Brandi Carlile
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Brandi Carlile

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Music

The best kept secret in music

Press


"Top 10 Artists to Watch"

"Melancholy balladeer with a country feel? One of 10 Artists to Watch." - Rolling Stone


"14 to Be"

"Plucked straight from the vine, these up-and-comers discuss big plans, hidden talents, and the powerful pull of the bard's prose." - Interview Magazine


"Sound Check"

"Carlile, 23, is a Seattle-area singer-songwriter whose sparse yet elegant songs and lilting, emotional swoon conjure images of a female Jeff Buckley." - The Oregonian


"Rising Star Shines Over Eugene"

"Carlile's managed to blend the grit of dark folk with sweet, soaring melodies to create intense, emotion-laden ballads that fall like a steady rain and break through like a rainbow." - Eugene Weekly


"Opening for Jonny Lang"

"It is not often a warm-up act draws a standing ovation (and a long line topurchase CDs), but this one did." - Ann Arbor News


"Myths Busted at SXSW"

"...But my biggest 'Wow!' at the festival came via Brandi Carlile...who believes in sweet hooks, literate lyrics, and real singing, not overwrought American Idol-izing." - Sound & Vision Magazine


"Northwest Native Poised for the Big Time"

"Otherwordly melodies swim atop simple country swagger, melancholy ballads sit side by side with acoustic strummers, and through it all Carlile's voice remains a striking, unforgettable presence." - Bellingham Weekly


"Review of "Brandi Carlile""

"Carlile is an artist to watch in 2005, but her debut album feels worthy of that praise twenty years past or hence..". - Feeling Anxious


"Review of "Brandi Carlile""

"Songs such as 'Follow' and 'Closer to You' are brimming with experience and depth as mournful strings and bluesy refrains mix with the singer's weathered words, bringing to mind Shelby Lynne and Emmylou Harris. 'As long as the day is full of time/ There will always be room for your hand in mine,' she sings in 'Fall Apart Again.' When was the last time Gwen Stefani did that for you?" - E! Online


"Tucson Show Review"

"One of us talked to her briefly after the show and mentioned reading about her recently in a Seattle Times article and said that he was excited he had gotten the chance to catch her out on the road. She said thanks, smiled sweetly and remembered to him that when she read that particular article in the newspaper it had made her cry. Just judging by the brief exposure to Miss Carlile we've had so far, we predict that Brandi, who it is abundantly clear, has both feet planted firmly on the ground, will be causing her share of tears to flow in the coming years. Not to mention being the Sireen behind all sorts of different shipwrecks." - The Goliard


Discography

Acoustic 2004
Brandi Carlile 2005

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

Authentic. That's the first word that springs to mind when you encounter Brandi Carlile. From her rootsy bell-clear voice to the palpable emotion that seeps through every song on her stunning debut album, everything about this 23-year-old from rural Washington state is the real deal.

Deeply driven to be an artist, Carlile's life-long love affair with performing began when her musician mother brought her out onstage at the Northwest's version of the Grand Ole Opry. Carlile sang Roseanne Cash's "Tennessee Flat-Top Box". She was 8.

Growing up in the isolated foothills of Ravensdale, 50 miles outside of Seattle, Carlile turned to music for company. "Ravensdale wasn't a town," she says. "We were the only house around for acres and acres. Being in the middle of nowhere, it wasn't the kind of place you brought friends back to, so I just hung around the woods and built forts and played music with my brother and sister. That's all we did. And we thought that's what everyone else in the world did, too."

During those years, Carlile taught herself to sing. "I locked myself in my room when no one was home to see how loud and high I could sing, and how long I could hold a note," she says. "I knew that's what it would take to develop a big, powerful voice." She also figured out how to play the piano --"I wanted to be like Elton John," she remembers -- and eventually guitar at age 17.

From then on, Carlile performed everywhere she could. She even took a job as a back-up singer for a local Elvis impersonator, an experience she credits with teaching her how to layer vocals and sing harmonies. A few years later, Carlile began to book herself and her band (Seattle natives and twin brothers Tim and Phil Hanseroth) at restaurants around the city-the local chowder house, a popular sports bar and grill, and at any wedding or birthday party that would hire her, just so she could practice.

"I've never had a real job," she says. "I've insisted that I do nothing but play music and not let my head go anywhere else. If that means playing in a smoky bar for three hours, five nights a week, that's fine. It's discipline. It teaches you how to grab your audience, no matter who they are."

Carlile's determination and work ethic paid off in late 2004 when she signed with Columbia Records, home to several of her favorite artists including Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Jeff Buckley, Leonard Cohen, Janis Joplin, and James Taylor, whom she has shared a stage with. The timeless quality of her debut album for Columbia, Brandi Carlile, is proof of her intention to become a classic artist alongside her labelmates.

The album is a showcase for Carlile's expressive voice, which can turn from a tough, bluesy growl to a vulnerable, aching falsetto on a dime. The catch in her throat before she launches into those alpine high notes is reminiscent of her idol, country singer Patsy Cline.

"Patsy Cline had a really gutsy, powerful voice," she says. "I identify with that. I've gone through all sorts of vocal phases, from pop to blues to R&B, but no matter what I do, I just can't get the country & western out of my voice."

Rather than fight it, Carlile makes good use of the country flavor by juxtaposing it with dark, otherworldly melodies on songs like "Follow" and "Tragedy". Think of a female Roy Orbison or Radiohead's Thom Yorke fronting a roots-rock band and you're not far off. The contrast led Rolling Stone, which named her one of their 10 Artists to Watch in 2005, to declare: "Carlile's ethereal, melancholy ballads have a spare heartache that reflects her love for old-school countryÂ…but she loves new-school mopers like Radiohead and Jeff Buckley just as much". Indeed, those artists' influence can be felt on the simple, acoustic strummers "Happy", "Gone" and "Tragedy". Other musical stand-outs include "Throw It All Away" and "Fall Apart Again".

The ten sublime gems on Brandi Carlile were recorded sporadically throughout 2004 in Seattle, some at Carlile's home in bucolic Maple Valley, Washington. "I live in a log cabin and the ceilings are really high, so it sounds great," she says. "We rented a Pro-tools set-up and put it smack in the middle of my living room." Some of the unadorned production comes courtesy of indie-stalwart producer John Goodmanson, who has worked with Sleater-Kinney and Blonde Redhead, and the rest was driven by Carlile and the twins. "We just went in and played the songs," she says. "It interrupted my whole world for weeks, but we made some really good music."