Brandy Clark’s recent shows have been under the banner ‘The Art of the Storyteller’ but this only paints half a picture From small town Washington through the cut and thrust world of commercial Nashville to a gentler place for pursuing a craft, the art of telling a story full of melodic twists in a narrow three-minute window is nailed. Songs are the currency for Brandy Clark’s rich musical existence. The pleasure of listening live unfiltered in a shared space will always retain a special feel. The Institute’s second room is not normally on Birmingham’s intimate venue list but a pin drop exposure to around eighteen meticulously presented Brandy Clark songs turned it into one.
This was Clark’s third visit to Birmingham. The Glee Club in 2016 welcomed an artist who had just broke into the mainstream with recognition shifting from writer to performer. By the time she returned to the Town Hall a year later ambitions were on a different level. Sadly, that evening was marred by a ridiculously short 50-minute set. No such issues eight years later as she nearly doubled the time on stage without veering into long winding chat. With four albums of material, a brace of penned hits for others and a new record nearing completion, there is no shortage of prime pickings. The beauty of seeing Brandy Clark live is that you can return home and play at least a dozen stellar songs that didn’t make the setlist.
This current run of UK dates is part of a wider European tour climaxing at the Take Root festival in the Netherlands. The services of Amanda McCoy have been secured for guitar accompaniment on this trip. She is a recent bassist addition for the full band but impressively lends her hand to regular acoustic guitar for these shows adding a third dimension to vocals and song. The switch from behind the scenes writer to up front performer was a given in light of how such poise and assured posture accompanies the stage presence. Clark knows her performing lane and those platformed boots weren’t made for serious movement.
A thesis could accompany the source, relevance and structural eminence of each song played. This show was about stripping down some of the numbers possessing a poppier sheen in the recorded format. Just listening to the guile and carefully curated components to songs like ‘Mama’s Broken Heart’ (a massive hit for Miranda Lambert) and ‘Follow Your Arrow’ (an anthem for its co-writer Kacey Musgraves) exhibits a different perspective. Even Clark’s own pumped up crowd pleaser ‘Stripes’ echoes with lines and quips sewn with a golden thread.
Brandy Clark has recently worked with her alternately spelled namesake Brandi Carlile. For this show, we enjoyed their 2020 effort ‘Same Devil’, one of the evening’s punchier sounds, and ‘Dear Insecurity’, a beautiful confessional piece of writing off the most recent album. A thriving singer-songwriter won’t stand still and three new songs were played whetting the appetite for a fifth Brandy Clark album due for release in mid 2026. All had an instant appeal and the usual kitemarked standard. The names of two will come to light in good time with ‘American Roots’ set to make its mark as a unifying anthem. The only reservation is the possible twisting of its chorus by certain factions a million miles from Brandy Clark’s ideals. It has been done before, just chart the history of ‘Independence Day’.
Set highlights spilled over like an overfilled glass of fine wine. ‘Northwest’ is soaked with home state nostalgia focussing on the importance of place. ‘She Smoked in the House’ does likewise for person. Two songs that really stood out from a precious pile were ‘Best Ones’ and ‘Who You Thought I Was’. You wouldn’t normally see them featured in a top 10 but they could easily be placed in the top 5 from Birmingham 2025.
The evening began with a half hour support set from British singer-songwriter Maya Lane. She used a fine voice and personally inspired themes to project her performing skills, while possessing the potential to move through the gears as an artist leaving a favourable impression with first time listeners. The evening ended with Brandy Clark dismissing the encore charade by announcing her two final songs within the allotted slot.
If you can make it through Nashville’s choppy waters and take your songs away from steering influences to a wider platform then songwriting credibility will soar. Brandy Clark is at that point. One faction of her repertoire was explicitly on show at the Institute in Birmingham; the most important one, the art of the song.
