CMT Presents Jennifer Nettles with 2016 Next Women of Country Tour

Jennifer Nettles:
Every few years, whether one is aware or not, we humans tend to recreate ourselves. For me it is some of the most fun “recreation” that exists. That is why I am singing from the rafters (pun intended) in celebration of my new solo project: “That Girl”.

Being a musician can be very interactive. I like to share my music with my fans. I like to perform my songs in front of an audience. And yet, while this sharing is integral, there is additionally a very singular, isolated and narcissistic reward: the continual discovery of oneself. (In this case, of myself).

In Sugarland I have learned much of both who I am and who I am not. Even with all of our success, I have had the deep desire to share other parts of myself. To prove some things to myself. And, to just simply shake it up and do something different, perhaps scary, and certainly fresh and new.

Upon the release of “That Girl” the album, it will have been almost four years since I started steering my ship in the direction of a solo venture. Reinvention takes processing, evaluation, planning, time. And so, four years ago, I began. Again.

I started writing for this project with allowance and openness. I had no idea where it would lead, but I wanted to follow in faith. Ideas sprung from walks, from photographs, from solitary moments sitting at my piano playing around. I called old writer friends, new writer friends, and made serendipitous connections based on gut instincts or random conversations. I was curious, open, interested. And, I also got pregnant.

Indeed, the Universe was conspiring with me on my theme of transformation. I was changing from the inside out. Living metaphor. The last third of my pregnancy was one of the most prolific writing times in my life. In part because I was ready and in part because I was actually off the road and had the time. I learned from it: make time for this.

I enjoy a good deadline. I had set Spring of 2013 as a tentative goal for going into the studio. My son would be 4(ish) months old and I thought that would be a good time to jump into giving birth to a record after having delivered my child. I had a collection of songs. I needed a producer who would understand what I wanted for this album and who would support my vision of where I wanted to take my music and my voice. My manager simply asked who would be my dream producer. My answer was immediate.

People have asked, “How did you come to work with Rick Rubin?” The answer is both humble and simple: a phone call. To my excitement, a phone call gave way to a dialogue about what I wanted sonically for this project and what I had written. Writing work tapes, not fully produced demos, became the backbone of conversations discussing which songs needed work and rework, and which ones felt closer to ready. I volleyed ideas for requested changes. We talked about my musical hopes as an artist for this album, and we discussed my fears as a new mother going into the necessary vacuum of the studio experience while nursing an infant. Needless to say this recording was going to be different in a LOT of ways. We set a start date.

In May 2013 my husband, our new baby boy and I relocated from Nashville to California for a month. Rick’s Shangri-La Studio is located in an old hippy ranch house in Malibu. While the daily commute was beautiful, the pedigree of this place is what bewitched me. Owned originally by Bob Dylan, and founded in the 70’s, this place held the energy of four decades of music that was made by artists and musicians who had neither the luxury nor crutch of the technology that “perfects” the music so often currently floating through the airwaves. They made recordings that sounded like human emotion. Not sterile, perfection. I wanted the spirit of their fearless imperfection, with all of its raw, simple beauty, to span the decades and cross through the walls and into my songs, my voice and the hands of the fantastic musicians who would play on this album.

We set up a “nursery” in one of the studio rooms. Each day I would sing until Magnus (my son) let my husband or my mom know that he was hungry. At which point, off went the headphones and on went the baby for a feeding. We tracked each take live, so between the focus and excitement of my singing and the focus and attention of my mothering, I was nervously wrung out at the end of each day. We tracked 21 songs this way. Out of those 21, Rick and I made our own independent lists of “yes/no/maybes”. Those we had in common made the album. Those we had in common also came together to tell stories of nostalgia, longing, loss. They spun tales of unintentional betrayal, of jealousy, of motherhood, of love. They were all, in one way or another, the legend of rediscovering oneself. Of course, to me, that is what all art does: it offers a new way to see your life, your past and yourself.

I will be forthright with you in sharing my hopes for this project. I hope it makes an impact. I hope it touches and moves and entertains people. I hope everyone wants to buy it. I hope multiple millions do. I hope it wins lots of awards, beau coupe hearts, and tons of new fans. I hope it takes me to exciting and new and wildly successful places. And, I hope you’ll come with me.

-Jennifer

Brandy Clark:
When your grandmother enlists you to model her “I Skied Down Mount St. Helens May 18, 1980” t-shirts—complete with “authentic” burn holes—at the local flea market, you can be sure you’re going to grow up with a unique outlook on life. For acclaimed No. 1 songwriter Brandy Clark, it’s an outlook that has served her well.

Born and raised in the small Washington mill town of Morton—yes, in the shadow of Mount St. Helens, which erupted when she was just a little girl—Brandy developed an affection for working-class people and the dangerous jobs many of them undertake to make ends meet. Her father, a logger, died in a work-related accident, her mother toiled in human resources at the mill, and Brandy herself worked amid the lumber, at a fencing mill. As such, she related to the hardship depicted in the film “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and became obsessed with the music of Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline and Merle Haggard.

But above all, Brandy adored eccentric personalities.

“I love characters,” says Brandy. “When Mount St. Helens erupted, I remember my grandmother just standing on the porch, smoking a cigarette, and watching the hot mud fall from the sky. My grandmother was my favorite character in life.”

