Album Review: Brandy Clark 'Big Day In A Small Town'

I always nervously anticipate an artist’s sophomore release if I felt a strong connection with the artist’s debut. Brandy Clark’s 2013 powerhouse 12 Stories was one of the best albums I’d heard in a long time and remains in heavy rotation in my house, so I was prepared for her newest, Big Day In A Small Town, released on June 10th, to be a step down from its predecessor. However, upon first listen, I was pleased to find that my fears were not necessary.     

The atmospheric opening (complete with a gospel choir) of “Soap Opera” serves more as a mini overture to a musical play than the beginning of a song. It signals that the listener is about to experience vignettes from a day in the life of the residents in this small town.  The song moves on, driven by a unique combination of banjo and organ, to set up the songs that follow. 

Title track, “Big Day In A Small Town” is a bluesy, swampy tale of a typical small town day where “somebody’s getting married or buried or carried away.” Everybody knows your business, from infidelity to teenage pregnancy to drunk driving.

More acoustic offerings are found in “Homecoming Queen” and “Three Kids No Husband.” Both share the narrative of things not turning out like you think they will when you’re young but from different perspectives. The former homecoming queen is living the life she dreamed of that looks perfect from the outside but is far from perfect. “Too bad life ain’t a local parade, in your uncle’s Corvette on a Saturday, with all the little girl’s waiting for you to wave, when you’re seventeen.” The single, working mother in “Three Kids No Husband” struggles with the demands of everyday life with no support, financial or otherwise, from the husband she thought would be her happily ever after.
The most poignant, gripping song, on an album that has no lack of them, may be “Since You’ve Gone To Heaven.” Based in part on the death of Brandy’s father, a family struggles with the aftermath of the loss of their patriarch. It’s another example of something Brandy does so well. As a listener, you feel every ounce of the pain the family feels.               
          
The lead single, “Girl Next Door” is probably the offering that will be the most problematic for fans of more traditional country sound. There is a slight EDM feel to the production that may be jarring for some. In the lyrics, we find more familiar territory: lines that drip with sarcasm and wit about having no desire to be someone else’s idea of the perfect, cookie-cutter wife or girlfriend seem fitting. After several listens, I found the unexpected sonic course to be an echo to the lyrics. Apparently Brandy has no desire to be defined by anyone’s idea of what she should be and will, at times, defy expectations.

Produced by Jay Joyce, Big Day In A Small Town is not 12 Stories but it doesn’t have to be. Brandy Clark is the consummate lyricist and vocalist, proving herself again to be one of the best in country or any other genre. Give it a listen and then go back and give it another. You’re sure to discover more to love each time you visit this small town.    

Review by Harriett W. Find her on Twitter where she loves to discuss all things music.

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