COUNTRY SINGER/SONGWRITER Brandy Clark has lived in Nashville for years, but she grew up in Morton, Washington, a logging town of 1,100ish folks about 100 miles north of Portland. Her first childhood memory is the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.
Clark gets back to the Northwest as often as she can to visit her mom, who now lives in Randle, Washington.
“She’s a small-town lady,” Clark says, a smile shining through her acquired Southern accent.
Mom raised one, too—Nashville’s bigger than ever, but over the past five years Clark has become one of its most in-demand songwriters, largely due to her ability to channel the people and stories of America’s small towns. She spent years as one of the creative cogs in Music City’s hit machine, writing and co-writing perfect country songs for stars like Miranda Lambert, Reba McEntire, and her longtime friend and writing partner Kacey Musgraves.