12 Stories, Brandy’s debut album as an artist, is full of diverse characters. There’s the woman in first single “Stripes” who fantasizes about killing her cheating husband, but doesn’t want to be caught dead in an orange jumpsuit. There’s another who asks Jesus for help, but plays the lottery just in case in “Pray to Jesus.” And there’s the bored housewife in “Get High” who escapes daily drudgery by rolling joints at the kitchen table.

“I get my inspiration from real people who are just surviving their life and getting through their day. That’s who I write songs for,” explains Brandy. “I want to write songs for somebody who is working at a bank—if that person could write a song, what they would write. That’s my goal.”

Prior to 12 Stories, Brandy achieved that goal by penning songs for other artists. Reba McEntire and Kenny Rogers have both recorded her songs. Darius Rucker, Sheryl Crow and Kacey Musgraves have Brandy compositions on their new albums. And The Band Perry gave Brandy her first No. 1 single with “Better Dig Two,” followed shortly after by another No. 1 in “Mama’s Broken Heart,” cut by Miranda Lambert.

They are all milestones for Brandy the songwriter, but 12 Stories aims to establish Brandy as a performing artist. The album, a collection of a dozen songs ranging from rollicking back-porch jams like “Crazy Women” to vulnerable tear-at-your-heart ballads like “Hold My Hand,” seemed to have birthed itself.

“I was just writing songs. But with titles like ‘Take a Little Pill’ and ‘Day She Got Divorced,’ artists wouldn’t cut those songs. However, they are some of my favorites and, artistically, I fit them,” says Brandy, who decided to record her own album after playing “Get High” for her songwriting partner Shane McAnally. “Shane said that I could write a whole record of songs from that woman’s perspective and make an album that no one has ever made. That’s kind of what we did.”

Actually, it’s exactly what she did. Teaming up with producer Dave Brainard (Jerrod Niemann, Ray Scott), Brandy used her writing gift and distinctly country voice to craft a record that has touched everyone lucky enough to hear it. Marty Stuart is a vocal fan, as are Miranda Lambert, Sheryl Crow and Kacey Musgraves. All of them are attracted to Brandy’s unfiltered take on the human experience, its joys and especially its frailties.

“I think my music is a dark comedy, just as I think life is a dark comedy,” says Brandy. “The truth is funny sometimes. I don’t ever want to come across as corny or novelty, but you have to laugh at things. I feel like this record is about what’s really going on in life.”

Things like divorce, death, addiction and unfulfilled desire. Or even more so, inappropriately fulfilled desire.

“I know more people that are cheating than not,” Brandy observes. “And so many people are addicts that would never admit it, which is what ‘Take a Little Pill’ is about. The pill problem in this country is huge.”

Not that Brandy is casting stones. “I have no judgment on anybody,” she laughs. “I’m just a dark comedian. People go, ‘Oh she gets me, because she’s flawed.’ And they’re right. I’m drawn to flawed characters. Because we’re all flawed.”

Ironically, 12 Stories the album is not. Instead, all of its characters and their individual troubles combine to make a clear-eyed document of everyday life in the 21st century, as well as the freshest project to come out of Nashville in years. 12 Stories is dryly humorous, moving, sad and, most of all, real.

But it’s not only Brandy’s story—it’s yours!

Lindsay Ell
Named one of CMT’s Next Women of Country, Lindsay Ell is a triple threat: accomplished musician, unique vocalist and songwriter. The 26-year-old Calgary native learned to play guitar while traveling with her father to country-bluegrass camps as a young girl. Ell honed her craft as a musical stylist and songwriter after being discovered by BTO and The Guess Who’s Randy Bachman (“American Woman” / “Taking Care of Business”) who discovered her at the age of 13. The multi-instrumentalist was soon opening for the likes of Luke Bryan, Buddy Guy, The Band Perry and Keith Urban. The Stoney Creek Records artist has been called “a true triple threat” by Guitar World; “a star in the making” by Taste of Country; “Your coolest new girl crush” by Teen Vogue; and “a distinct figure in the modern country recording camp” by NASH Country Weekly. Ell received critical acclaim for her singles “Trippin’ On Us” and “Shut Me Up” including being named one of Rolling Stone’s “10 Artists You Need to Know.” Ell’s new single, the spirited and up-tempo “By the Way” was released in October.

Tara Thompson
Initially gaining buzz performing at some of Nashville’s premiere listening rooms and writers’ rounds, Tara Thompson, a Tennessee native, has embraced her Country music heritage while coupling more contemporary sounds. Tara brings a compelling voice and quirky tongue-in-cheek spin on her life experiences, penning all of her own tunes. The spunky songstress inked a joint venture songwriting contract with Big Machine Music and Spoon’s Tunes Publishing. BMLG President & CEO Scott Borchetta comments, “Tara has all the ingredients I’ve been looking for in a modern traditional Country artist. A blood relative to the one and only Loretta Lynn, her tell-all & attitude-filled songwriting and feisty personality are going to crash through the stereotypes and knock down radio stations and beer joints coast to coast. A ‘Tootsie’s World-Famous Orchid Lounge’ alum, Country girls across the USA are on the eve of getting a new hero. Get ready for Tara Thompson.”