Brandi Carlile

One Liner: Great lyricist walking the line between rock and Americana

Wikipedia Genre: Folk rock, Americana, alternative country, alternative rock
Home: Originally Seattle, I think now in Boston

Poster Position: 4
Day: Saturday at 4:30
Both Weekends.

Thoughts: I appreciate that the first like of her Wikipedia article says "Not to be confused with Belinda Carlisle," which immediately made my brain start singing "Heaven is a Place on Earth," which is never a bad thing. But, that is not this lady.  This lady is a rough-hewn storyteller of very good Americana, like a slightly country Indigo Girl (for me at least).

Here is an interesting portion from Wikipedia, just because I'm interested in some of the factoids made important here: 

Carlile owns a rhodesian ridgeback dog, a horse, a goat, five chickens and a cat. She wears AURYN tattoos on her shoulders. She is a Christian.

A few thoughts.

1. I love the recitation of her animals.  Although it seems to me that the cat is getting a shitty deal here, being listed after the chickens and the goat.  i think a normal listing of animals would involved dog and cat being first.  Chickens last.
2. Funny, the way that they say she has "AURYN  tattoos," as though that is an everyday word that everyone should know.  From what I can tell in 30 seconds of research, that is a reference to the Neverending Story and is a medallion that can do cool shit.  It also says "DO WHAT YOU WISH" on the back, so maybe that is why Brandi digs it.
3. The "She is a Christian" thing seems like an odd thing to just tack onto the end of that paragraph.  Maybe not.

Her 2018 album is great.  By The Way, I Forgive You is a tough collection of good stories, and some strong statement songs.  Very nice folky/Americana tunes.  Before listening to this, I thought this was going to be Nashville-style country, but none of these really fall into the usual country tropes, they stay out on that Americana thing, which I like much more.

She sounds like Lucinda Williams at times, Aimee Mann in bits, and other times like Chrissie Hynde from the Pretenders, with a vulnerable tilt to her voice that is very endearing.  Lyrically, this disc can be fantastic.  "The Mother" is very good.  "Hold Out Your Hand" has an annoying way of feeling like I'm being yelled at, until the bridge makes me feel nice again.  But just about every other song on here is good.  The top song is the second one on the album, "The Joke," with 1.4 million streams.

Killer video.  I had decided to write out some of these lyrics, as she sang them, but then I freaking teared up again like an old man.  "Don't ever let them steal your joy, And your gentle ways, to keep 'em from running wild.  They can kick dirt in your face, Dress you down, and tell you that your place, Is in the middle, when they hate the way you shine."  I can't help of think of my own boy and reconsider how I need to treat his gentleness as a positive instead of weakness.  Dammit Brandi.  I have work to do around here, man.

I sure wish we still had a television channel that provided us with music videos all day long.  Although if that was on there I'm sure half the country would just change the channel.  I love it though.  Enjoyable album.

She dropped out of high school, in a little town near Seattle, to pursue music full time, and when she was 16 she was a backup singer to an Elvis impersonator.  I wish I hadn't heard that fact.  Now I can't hear her sustained notes without thinking of Elvis.  "uh wella wella wella JOOOOOKES ON THEM!!!"  She began her solo career performing in Seattle clubs with her twin brothers (who are apparently still the core of her band now, which is cool), and then signed with a label to release her first album, 2005's Brandi Carlile.  This one walks a line between Americana and rock, like a folk album with real guitars.  

2007's The Story was her big hit album, mainly because of the strength of the title track, which has been featured on everything from Grey's Anatomy to Portuguese beer commercials.  Also, it was produced by T. Bone Burnett and had Pearl Jam's Matt Chamberlain on drums, which is tight.  Here you go, "The Story" with 42.3 million streams.

Love when the electric guitars kick in for some thump.  "Even when I was flat broke, you made me feel like a million bucks."  Good one.  Although very rock forward, when I've been telling you all about how Americana-based she is.  This album has more of a rock sound to it, several times.  "My Song" sounds kinda like a Melissa Etheridge power-anthem.  This is out of order, but I need to talk about it right here - ten years after this album, she released a new version for charity, full of other people covering each track from this album, and its rad.  The Story & Cover Stories is Carlile's songs, covered by people like Dolly Parton, Pearl Jam, Adele, Indigo Girls, and the Avett Brothers.  The Dolly one is very good, the Pearl Jam one is high octane tastiness, and Adele kills it.  

Oh, I was about to go OFF about her next album, but only now did I realize that my child just changed my Spotify stream from home, meaning that I was just listening to some awful Nashville garbage by something named Kane Brown.  Thank God.  Every freaking day when they get home from school.  I don't know how many times I have tried to get them to change their login to use their own Spotify.  Ugh.  Anyway, back to a lovely listen to Margo Price covering one of the Carlile tunes.

2009's Give Up the Ghost is Americana with a touch more of the traditional country sound.  Produced by Rick Rubin, and yet its pretty mild and has no major streaming hits.  2012's Bear Creek is pretty folky Americana, really in the Patty Griffin mold.  Quite nice.  2015's The Firewatcher's Daughter is a little more rock and roll than Americana.  Well, maybe like the country version of rock and roll where people add claps over a twangy guitar solo.  But this one finally hit the top of the Rock Album Chart, which is a departure for Carlile for sure.  The top track from that one is called "The Eye."  She sure does like to call songs "The" something, huh?

Just over 7 million streams, and pretty prominently features her brothers and some tight harmonies.

Finally, Wikipedia also notes that she has "announced the creation of her own music festival, Girls Just Wanna Weekend. This festival will occur in Mexico in January 2019 and will be fronted by all-female musicians such as Indigo Girls, Maren Morris, Margo Price, Patty Griffin, and others. Carlile was inspired to create her own festival after participating in the Cayamo Cruise festival for numerous years."  Hell yeah.  Can dudes go?  I like Margo Price and the Indigo Girls!

Oh, you knew she had a Tiny Desk, yo.

Keeps close to the Americana flavor on those tunes.  Also, this Tiny Desk is from 2012, so a lot has changed since then...  Also, you can really see those tattoos in that video.  I get them now.

As for this show, I'm gonna choose Highly Suspect over this.  Sorry to say it, because I genuinely have enjoyed this music, but I'm just going to need to rock and roll, man.