Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
BY MELISSA RUGGIERI
In February, Brandy Clark competed against Iggy Azalea, Bastille, Haim and Sam Smith for a best new artist Grammy.
She didn’t win — the honor went to show-sweeping Smith — but her inclusion signaled a newfound acceptance by the mainstream music industry.
It also indicated, again, that the criteria for best new artist is a bit hazy, because Clark has been a viable presence since 2011 when she, frequent collaborator Shane McAnally and more recent musical soulmate Kacey Musgraves wrote “Mama’s Broken Heart” for Miranda Lambert.
She’s also the songwriting voice behind the Band Perry’s haunting “Better Dig Two” and, along with McAnally and Musgraves, “Follow Your Arrow,” the candidly inspirational hit for Musgraves that earned the trio song of the year honors at last year’s CMA Awards.
But, thanks to Clark’s own beauty of a record, 2013’s “12 Stories” (also nominated for a Grammy; Lambert’s “Platinum” won), she’s now also being courted as a performer as well as a songwriter.
Along with a current spate of dates opening for Alan Jackson, Clark is headlining her own shows. She’ll swing by Terminal West on Wednesday for a performance with her band that she says will prompt fans to “have a really good time, laugh a little and maybe cry some.”
Calling from Nashville, Tenn., recently, Clark admitted that life on the road is a bit different from her old habits of holing up on Music Row to hunker down and write songs.
“It’s definitely been an adjustment,” she said with a knowing laugh. “I’ve learned that I can work harder than I ever knew. I’ve gained a lot of empathy for artists. Being a songwriter all those years, you think you’re the one with the tough job. But the truth is there’s really no harder job than being an artist. I’ve had to learn to do my makeup for the stage and learn how to be a performer every night and be ‘on.’ That takes a lot of energy.”
Clark gained treasured experience last year when she hit the road as the opening act for Jennifer Nettles' solo tour and, later in the year, joined Eric Church for several dates.
But working with — and learning from — Georgia native Nettles earned a special place in Clark’s heart.
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
“That tour was the greatest thing,” Clark said. “Jennifer is such a generous performer and person overall. She was a great artist for me to open for. The whole time I was out with Eric I saw him maybe one time and I see Alan very little, but Jennifer and I became friends.”
As if touring relentlessly weren’t enough to crowd a schedule, Clark and McAnally are tweaking the music and lyrics for the new musical “Moonshine: That Hee Haw Musical,” which opens in Dallas in September.
The songwriting pair has worked on the production for more than two years — “It’s such an undertaking, but I’ve learned so much from it,” Clark said — and hopes it will eventually land on Broadway.
“The first thing I always tell people (about the musical) is that it’s not the variety show, but it’s based on ‘Hee Haw’-esque characters. It’s a love story set in Kornfield Kounty. It’s a linear story.”
“Moonshine” was written by Robert Horn (“Lone Star Love,” “13”) and directed by Gary Griffin (of the soon-to-close “Honeymoon in Vegas” musical).
Clark will continue to wear out the highways through May, but then plans to take about six weeks to concentrate on writing and recording the sequel to “12 Stories,” which she intends to release this fall.
“I definitely feel that pressure,” she said of following up an award-contending album, “but I don’t want to let that affect what happens in the studio. The biggest thing for me is to not try to re-create it or even top it. I don’t want to create a twin of it. I want it to be more of a cousin.”
Brandy Clark with Caitlin Gutierrez. 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. $25. Terminal West, 887 W. Marietta St. N.W., Atlanta. 404-876-5566, www.terminalwestatl.com.
About the Author
