Brandi Carlile, Brandy Clark

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Mary Ellen Matthews

A close-up of Brandi Carlile.

Brandi Carlile

In between shows supporting Pink, nine-time Grammy winner Brandi Carlile is headlining gigs in select cities, and Madison is fortunate enough to be among the chosen ones. Carlile has been on a tear in recent years, giving electrifying performances and winning over diverse swathes of listeners; 2021’s In These Silent Days held the No. 1 spots on both the Top Rock Albums and Americana/Folk Albums Billboard charts. Country singer-songwriter Brandy Clark — who has written for everyone from Reba McEntire to Darius Rucker and is touring in support of her new self-titled album that features a duet with Carlile — will open.

media release: 9x GRAMMY Award-winning singer, songwriter, musician and producer Brandi Carlile has added select headline dates to her extensive 2023 touring schedule, with newly confirmed shows including BREESE STEVENS FIELD, with Special Guest Brandy Clark, on THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 2023. Gates: 4:30 PM | Show: 6:00 PM.

The upcoming performances add to yet another landmark year for Carlile, won three more awards at this year’s 65th Annual GRAMMY Awards, bringing her total number of GRAMMY wins to nine. After winning Best Americana Album (In These Silent Days), Best Rock Song (“Broken Horses”) and Best Rock Performance (“Broken Horses”), Carlile performed “Broken Horses” during the live awards broadcast, which Billboard called, “an epic rock set that showcased guitar skills, impressive vocal range and rasp, and her captivating presence.” Watch/share HERE. 

Brandi Carlile’s new rendition of Indigo Girls’ “Closer to Fine,” featuring her wife, Catherine Carlile, was released July 21 and is featured on the new version of the Barbie movie soundtrack: Barbie The Album (Best Weekend Ever Edition). Produced by Carlile, who plays guitar, piano, keys, banjo and moog on the track, “Closer To Fine” also features special guest musicians Matt Chamberlain (drums) and Dave Mackay (keys).

Inspired by the mining of Carlile’s own history while writing her #1 New York Times Best Selling memoir, Broken Horses (Crown), In These Silent Days was released via Low Country Sound/Elektra to overwhelming acclaim, with NPR Music praising, “absolutely breathtaking, across the whole album Brandi Carlile pulls out all the stops. It’s just extraordinary.” Following the release, Carlile shared a special deluxe version last fall entitled In The Canyon Haze, which features reimagined Laurel Canyon-inspired versions of each song from the album, plus a special rendition of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” (stream/purchase here). Deluxe vinyl and a CD bundle featuring the deluxe and an accompanying 80-page paperback archive are also now available. The book features never-before-seen photos and handwritten notes from the studio, photo shoots, television performances, and much more. Purchase here. 

In These Silent Days follows Carlile’s 2018 breakthrough GRAMMY Award-winning album, By The Way, I Forgive You, which Rolling Stone declared, “…an Adele-meets Joni Mitchell tour de force.” In the years since—in addition to collaborative projects with Elton John, The Highwomen, Tanya Tucker, Soundgarden, Alicia Keys, Dolly Parton, Barry Gibb, Leslie Jordan, Brandy Clark and more—she has earned nine Grammy Awards for her work as a performer, songwriter and producer, was awarded Billboard’s Women In Music “Trailblazer Award,” CMT’s Next Women of Country “Impact Award” and received multiple recognitions from the Americana Music Association Honors & Awards including 2022’s Song of the Year (“Right on Time”), 2021’s Artist of the Year, 2020’s Album of the Year (Highwomen), Group of the Year (The Highwomen) and Song of the Year (“Crowded Table”) and 2019’s Artist of the Year. 

In addition to their work as a band, Carlile and the Hanseroth twins remain committed to social activism and advocacy. Together they are founders of the Looking Out Foundation, which amplifies the impact of music by empowering those without a voice with varied initiatives including campaigns focused on Children in Conflict/War Child, The IF Project, Fund Racial Justice and more. To date, they have raised over $3 million for grassroots causes.

11x Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and musician Brandy Clark is nominated for Best Original Score at the 76th Annual Tony Awards for Shucked, the new musical comedy she composed alongside longtime collaborator, Shane McAnally. Shucked is nominated for nine awards overall at the 2023 ceremony including Best New Musical.  

Of the nominations, Clark shares, “The first musical I ever saw was Oklahoma and I fell in love. It’s been a lifelong love affair for me and musical theater, but I NEVER dreamed I’d be a part of the musical theater/Broadway world. Shucked has made dreams I never dreamed come true.” 

The accolades add to yet another landmark year for Clark, who will release her highly-anticipated new self-titled album—produced by 9x Grammy-winner Brandi Carlile—May 19 on Warner Records (pre-order/pre-save). Ahead of the release, Clark has unveiled two album tracks, “She Smoked in the House” and “Buried,” of which Billboard praises, “Clark continues to convey her inexorable talents as both a song-crafter and vocal interpreter,” while Music Row declares, “a stunning ballad of ache and loss by one of our greatest living country songwriters.”

Recorded at the famed Shangri-La studio in Malibu, CA, the album features the most raw and intimate recordings of Clark’s decade-long career, as she showcases her versatility across eleven songs that span the emotional spectrum. In addition to Clark and Carlile, the album also includes special guests Derek Trucks and Lucius as well as Matt Chamberlain on drums, Sebastian Steinberg on bass, Dave Palmer on piano, Jedd Hughes on guitar, Kyleen King on viola, Josh Neumann on cello, Sista Strings (aka Monique and Chauntee Ross) on cello and violin, Steve Fishell on pedal steel and Jay Carlile on background vocals and harmonica.

Reflecting on the project, Clark shares, “This album is a return home to me in many ways. Musically it’s the rawest I’ve been since 12 Stories and maybe even rawer. When Brandi and I sat down and talked about working together, one thing that really intrigued me was her saying ‘I see it as your return to the northwest.’ (Since the two of us are both from Washington state). That comment inspired so much for me. It took me back to where and how I grew up. ‘Northwest’ and ‘She Smoked In The House’ were both a result of that early conversation. Working with another recording artist on this project was such a gift that I didn’t even know I needed and changed the way I want to write songs and make records moving forward. My hope is that anyone who hears this album will feel the heart that I put into every note of it.”

Carlile adds, “Brandy is one of the greatest songwriters I’ve ever known. And I feel like I now know exactly who Brandy Clark is through the portal of this singular brilliantly written album. When I heard the songs for this album, they took me back to the first time I heard Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. I was thinking about Tom Petty, The Pretenders, Kim Richey, Sheryl Crow, Shelby Lynne and the soul of 90s Americana before it had a name. Brandy’s voice is like a friend you’ve had your whole life the second you hear it. I know I’m not alone in feeling this way. This is her moment. This is the one. Sometimes an artist only gets one shot at an album like this in their life. This is the time Brandy has chosen to reveal herself to the world as an artist and a woman and I was blessed beyond measure to be the person she trusted to support and facilitate that swan dive.”

Clark is one of her generation’s most respected songwriters and musicians. In addition to writing songs like “A Beautiful Noise,” the GRAMMY-nominated duet performed by Brandi Carlile and Alicia Keys, and Kacey Musgraves’ “Follow Your Arrow,” Clark has released three acclaimed albums of her own including 2020’s Your Life is A Record. The album landed on best-of-the-year lists at Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Variety and more and led NPR Music to call her, “a storyteller of the highest caliber,” The New Yorker to declare, “No one is writing better country songs than Brandy Clark is” and Slate to proclaim, “one of the greatest living short-story-song writers in country (which really means in any genre).”