Brandy Clark talks to us about new music and who she's been writing with ahead of her show at Co

One of my favourite artists and songwriters of all time is Brandy Clark, the grammy nominated Country writer is the greatest storyteller around, and I was overjoyed to hear that a new album was just around the corner. As part of Country music week, Brandy is coming to our shores to play just one show in London and I was keen to chat to her again ahead of that show. It was the third time we’d had the pleasure of chatting but there was loads to talk about, brandy has various projects on the go and it was exciting to hear more about them! Unfortunately a problem on the line cut our interview slightly short but we still managed to get lots of insight into what we can expect from the new record!

The last time we spoke was just after you released your Live in LA record and we discussed the musical you were working on with Shane as well, first of all are we any closer to hearing more about that here in the UK?

You know it’s crazy you would ask that because we are! The musical went on a bit of a hiatus but we just got a new producer on board and we’re working on getting a new director and we’re getting ready to dive back in so it could be sooner than later. We had some re-writes to do and some script changes so depending on how long that takes we could open as soon as next fall, we’re not sure yet but it’s alive and well.

That’s great to hear! You are returning to the UK very soon though for one show only! What can UK fans expect from that show, an introduction to some new music perhaps?

You sure will. I’ve done a couple of shows since September and we’ve worked in five new songs from my new record. We did the photo shoot for it yesterday which is so exciting! It’s eleven tracks so you’re hearing almost half of it, actually I did six last show so you’re hearing over half of it/ It’s got a new flavour to it. I still have two of the same guys that you’ve seen me with before, Vanessa McGowan and Miles Aubrey, Miles isn’t able to make this trip so he won’t be there but Vanessa will and we now have a cellist on stage and I think we’re going to have keys on this show but I’m not positive. I haven’t been on the road as much this year because of working on the record and writing, every show’s been a different band which is a little like flying by the seat of my pants but we’ve been making it work.

Yeah that’s great. I was actually talking to your mum last night and she says you love coming to the UK, that you love the crowd, what do you love most about coming to the UK?

Well yes, definitely the crowd, she’s not exaggerating. I love y’alls appreciation for songwriters, I love that you guys listen, I love that when a new album comes out you learn every song on it. The first time I ever played over in the UK that was the first thing that blew my mind the most that the fans knew all my songs on the new record, even the ones that hadn’t been promoted as a single, that just blew my mind!

I want to talk about the record you’re currently working on, what writers you’re collaborating with, producers, musicians etc but firstly there’s one song that I heard you sing that got stuck in my head straight away, apologies… I sing it all the time especially if I’m apologising to my Mum (who shares a birthday with you btw) in fact she always says I’ve probably sung that chorus more times than you, but will we hear a version of that song on the record?

You know what you’re going to be really happy, it is on the record! We haven’t done that one live yet on this run of shows, we did it live before we started working on the record but not since. The recorded version isn’t all that much different from what we were doing live but it’s a little different so I’m going to have to work out if we can play that live sooner than later.

I’m so excited to hear that one!

I love to hear that!

So who have you been working with on this record, writers that you worked with on your last two records or are there any new writers credited on this record?

You know a little bit of both, I have a lot of the same people that I’ve worked with before, the person that has the biggest chunk of songs on the record is a co-writer of mine called Jessie Jo Dillon, we have written a lot since we met each other. She’s got about 5 or 6 songs on it. She’s coming in to a lot of success now so I hope that this record is one more big success for her as a writer, that’s my hope haha. Then there’s a couple of songs on there with Shane, you mentioned him earlier, he and I always write. I’ve written with Scott Stepakoff, you mentioned Apologies, he and I wrote Love Can Go To Hell off my last record together and Apologies is another co-write with him and Forest Whitehead. I’ve worked with Forest, he used to be in my band and he played and sang on my last record and he sang on this one too but I haven’t had a song that I’ve written with him recorded yet so this is a first for he and I and he’s such a talent, I’m lucky to work with him. Then there’s other people like Clint Daniels who I’ve loved for years, I’m a big fan of his, he and I have a song on there that we wrote with Jessie Jo. Barry Dean, I’ve never recorded anything I’ve done with Barry but the last track is a co-write I did with him and Luke Laird. There’s a few people sprinkled in to this record, Chase McGill, I’m a big fan of and I wrote the first song on the record with him and Jessie Jo. Jesse Frasure, I love him and he’s got a song on there. There’s the main stays and a few spices!

Some fantastic names there! I chat to Barry Dean every time I go to Nashville and he’s spoken to me about writing with you before so I’m really looking forward to hearing that co-write in particular!

Unfortunately at this point we lost connection with Brandy but don’t forget she plays in London on the 25th October for one night only and you can hear some of the new music she’s been working on! Also tune in to her radio show on Gimme Country at 8pm BST (7pm GMT). We all hope you had a great birthday yesterday Brandy!