Grammy- and Country Music Association award–winning and Tony-nominated musician Brandy Clark sits down with her close friend, fellow songwriter, and frequent collaborator Shane McAnally to share the stories behind their craft. This program was recorded on September 11, 2025, in the Museum’s Ford Theater.

During the program, Clark and McAnally weave personal anecdotes with acoustic performances as they reminisce about the beginning of their career-spanning friendship, how McAnally’s upbringing in Texas inspired his work, how Kenny Chesney’s support forever changed McAnally’s career, and McAnally’s singular writing style. They also discuss McAnally’s newfound interest in stand-up comedy and his desire to consistently take on new challenges. Throughout their conversation, the pair perform abbreviated versions of Chesney’s “American Kids;” Clark’s “The Day She Got Divorced;” “Friends,” from the Broadway musical “Shucked;” Miranda Lambert’s “Mama’s Broken Heart;” and “Pray to Jesus,” which the Oak Ridge Boys cut.

Clark is one of her generation’s most esteemed songwriters and artists. In 2024, she won Best Americana Performance at the Grammys for her song “Dear Insecurity” featuring Brandi Carlile. Clark has also written songs such as “A Beautiful Noise,” recorded by Carlile and Alicia Keys, and Kacey Musgraves’s “Follow Your Arrow.” McAnally has written and/or produced dozens of hit songs for artists including Chesney, Musgraves, Sam Hunt, and Blake Shelton. He has won three Grammys and two Academy of Country Music Songwriter of the Year awards. Together, Clark and McAnally composed the music for the hit musical “Shucked,” which won Outstanding Music at the 67th Drama Desk Awards.

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