The Centralia College Foundation has named Grammy Award-winning musician Brandy Clark its 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award winner.
Clark grew up in Morton and attended Centralia College starting in January 1995. She completed her associate of arts degree in 1997 and transferred to Belmont University in Nashville to study music in 1998.
“She has written countless hits for some of country music’s most popular artists, including Miranda Lambert, Sheryl Crow, the Band Perry, Reba McEntire, LeAnn Rimes, Billy Currington, Darius Rucker, and Kacey Musgraves, and is one of the country’s most sought after performers and songwriters,” the Centralia College Foundation stated in a news release.
“Our committee has had Brandy on our radar for a while now and, with female country artists in the spotlight, we felt this was a great time to shine the light on our own bright star,” said Renee Lawson, a member of the foundation’s selection committee. “We could not be prouder of Brandy!”
Clark had her first hit as a songwriter in 2011 with "Mama's Broken Heart," which she co-wrote with Shane McAnally and Kacey Musgraves. The song was a hit for Miranda Lambert and earned Song of the Year nominations from the Country Music Association (CMA), the Grammy Awards, and the Academy of Country Music (ACM). A follow up song, “Follow Your Arrow,” co-written by Clark and performed by Kacey Musgraves, was the 2014 CMA Song of Year.
Clark released a self-titled EP in 2012 and her debut album, “12 Stories,” in 2013.
“For that album, the acclaim was immediate, and Clark was nominated for multiple awards in the year following its release,” the Centralia College Foundation stated in a news release.
Clark was a 2014 nominee for New Artist of the Year from the CMA, a nominee for Female Artist of the Year from ACM in 2015 and nominated for Best Country Album and Best New Artist at the 2015 Grammy Awards.
She has since released several more albums, including “Big Day in a Small Town” (2016), “Your Life is a Record” (2020), and “Brandy Clark” (2023), earning a total of 17 Grammy nominations overall. She won a Grammy in 2025 in the Best Americana Performance for her song “Dear Insecurity” featuring Brandi Carlile from her self-titled 2023 album.
She also wrote the score for the Broadway musical “Shucked,” a comedy about a young woman who sets out to save her small town when the corn starts dying. The show received nine Tony Award nominations, including Best Original Score.
Clark begins a North American tour with Mary Chapin Carpenter in June.
She will be formally honored by the Centralia College Foundation at a later date, according to the news release.
