Photo by Chris Phelps
Brandy Clark
Through bold, borderline subversive co-writes like Kacey Musgraves’ “Follow Your Arrow” and Miranda Lambert’s “Mama’s Broken Heart,” Brandy Clark has earned a rep for infusing songs with sharp-tongued personality—even when the characters are fictional. But on her third country album, Your Life Is a Record (out March 6), the singer-songwriter is turning inward.
Following two critically adored albums and a trio of splashy Grammy nominations (but a disheartening lack of mainstream attention), the talented tunesmith decided to give her latest work a more personal touch. Lucky for her, life was providing plenty of source material.
“I did have fears about it because I’m really proud of my first two records, and I didn’t know where to go after that,” she says. “Being a music person, a lot of times I think of life through the eyes of music. Like, ‘If my life were an album, what would the songs be?’”
It just so happens that Clark was dealing with the end of two important relationships at the time, so what emerged is a remarkably clear-eyed entry into the breakup genre. With a song cycle that traces the path of a mending heart, it’s full of vulnerable admissions and soul-plumbing reflection as Clark works her way back to some semblance of normalcy, all wrapped in a sympathetic blanket of countrypolitan cool.
Turning away from the narrow path open to female artists at country radio, Clark instead challenged producer Jay Joyce to leave his usual tools on the shelf and started out with the idea of recording the whole thing acoustic. But at some point, the duo changed course, combining Joyce’s rebellious rock quirks with lush orchestration from The Memphis Strings & Horns, a unique new take on the classic 1960s “Nashville Sound” of icons like Patsy Cline.
“It is a breakup album, but in more than one way,” the singer-songwriter explains. “With my last record I was disappointed it didn’t get more support at country radio, because I worked really hard to get that done. I went through a personal breakup of a long relationship, and also a breakup with the idea of where I thought I fit as an artist. But in the end that was all OK, because it took the box I had put myself in away.”
The set begins with Clark exploring where she’ll fit into the album of her ex’s life, wallowing in regret on “I’ll Be the Sad Song.” “The thought of being somebody’s sad song—that just hit me,” she says of the Jessie Jo Dillon and Chase McGill cowrite.
But the emotional setting doesn’t stay in woe-is-me mode long. Soon she’s lashing out in good-riddance humor on “Long Walk,” shooting a steely, side-eyed glance with a finger in the air for the track’s chorus: “So take a long walk, off a real short pier / Take a cinder block with you as a souvenir.”
Later on, the stunning single “Who You Thought I Was” finds Clark in a healthier place, turning aspirational as her heart begins to heal. The title was inspired by a self-deprecating quote made by folk legend John Prine at the Americana Music Awards, leading to the soaring hook, “I wanna be at least almost close to worth your love.”
“It comes naturally to me—I am somebody who can look at my own stuff and see my part in things, even my mistakes,” she says of the track. “It doesn’t even necessarily have to be about a lover; it could be a parent, anybody you’ve let down. When you’re not who they thought you were, it’s tough.”
As in real life, the mood continues to brighten as time goes on, with big-name guests like Randy Newman and John Osborne helping Clark pull the poetry from day-to-day frustration on “Bigger Boat” and “Bad Car,” respectively. And before long, full-blown optimism rears its head with “Who Broke Whose Heart” angling for reconciliation, and “The Past Is the Past” burying the proverbial hatchet for good.
“The truth is I wouldn’t change anything now,” she says, seeming honestly grateful.
The reaction from radio and the rest of the mainstream remains to be seen, but Clark says she’s less concerned with that now. Your Life Is a Record finds her pencil sharp and her observational gaze even sharper and if it helps someone through a similar rough patch, that finally feels like enough.
“Somebody said if you’ve got a heart this record will break it, and if you’ve got a broken heart, it’ll bring it back together,” she goes on. “And I hope that’s true.”