really going on in life."
Born and raised in the small Washington mill town of Morton,
Brandy developed an affection for the working-class. Her father, a logger, died in a work-related accident, her mother toiled in human resources at the mill, and
Brandy herself worked amid the lumber. As such, she related to the hardship depicted in the film "Coal Miner's Daughter" and became obsessed with the music of Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline and Merle Haggard.
But above all,
Brandy adored eccentric personalities.
"I love characters," says Brandy. "When Mount St. Helens erupted, I remember my grandmother just standing on the porch, smoking a cigarette, and watching the hot mud fall from the sky. My grandmother was my favorite character in life."
12 Stories is full of diverse characters. There's the woman in first single "Stripes" who fantasizes about killing her cheating husband, but doesn't want to be caught dead in an orange jumpsuit. There's another who asks Jesus for help, but plays the lottery just in case in "Pray to Jesus." And there's the bored housewife in "
Get High" who escapes daily drudgery by rolling joints at the kitchen table.
"I get my inspiration from real people who are just surviving their lives and getting through their days. That's who I write songs for," explains Brandy. "I want to write songs for somebody who is working at a bank--if that person could write a song, what they would write. That's my goal."
12 Stories track listing:
1. Pray To Jesus
2. Crazy Women
3. What Will Keep Me Out Of Heaven
4. Get High
5. Hold My Hand
6. Stripes
7. In Some Corner
8. Take A
Little Pill
9. Hungover
10. Illegitimate Children
11. The Day She Got Divorced
12. Just Like Him
