‘Catch of the Day’ – Brandy Clark – “Girl Next Door” [AUDIO]

When your grandmother enlists you to model her “I Skied Down Mount St. Helens May 18, 1980” t-shirts (complete with “authentic” burn holes), you can be sure you’re going to grow up with a unique outlook on life. Today's highlighted artist, who garnered a 2015 Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, grew up with a unique outlook on life.

Brandy Clark first made her name in Nashville writing songs for artists like Sheryl Crow, Miranda Lambert, The Band Perry, Reba McEntire, Billy Currington and Darius Rucker. Her break as a performer came in 2014, when Jennifer Nettles recorded the song "His Hands" and Clark, her opening act on the That Girl tour to perform it with her. The difference in the performers voices added a depth to the song about domestic abuse that enforced the "it could happen to anyone, anywhere" aspect. While the song was not a hit on the charts, it did shed a great deal of light on the subject of domestic abuse.

Brandy Lynn Clark was born and raised in the shadow of Mount St. Helen in a small logging town of 900 people called Morton, Washington. She picked up a guitar at the age of 9 and soon after made her musical debut singing in school musicals. When she entered high school, her attention turned to sports, earning a basketball scholarship to Central Washington University.

While at CWU she gave up her hoop dreams and her focus returned to music. She returned home to Morton, earning a degree from the local Community College. She had been playing in a local band with her biggest musical supporter, her mother and would enroll at Belmont University, the legendary school for country musicians in Nashville, in 1998.

While at Belmont, Clark studied Commercial Music, and was chosen to perform in the school's "Best of the Best Showcase". After graduation, she was hired by Leadership Music, a position that led to Clark signing her first publishing deal. In 2011, she sat down with frequent collaborators Kasey Musgraves and Shane McAnally and wrote "Momma's Broken Heart". Miranda Lambert recorded the song and Clark was on her way. It would receive numerous awards including Song of the Year at the CMA Awards in 2012. The trio would go on to write "Follow Your Arrow" another award winning song for Musgraves, "We'll Come Back Around" for Craig Morgan and "Drunk Americans" for Toby Keith. Clark and McAnally would also team up to write "Better Dig Two" for the band Perry.

With a solid reputation as a song-writer, the focus for Clark then became a recording career. In 2013 she released her debut album 12 Stories, which featured Vince Gill on backing vocals. The album featured three singles, "Stripes", "Pray To Jesus" and "Hungover" which failed to receive commercial success. Her second album, Big Day In A Small Town is scheduled to be released on April 1st and today the focus falls on the lead single from that forthcoming album. Brandy Clark and "Girl Next Door" is today's Catch of the Day, new music you haven't heard, but you'll want to hear it again.