Brandy Clark’s New Album “Big Day in a Small Town” Delayed Until June 10th
The big news in country music Tuesday (3-22) was that critically-acclaimed songwriter and performer Brandy Clark would be releasing her sophomore studio album Big Day in a Small Town on June 10th. Featuring 11 tracks and produced by Jay Joyce, the album is highly anticipated after the reception her debut album 12 Stories received.
“When I made ’12 Stories,’ I think my dreams were a lot more realistic, in that I didn’t expect a lot to happen… then it did,” Clark says. “This time, my dreams are very much what they were when I was going to Vince Gill and Patty Loveless concerts and decided I was going to move to Nashville. Right now, my dreams are as big as when I was naïve enough to really dream them.”
Clark goes on to say about the new album, “All these songs, there’s some little truth in them, somewhere, that resonates with me or that is about me.”
But one question some Brandy Clark fans are asking is why the album has been delayed until June 10th. Initially Big Day in a Small Town was scheduled to be released on April 1st. Though no big fancy press release was ever distributed about the April 1st release date like it was on Tuesday, April 1st had been circled on the calendar, and outlets like Country Weekly and The Washington Post had reported on it. The April 1st date had also been reported through many metadata sources. Now April 1st is being slotted as the pre-order date—nearly 2 1/2 months before the release, which is a little bit strange timing for a pre-order.
Perhaps the delay is to give her first single “Girl Next Door” a little more time to gain traction on country radio. The dance club-style country pop song is meandering on the airplay charts in the upper 40’s at the moment, which is not entirely unexpected from a female country artist. But with the pop-like production of the song, her label was probably hoping for a little more love from radio to help prop up sales of Big Day in a Small Town. If country radio is ignoring Kacey Musgraves, it’s hard to see them paying attention to Brandy Clark.
READ: Song Review Brandy Clark’s “Girl Next Door”
Regardless of why there was a delay, there’s no turning back now for Big Day in a Small Town. And no matter one’s feelings on the song “Girl Next Door,” the album still remains a release to anticipate after the strength of Brandy’s 12 Stories.
Track List:
1. “Soap Opera” (Brandy Clark/Bryan Simpson)
2. “Girl Next Door” (Brandy Clark/Jessie Jo Dillon/Shane McAnally)
3. “Homecoming Queen” (Brandy Clark/Luke Laird/Shane McAnally)
4. “Broke” (Brandy Clark/Shane McAnally/Josh Osborne)
5. “You Can Come Over” (Brandy Clark/Jessie Jo Dillon/Mark Narmore)
6. “Love Can Go To Hell” (Brandy Clark/Scott Stepakoff)
7. “Big Day In A Small Town” (Brandy Clark/Shane McAnally/Mark D. Sanders)
8. “Three Kids No Husband” (Brandy Clark/Lori McKenna)
9. “Daughter” (Brandy Clark/Jessie Jo Dillon/Jeremy Spillman)
10. “Drinkin’ Smokin’ Cheatin’” (Brandy Clark)
11. “Since You’ve Gone to Heaven” (Brandy Clark/Shane McAnally)
March 22, 2016 @ 6:47 pm
Hmmmmmm….
On the one hand… This isn’t an album I’m particularly excited for, especially since Shane MacAnally has been a bit of a Country Music Benedict Arnold and she doesn’t seem able to put out material that doesn’t have his name somewhere on it, but putting my personal feelings aside, this ties right into the epidemic about albums being delayed.
I mean, think about it, Brandy Clark is one of the people you’d think the backwater insular Country radio could count on, especially if she threw in some subtle socio-political stuff, and then could get the same kind of reception that “Girl Crush” did and be marketed to the top on the grounds of being “forward thinking.” An album that might have that on it would be a goldmine for Country Radio, based on the results we saw with “Girl Crush.”
On the other hand, Brandy Clark is no hitmaker, and she’s easy to overlook, so maybe they’re trying to hedge their bets on artists whose music will be driven to the top based on basic cliches and lyrical familiarity rather than any kind of “alternative” marketing.
I just don’t know what is to gain or lose from either delaying or releasing this album… So this rambling couple of paragraphs doesn’t really have a point, I’m just musing.
March 22, 2016 @ 7:14 pm
The song ” Daughters” features Kacey Musgraves and I’m really excited for that.
