Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	89/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
American Songwriter
Country Weekly	A+
Entertainment Weekly	B+
Los Angeles Times
Rolling Stone
Roughstock

12 Stories is the full-length debut studio album by American country music singer-songwriter Brandy Clark, released on October 22, 2013, through Slate Creek Records. Clark wrote or co-wrote all 12 of the songs and it features Vince Gill on background vocals. The songs on the album are mostly ones which were admired by, but not recorded by, other artists, possibly due to the provocative storytelling and their content, which is a Clark trademark. Two of the album's tracks were previously recorded by other artists: "Crazy Women" was a Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for LeAnn Rimes as the second single from her 2011 album, Lady & Gentlemen, and "The Day She Got Divorced" was previously recorded by Reba McEntire for her 2010 album, All the Women I Am.

When Clark first moved to Nashville around 1997 she wanted to be a recording artist, but instead concentrated on her song writing which is her true passion. It took her many years to hone a voice as an individual artist with a view to creating songs which would be commercially viable and which people wanted to listen to. She played occasional gigs and made demo tapes enough to finance an EP to sell at songwriters’ night shows. In 2010 her two co-managers heard that EP and told her they would help finance a full studio record along with a management company. As a respected Music Row songwriter she was also encouraged by friends in the business to release a batch of her own material. 12 Stories was finished nearly two years before its release, as Clark waited for record label interest and distribution. Previous to this and during that time span she had become a part of a tight circle of friends and regular song collaborators that included singing songwriters Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe, Kacey Musgraves, Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne and Trevor Rosen, some of whom contribute to the album.

...
Wikipedia