NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Four-time GRAMMY nominee Brandy Clark, and 21-time nominated, multiple GRAMMY Award winner, Dwight Yoakam release a recorded version of their highly-regarded duet performance of Clark’s “Hold My Hand” yesterday. The two teamed up at the 2015 GRAMMY Awards, where Clark was nominated for Best New Artist, for a beautiful performance of the song – then for a recording of the duet after that. The original version of “Hold My Hand” is off Clark’s debut album, 12 Stories, which was GRAMMY-nominated for Best New Album the year they performed. The pair’s compelling version of the “affecting ballad” [Billboard] releases today.
Yoakam has been part of well-known collaborations in the past, including his rendition of “Same Old Train” that featured Clint Black, Joe Diffie, Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Patty Loveless, Earl Scruggs and Marty Stuart and earned him a GRAMMY nomination for Best Collaboration with Vocals. Yoakam contributed his unmistakable harmonies on the “Hold My Hand” recording, and when they got together for a show in Arkansas in August, 2016 they revisited the recording. Ultimately, they decided it was too good not to release.
“Dwight added something so special to ‘Hold My Hand’ both at the GRAMMY performance and then on the track itself,” said Clark. “We had both forgotten about it until we had a show together. In catching up backstage one night we came up with the idea to put it out – for no other reason than we both loved it so much and thought it was a shame to just be ‘sitting on a shelf.’ Music is made to be heard and we definitely wanted this version to be shared.”
Known for being a “first-rate songwriter” [Los Angeles Times] long before she was critically recognized as an artist, Clark has been respected in the Nashville community for years. Clark was asked to be a special guest with Yoakam on Eric Church’s Outsiders World Tour, so when she was asked who she would like to be paired with at the 2015 GRAMMY Awards, Yoakam, who said it was “a joy” to perform with her, was her first choice.
Dubbed “one of the wittiest songwriters working in country today” [NPR] Clark recently wrapped a sold-out U.K. tour and has been listed on several 2016 “best” lists including NPR and Rolling Stone, for her sophomore album, Big Day in a Small Town. The Jay-Joyce-produced album has garnered national attention with Wall Street Journal calling it an album that presents “country-song genius on the order that Loretta Lynn and Merle Haggard got us used to,” and Rolling Stone saying it’s “music tooled alternately for stadiums and songwriting circles, commercial and public radio, line-dance bars and coffee shops.”
You can find the special version of “Hold My Hand” wherever you can buy or stream music.