Brandy Clark Shares New Song “She Smoked In The House”

With just a few weeks to wait until Brandy Clark releases her highly anticipated self-titled album, the 11 times Grammy-nominee has shared a second song from the project. “She Smoked In The Kitchen” was unveiled a few days ago and follows on from the debut single to be taken from the album, “Buried“, released last month to critical acclaim.
The “She” in the song’s title is Brandy’s grandma Ruth, and the nostalgic, reflective yet amusing write pays homage to her… ” To this day, my grandma Ruth is my favorite character to ever walk the planet. Looking back, I wrote this song because I was missing her and the things she valued in life” Brandy explains, continuing “I never thought that it would ever be on a record. It was for me… but now it’s for you too” .
I must say I absolutely love Brandy’s character-driven songs, her attention to detail is always incredible and this one is no exception. From the “lipstick circled butts in the ashtray” to the way she “cut the mould of cantaloupe and cheese” I feel I know Ruth even though I obviously never met her. I wish I had, she sounds like the type of woman who took no notice of what anyone thought and I can picture her in that smoke-filled kichen with the radio blasting out the country music which was such a seminal part of Brandy’s childhood.

Stream/Download this very personal song here

https://brandyclark.lnk.to/SheSmokedInTheHouse

Watch the lyric video here

Talking further about what inspired her to put pen to paper in tribute to her grandma, Brandy says “I was driving around listening to a lot of Merle Haggard. I got stuck on ‘Are the Good Times Really Over for Good’ for weeks. That song really makes me think of my grandparents and that generation. I just couldn’t get away from it. So I started on a song called ‘They Smoked in the House,’ but I just couldn’t connect with it in the way that I needed to. I remembered someone once telling me that to be general, you must be specific and so I pivoted and started working on ‘SHE Smoked in the House’.

As most of you are no doubt aware, the upcoming album due for release on 19th May has been produced by multi-award winning artist Brandi Carlile… both the “BC’s” hail from Washington state, and Brandy says “When Brandi and I sat down and talked about working together, one thing that really intrigued me was her saying ‘I see it as your return to the northwest.’ That comment inspired so much for me. It took me back to where and how I grew up. ‘Northwest’ and ‘She Smoked In The House’ were both a result of that early conversation. Working with another recording artist on this project was such a gift that I didn’t even know I needed and changed the way I want to write songs and make records moving forward. My hope is that anyone who hears this album will feel the heart that I put into every note of it.”

It’s been an exciting few weeks for for Brandy, who together with longtime collaborator Shane McAnally composed the music for the new Broadway music comedy “Shucked” which opened recently to rave reviews at New York’s Nederlander Theater and is playing to packed houses.

A bit nearer home for most reading this, there’s good news for Brandy’s UK fans as she has been confirmed to play Black Deer Festival on 18th June.

More information at brandyclarkmusic.com

Photo Credit: Victoria Stevens

Article written by Lesley Hastings (twitter.com/lesleyhastings)