In an age when artists spawned by YouTube and reality show competitions are here today and gone tomorrow, Brandi Carlile represents an era when truly gifted musicians achieved a level of respected longevity.
With the 2018 release of "By the Way, I Forgive You," Carlile's sixth studio outing and winner of three 2019 Grammy Awards (including Best Americana Album), she's firmly established quite a creative foothold for herself. Produced by Dave Cobb and Shooter Jennings, its 10 songs are less about artifice and more about honesty and craft - something that's in short supply on pop charts nowadays.
And while Carlile's career path has found the Washington state native working with the likes of T-Bone Burnett and Rick Rubin, she remains remarkably grounded and humble. So much so, that she unfailingly shares credit for her success with Tim and Phil Hanseroth, Carlile's identical twin bandmates who have been her ride-or-dies from day one.
"We met when I was just at the end of being a teenager; we were playing music and singing together. They were in other bands, and they had a band that was signed and dropped. I was doing a lot of solo stuff, but I had been playing on and off with other bands, too," Carlisle recalls.
"I proposed in a really over-the-top way that we quit everything else and totally focus on each other. I swore that I would get us a record deal, and I sold all my microphones and bought Tim an EBow. I don't know why (they agreed), because they were adult men, but they did. We made a pact right then and there that everything would be equal three ways, no matter what. And it always has been and it's really, really worked for us as a band and for me personally."
The empathy that reverberates through Carlile's music translates to the real world via her Looking Out Foundation. Founded in 2008 by Carlile and the Hanseroths, this nonprofit supports causes and organizations that often go unnoticed. They donate $1 from every concert ticket sold to these efforts. Among the causes that have benefited over the years are WhyHunger, women's self-defense movement Fight the Fear and War Child, a charity that helps children of warfare.
As grand as "I Forgive You" sounds through speakers and/or headphones, Carlile promises more of the same for those venturing out to see her in a live setting.
"It'll be different than anyone who's seen me before. I'm doing a much longer set - I'm doing the entire album with a lot of other songs, too-a lot of stuff from 'Give Up the Ghost,' 'Bear Creek' (her 2012 album), one or two from 'Brandi Carlile' (her 2005 debut) and 'The Story,'"she explained.
"It's going to be a big, refined and sophisticated show, but I'm still going to drink whiskey and lose my mind, so it'll be great."
Carlile is set to perform on the Poplar Stage at 9:15 p.m. Sunday at the Moon River Festival in Coolidge Park.