Brandi Carlile

Brandi Carlile’s deeply felt brand of Americana owes its force first and foremost to her uncommonly powerful voice. Yet she’s just as remarkable for a songwriting sensibility that’s steeped in folk and country traditions while also reflective of her creative restlessness and her identity as one of roots music’s most prominent LGBTQ artists. Born in Washington in 1981, the young Carlile grew up on the music of the Grand Ole Opry along with pop and rock heroes like The Beatles, Elton John and U2. After joining up with Tim and Phil Hanseroth—twin-brother musicians she met when first getting into Seattle’s music scene—she discovered the passion for three-part vocal harmonies that became another of her musical trademarks. At once a stirring country ballad and a soaring rock anthem, the title track of 2007’s The Story became Carlile’s breakthrough and a favourite of TV and film soundtrack supervisors for years to come. On later efforts such as 2012’s rustic Bear Creek and 2015’s more expansive The Firewatcher’s Daughter, Carlile continued to disregard any boundaries between genres, bearing the contents of her head and heart with a voice that was equally capable of conveying desperate urgency, stark intimacy and gale-force-wind bravado. In 2016, Carlile joined with Maren Morris, Natalie Hemby and Amanda Shires to form a supergroup called The Highwomen, an effort to counter country music’s chronic underrepresentation of female artists—and another sign of Carlile’s eagerness to bust up the status quo.