Saturday, April 5, 2014

Brandy Clark Sings About The Possibilities Of Jail Life




Brandy Clark has been on the Nashville scene for quite a while.  Prior to releasing her debut solo album 12 Stories in 2013, Clark made a living as a prolific songwriter for other country music artists in Nashville.  The long list of names includes Rebecca Lynn Howard, Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert, LeAnn Rimes and Kacey Musgraves just to name a few.  For those of you who are familiar with Musgraves' "Follow Your Arrow," you can thank Ms. Clark for making that song possible.




With a bunch of writing credits under her belt dating back to 2005, Clark has officially entered the realm of solo artist with material of her very own.

12 Stories is filled with very good songs throughout and as such, it is very hard for me to pick a favorite. Each selection is beautifully written and delves into aspects of everyday life that make traditional country music so good.  Did I also mention that some of the songs deal with very dark subject matter.  The album is made up of 12 tracks or stories that were admired by other artists but were not recorded by them due to the provocative storytelling and daring content.  Clark, however, is a master at blending the dark subject matter with a nice touch of humor.  One track that illustrates this very point is the album's first single "Stripes."


"Stripes" tells the story of woman who catches her significant other in bed cheating on her with another woman.  The protagonist seems to be so effected by this that she contemplates murdering her significant other right then and there.  While she doesn't mind the prospect of spending the rest of her life in jail for the most part, her vanity wins out because she fears how she would look in an orange jumpsuit and she hates stripes.  It is because of this that the man is saved from an almost certain death and the woman doesn't face a life in jail.


"The only thing savin' your life is that I don't look good in orange and I hate stripes!"

One can only hope this is the start of a successful solo career for one of Nashville's most well known songwriters within the country music industry.



Tim Musick
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