MUSIC

Brandy Clark details forthcoming album, releases new tour dates and single: Listen

Matthew Leimkuehler
Nashville Tennessean

Ace country music songwriter Brandy Clark debuted Friday "Who You Thought I Was," a sentimental new single from her forthcoming studio album. 

The entrancing country story hears Clark weighing expectations versus reality: "There's a lot of things I used to want to do/ Until I met you." 

"Now I wanna be honest/ Now I wanna be better/ Now I wanna be the me I should've been when we were together. ... I wanna be who you thought I was." 

The song derives from a phrase Clark heard expert penman John Prine share during an Americana Awards speech in Nashville, she said in a news release.

“He walked out onstage at the Ryman and everyone stood up and clapped for what felt like five minutes," Clark said in the release. "When everyone sat down, he said with a little laugh, ‘Well, I’m John Prine, but I’d like to go back to being who you thought I was.’ Man … that hit me. ... I mean who of us hasn’t let somebody down or wanted to be the version of ourselves that someone who loved us thought we were?”

Brandy Clark arrives on the red carpet for the Americana Music Honors & Awards in 2017.

The CMA Award-winning songwriter releases the song as she readies her third full-length studio album, "Your Life is a Record." Jay Joyce produced the effort, which features guest spots from Randy Newman and guitarist John Osborne. 

A six-time Grammy Award nominee, Clark logged years as a Nashville songwriter — co-writing or writing staple hits such as Kacey Musgraves' "Follow Your Arrow" and Miranda Lambert's "Mama's Broken Heart." The new album follows her celebrated 2016 sophomore effort, "Big Day in a Small Town." 

Announcing a run of new shows Friday, Clark will take the new album on tour this spring. She plays March 29 at 3rd and Lindsley; tickets go on sale Jan. 17. See a full list of tour dates at brandyclarkmusic.com.

'Your Life is a Record' track list 

  • 1. "I’ll Be the Sad Song"  
  • 2. "Long Walk"  
  • 3. "Love is a Fire" 
  • 4. "Pawn Shop"  
  • 5. "Who You Thought I Was"  
  • 6. "Apologies"  
  • 7. "Bigger Boat" (feat. Randy Newman) 
  • 8. "Bad Car" 
  • 9. "Who Broke Whose Heart" 
  • 10. "Can We Be Strangers" 
  • 11. "The Past is the Past"