March 22, 2016 @ 7:16 pm
The A&R people at her label picked a horrible song as the lead single. The lyrics are shallow, it doesn’t have strong hook, and the tempo and key changes make it actually unpleasant to listen to.
March 23, 2016 @ 9:06 am
It’s probably the song they though would best appeal to mainstream radio. The problem is, mainstream radio’s not going to play Brandy Clark anyway, so why even try and risk alienating her core fans who like her for her better lyrics, and more traditional sound? Nashville has no clue what to do with these female artists.
March 22, 2016 @ 8:01 pm
I’m just glad that the delay wasn’t too long and that it has a new release date! The new album could’ve gone the way of Josh Turner and so many others lately and been posponed indefinitely.
March 23, 2016 @ 10:15 am
Agreed — better late than shelved. 🙂
March 22, 2016 @ 11:16 pm
” If country radio is ignoring Kacey Musgraves, it”™s hard to see them paying attention to Brandy Clark.”
Kacey doesn’t seem to be hurting for gigs and her following and profile seems to grow daily . ” Country Radio ” ignoring her might be a blessing in disguise . She will never have to compromise and chase trends if she has no pressure from a label to satisfy stupid fucking mindless God***** mainstream radio .Oops
March 23, 2016 @ 5:20 am
Album sales are pitiful these days – just look at the sales of the Loretta Lynn album Full Circle you stated in a previous post.
In the 90s album sales were in the stratosphere – even the smaller artists would regularly go platinum. Now people like Tim McGraw sell only about 150,000 copies of an album. Carrie Underwood’s new album that has just sold over 500,000 copies is deemed a big success!
So if they are really waiting to prop up the sales of Clark’s album – good luck but don’t hold your breath!!
March 23, 2016 @ 9:01 am
It’s all comparative though. It’s not that people aren’t listening to music anymore, they’re just streaming it more often than not. An artist like Brandy Clark is more likely to have strong album sales because she appeals to active listeners who are more likely to purchase albums compared to passive listeners who just stream the single they like. Thinking Clark is going to play big on radio is wasting good time and money in my opinion, and risks alienating her core fans if you try to pander to it with a catchy single. Brandy will be fine.
March 23, 2016 @ 6:18 am
I’ve actually been listening to 12 Stories alot recently. The CD has been in the radio in my car and my blue tooth hasn’t been working, so for a few days it was all I had except radio.
I am glad I revisited it exclusively like that.
What a good CD. My wife loves the story telling aspect of it.
We can also relate to a lot of it. LOL
The song on Dave Cobb Southern Family album is awesome. Gives me chills
March 23, 2016 @ 6:59 am
Yea, the song “I Cried” on the new Southern Family album is just a fantastic story telling song. Rich with all the humility and personal longing that draws you in.
March 23, 2016 @ 7:07 am
I had the chance to see Brandy perform last Saturday and she performed seven of the tracks from the new album. Several of them have the same predictable cliche-writing style (kind of spinning the same sentiment with different words) that Clark/McAnally/Musgraves are known for ala “Biscuits,” “Follow Your Arrow,” etc.
I am most excited “You Can Come Over.” Sounded really strong. The performance was great and I think it’ll be a good album. There were a lot of storytelling songs & her voice and delivery were fantastic.
March 23, 2016 @ 7:37 am
Maybe it’s my overactive imagination (always a possibility) regards the lack of gender diversity in the country genre, but it does seem to me like the Nashville “establishment” is running two tracks here with respect to Brandy. One seems to be that they don’t think the “bro-country” movement/curse has run its course in terms of popularity just yet, and they want to exploit every little drop of it until the well runs dry. The other is that they seem to not want to give much currency (at least at this time) to female artists whose names are not Miranda Lambert or Carrie Underwood, and who have more unique and nuanced ways of doing things. These are the kinds of things that, in my opinion, severely diminish the genre in the eyes of those who want to like it but who at the same time find it far too narrow-minded, at least in terms of promotion and radio airplay.
March 23, 2016 @ 10:25 am
I’m excited about this album. Brandy is awesome.
March 23, 2016 @ 12:16 pm
I pretty much wanted this album a year ago. Hopefully the “I Cried” contribution is a good indication of what it’ll be like! At least that’s what I’m hoping for.
March 24, 2016 @ 8:45 am
I only heard Girl Next Door, seems like she sold out. Good pop song, awful country song.
March 24, 2016 @ 12:16 pm
Drinkin smokin cheatin
Really, Brandy? Jesus Christ…