Singer Brandi Carlile proud of her range of fans, from country to rock

Singer Brandi Carlile proud of her range of fans, from country to rock

Jay Kirschenmann • jkirsch@argusleader.com • August 19, 2010

Brandi Carlile's music has been heard in a variety of places lately, from background in a "Grey's Anatomy" episode to the featured song behind an NFL documentary about 83-year-old coach Joe Paterno.
And her third album, the just-released "Give Up The Ghost," includes the song "Caroline," a duet with Elton John.
For the 29-year-old singer and songwriter, the duet with John, and upcoming appearances on the Grand Ole Opry and TV's "Austin City Limits," are highlights of her career.

Carlile plays the Orpheum Theater in Sioux Falls on Friday, part of a summer tour that takes her from Jacksonville, Fla., to Anchorage, Alaska.

Billboard magazine said Carlile "... channels heartache, fear, nostalgia and joy in nearly the same breath, creating a vivid pastiche of alt-folk pop."
Talking by phone from her home in Maple Valley, Wash., she says recent raves by critics make her feel good.

Paste Magazine called her "... the best voice in indie rock."

"That particular reference made me feel really cool, probably cooler than I deserve to feel," she says. "Why? I don't know, it just made me feel unique. I liked it."
Her style isn't considered rock, and country influences can be heard even on the duet with Elton John. A reviewer recently wrote that her new album may gain "cross-over" fans.
"I don't know, crossing over is such an ebb and flow, isn't it?" she says.
"I remember so many times growing up that I thought Bob Dylan was a country singer, and that Johnny Cash is like rock and rockabilly, so I didn't even know which was which," Carlile says. "I hope that all of my albums have that sort of a sense that country fans don't know why they like it, and rock fans don't know why they like it, either."
She grew up in a musical family, her parents and grandparents listening to and playing country music.
"They were not really too discriminative against any other kind of music, but country and western was definitely the theme of family jam nights," she says.
As a youngster, Carlile was listening to Radiohead and Queen's Freddy Mercury.

"I was really, really preoccupied with Freddy Mercury's vocals, his ability to hit notes and be so dramatic," she says. "As a child, I practiced to a lot of Queen's 'A Night At the Opera' and 'A Day At the Races.' "
She doesn't consider her new album to be too far removed in style from her past two. But the new album is more liberal with vocal harmonies.

Fans will hear that in Sioux Falls as she performs with her longtime bandmates "the "twins" (Tim and Phil Hanseroth), cellist Josh Neumann, who has been performing with her for eight years, and a new drummer, Allison Miller.

The band recently performed on the legendary TV music show "Austin City Limits," which is set to air in October. And she's been invited to perform at the Grand Ole Opry.
"It's coming up in December. It's going to happen! It's like a lifelong dream for me," Carlile says. "I wish my grandpa was still alive to see it."

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