Matt Bjorke: Who were some of your biggest influences growing up?
Brandy Clark: In Morton, the only station that really came in was the Country radio station. And my parents listened to the radio but my grandparents, who lived next door, listened to records from Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn and Dolly and Kenny were on the radio. It completely shaped everything I do as a writer. The biggest influence on me, as far as Country music, was the movie Sweet Dreams. That and “Coal Miner’s Daughter” were my favorite movies growing up. But Patsy Cline was my favorite artist growing up, if I had to just say one singer. And through that, Willie Nelson, Dolly, who is a huge influence, and later Patty Loveless. Once I got older, she was my modern Patsy Cline in my late teens/early 20s.
Matt: When did you move to Nashville?
Brandy: I Moved here, to Nashville, about 16 years ago. I went to college at Central Washington University and I was only there for a semester and the stories from that time were crazy. Then I moved home and went to Centralia College and majored in music. The music teacher encouraged me to move to Nashville and later my parents encouraged me to move here and I did, working some odd jobs
Matt: What was your first reaction when you heard Miss Reba was going to cut your songs?
Brandy: Oh, ecstatic! A lot of people don’t know this but Reba cut a song of mine for the record before All The Woman I Am but it fell off the record. But I went and celebrated it anyway, before learning it wasn’t making that record. But Reba cutting the songs of mine were real turning points for me because I had had cuts and singles before, but then when Reba cut not just one but two songs of mine and they both made the record, I thought, “This could really happen,” in a way I never thought possible before.
Matt: And one of those songs is now on your own album…
Brandy: Yes…
Matt: And now, even though you wrote it, those fans that know it from her album and then hear your version may say, hey, she’s singing a “Reba song”…
Brandy: Honestly, when I hear mine verses Rebas, It just pales in comparison because she took it and Reba-ized it…
Matt: bending the syllables…
Brandy. Taking one and turning it into 16…I just love how she does that. So, I am sure people who hear it will say, “oh, she’s singing that Reba song.”
Matt: All your biggest hits as a writer have come in the past year, year and a half or so. How does it feel to have those songs become so successful?
Brandy: Well, it was really exciting and It was also like a monkey off of my back in a way, because I’d had singles that had failed for so long so to have that one become a success. So that was really awesome. The one that I really felt “Woo!” was Miranda. (“Mama’s Broken Heart”). It was just fun.
Matt: And both of those have sold really well and in the case of Miranda’s song, it’s done remarkably well for a single that was released as the fourth single off a record, breaking a trend that usually happens, proving that people really loved that song…
Brandy: Yeah and I haven’t looked in a while but it was the most-played song of the year.
Matt: How fun was it for you to have the #1 Party with The Band Perry?
Brandy: It was fun and it really didn’t hit me til that party. The Miranda party was moved around and she was so gracious and really let that party be about the writers and the songs…
Matt: And now Kacey Musgraves’ new single is one your co-wrote, “Follow Your Arrow,” how special is it for you to have that one become a single?
Brandy: It’s pretty special because when we wrote that song, Kacey, her record was done as far as I knew. I thought we were writing just to keep her writing chops up. And she had that idea and a note for a friend of hers that was going to the UK and she had written “Kiss lots of boys, smoke list of joints and follow your arrow” on it. it some other things too (in the note) but those were the lines that made the song. So she just wanted to write that for her friend. So we wrote it and I really didn’t think much about it. And next thing I knew, they had recorded it for the record and Shane McAnally played it for me and it sounded awesome. But it knocked another of my songs off the record, a song I thought sounded more like ‘a single’ type of song. So I thought, there goes my chance at a Kacey single because “Follow Your Arrow” will never be a single. But that just goes to show me that I don’t know anything. So it’s way sweeter than other singles for me just because of that. It really is Kacey and the fans that have made it a single.
Matt: Yeah and there’s no risk, no reward with songs and while there’s some ‘risky words’ in that, I honestly think we’re ready for a song like that…
Brandy: I Do too.
Matt: If the guys can sings about sex and trucks all the time, why can’t the girls sing about being playful and being yourself?
Brandy: I was chatting with another reporter and they were like, “I really hope that song wins,” and I said, “You know what, even if it loses, it’s already won.” The fact that it’s a single and she’s going to do it at the CMAs and it’s doing really well.
Matt: so now we’ll talk about your record. Your debut album is called “12 Stories.” What’s the significance of that tile?
Brandy: It’s funny you’d ask that because we’d been back and forth on a title and this record’s actually been done for 2 years. During the making of it , Dave Brainard — who produced it — and I brainstormed back and forth and didn’t really wanna use one of the songs as a title. And Emily here at my management company we did that too and we could never come up with one and then sent it to the guy who did the graphic design and said what’s your title after listening to it once, and I said “I really don’t have one so we thought we’d call it “Brandy Clark” or “What’ll Keep Me Out Of Heaven,” if we were gonna have to use a song.” He said “you know, after a first listen, I would call this “12 Stories” and I went “Wow.” And then I said it to everyone and they were all in agreeable with it. We thought it was 12 little vignettes. Not necessarily about one person but 12 little stories.
Matt: How did you and your co-writers come up with “Stripes,” the first single?
Brandy: We wrote that at a writing retreat about 3 years ago. Myself, Matt Jenkins, and Shane McAnally and we were out at Center Hill Lake with six of us staying in one house and and it was so loud so the three of us decided to go write somewhere else. So we drive down the road, I thought we’d go write at a park or something and Shane pulls up to this house where nobody’s there. And he’s like, let’s write out on that deck and it’s chained shut and obviously ‘no trespassing,’ so we jump over the fence and start writing. Matt and I were pretty nervous and we thought the owner would be home at any minute and after a while I settled down and just focused on writing the song we were writing and Matt, he never did so whenever a car came around, he’d be up and looking for it.
So I said, “come on Matt, the worst that could happen is we’ll be wearing orange jumpsuits.” And Shane thought it was funny. He also goes, “You know, I’ve always wanted to write a song called “Orange” that was about a woman who wanted to kill her husband but didn’t because she didn’t look good in Orange but didn’t because nothing rhymes with orange.” But I said, ‘Yeah, but everything rhymes with Stripes.” And then said so lets write that. And we were off to the races. I also have to interject that I like all those shows on TV like “Lockdown,” “Hard Times,” all those prison shows…
Matt: Have you thought about trying to get the song into “Orange Is The New Black?”
Brandy: We’re working on that…
Matt: It just feels like it’d be perfect for that that show for a scene or something…
Brandy: And so many people have asked me, “did you write that song after seeing ‘Orange Is The New Black?” I then say, no, this song’s been around a long time…
Matt: Yeah, it’d have said something about “New Black” in there if you did…
Brandy: (laughs) yes.
Matt: What songs stand out to you the most on the record? Songs that say ‘hey, I’m here!’
Brandy: Well, “Hold My Hand” is a definite one that always rises for me, then there’s “Get High,” one of the oldest songs but when people hear it, it’s always a favorite. Then “Take A Little Pill.” Those are probably my standouts. A dark horse is “Hungover” and “Just Like Him” is a favorite for me too.
Matt: What one word best describes country music to you?
Brandy: Honest
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Brandy Clark’s 12 Stories is in stores now and you can find it at your local stores wherever music is sold or on Amazon or iTunes. Click here to read our review of 12 Stories.
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