Brandy Clark

Brandy Clark grew up in Morton, Washington, a logging town of only 900 people in the shadow of Mount St. Helens. As a child in the 1980s she was influenced by the country-pop and traditional country music artists she heard her parents and grandmother play like Barbara Mandrell, Ronnie Milsap, Merle Haggard and Loretta Lynn. Clark cites the Patsy Cline movie "Sweet Dreams" as being one of her biggest early influences.

She first picked up the guitar at 9 years old and made her singing debut in school musicals. Her mother encouraged her to write songs. Brandy abandoned her music for a period in high school, instead devoting her energies to sports, eventually attending college on a basketball scholarship at Central Washington University. She later quit basketball and moved back home where she obtained an associates degree from a community college. When she entered her first year of college, she started to get more serious about music taking guitar lessons again and joined a band along with her mother and a friend. As a teenager she discovered the music business program at Belmont University, so she enrolled and moved to Nashville in 1998. She studied commercial music and was chosen to perform in the school's prestigious “Best of the Best Showcase.” Upon graduation, Clark landed a job with Leadership Music, a job which led to her eventual publishing deal.

In 2011 "Mama's Broken Heart," written by Clark with Shane McAnally (her frequent collaborator) and Kacey Musgraves, appeared on Miranda Lambert's album Four the Record. It was released on January 14, 2013 as the fourth single reaching No.2 on both the Billboard Hot Country Songs & Billboard Country Airplay charts. Clark’s biggest success to date was as the co-writer along with McAnally and Trevor Rosen when she celebrated a No.1 song ASCAP Party at an industry gathering for The Band Perry‘s third No.1 hit, "Better Dig Two."

As a Music Row songwriter Clark writes songs that are mostly about the seedy underbelly of country folk. They are observational pieces based on flawed characters that tell the truth on the human condition. They contain dark humour, with a blend of wit and realism, whilst having the artistic license to make them fictional.

In 2012 she opened shows for Grammy Award winning artist Sheryl Crow. Brandy found an advocate in country artist Marty Stuart when on Saturday December 8, 2012 she joined him to make her Grand Ole Opry debut when she played his Grand Ole Opry Anniversary celebration and also at his Late Night Jam at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.

At the beginning of 2013 Brandy was chosen by CMT as one of the “Women of Country”, a year long promotion featuring up and coming artists. Clark digitally released a self-titled 3 track EP including songs “Pray to Jesus,” “Stripes” and “Take a Little Pill.”

She then released her debut album 12 Stories produced by Dave Brainard. It featured Vince Gill on background vocals.