Brandi Carlile

In 2019, Carlile co-founded the country music supergroup The Highwomen with Amanda Shires and Maren Morris, later adding Natalie Hemby to complete the line-up. Carlile appeared at Loretta Lynn's 87th birthday concert alongside Tanya Tucker where the two performed a song from Tucker's upcoming album While I'm Livin', which Carlile produced with Shooter Jennings. The Highwomen also made their live debut during this concert, performing "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels". Their debut single "Redesigning Women" was released on July 19, 2019, and their self-titled album was released on September 6th to critical acclaim.

On October 14, 2019, Carlile performed Joni Mitchell's album Blue in its entirety in Los Angeles at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

In July 2018, Carlile announced the creation of her own music festival, "Girls Just Wanna Weekend". The festival took place at Puerto Aventuras on the Riviera Maya in Mexico January 30-February 3, 2019 and was fronted by all-female musicians such as Indigo Girls, Maren Morris, Margo Price, Patty Griffin, and others. Carlile was inspired to create her own festival after participating in the Cayamo Cruise festival for numerous years.

Carlile's sixth studio album, produced by Dave Cobb and Shooter Jennings, By the Way, I Forgive You, was released on February 16, 2018, and was preceded by three tracks: "The Joke", "The Mother", and "Sugartooth". Carlile performed songs from the album on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. She also made a guest appearance on John Prine's album The Tree of Forgiveness. By the Way, I Forgive You went on to become the highest charting album of Carlile's career, reaching No. 5 on the Billboard 200. It also reached the number 1 position on the Billboard Top Rock Albums during the same week. The first track from the album, "Everytime I Hear That Song", was listed on Former President Barack Obama's year end playlist. The album received critical acclaim from critics, leading Carlile to receive 6 nominations at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, the most nominations for a female in 2019, including the all-genre Album and Song of the Year categories. She won in three categories: Americana album and both best American roots song and best American roots performance (for “The Joke”).

In October 2018, Carlile teamed up with Sam Smith to re-imagine the single "Party of One" as a duet with the proceeds going to the ongoing Story Campaign. Carlile has donated $1 million to War Child UK and Children in Conflict through The Story Campaign and sales of her benefit album Cover Stories.

In May 2017, Carlile released Cover Stories, a benefit album featuring songs from her 2007 album, The Story. Troubled by the world's refugee crisis, and the impact it has on children, Carlile and Looking Out Foundation chose War Child UK as the beneficiary of the album. Cover Stories features 14 artists, all of whom cover songs from The Story. Tracks include Dolly Parton's cover of "The Story", Pearl Jam's cover of "Again Today", and Adele's cover of "Hiding My Heart". Other artists featured are The Avett Brothers, the Indigo Girls, Kris Kristofferson, Jim James, Margo Price, Old Crow Medicine Show, The Secret Sisters, Anderson East, Shovels & Rope, Torres, Ruby Amanfu, Miranda Lambert, and Chris Stapleton. Former US President Barack Obama wrote the foreword.

Carlile was the featured musical guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers on April 7, 2016. She sang the song "Mainstream Kid" (from The Firewatcher's Daughter), and dedicated the performance to Senator Bernie Sanders, who also appeared on the program that night.

Carlile's 5th album The Firewatcher's Daughter released on March 3, 2015 on ATO Records. In a preview of her new album before release, the Boston Globe wrote, "Whether The Firewatcher's Daughter continues the country-folk flirtation of 2012's Bear Creek, returns to the warm adult songcraft of The Story and Give Up the Ghost, or explores some other direction entirely, she's sure to bring emotional intelligence, thoughtful clarity, and, most importantly, the most arresting female voice in pop this side of Adele. I'm betting on her."

She performed with The Avett Brothers on Late Show with David Letterman on May 4, 2015, singing the song popularized by the Carter Family, "Keep on the Sunny Side."

On January 11, 2014, Brandi sang the National Anthem for the Saints vs Seahawks NFL playoff game.

Carlile recorded a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain" for the compilation album Sweetheart 2014.

Carlile's next album, Bear Creek, released June 5, 2012, was produced by Trina Shoemaker. The album is a collaboration between her and the Hanseroth twins. In an interview with American Songwriter she says, "We decided a decade ago to split everything in our band evenly amongst the three of us. So nobody has any vested interest in getting involved with someone else's song or their story. But nobody has a vested interest in keeping someone out of the story either. It always comes down to what's best for the song." "Heart's Content" from this album was further featured in 2013's romantic movie Safe Haven, when Katie (played by Julianne Hough) and Alex (played by Josh Duhamel) heard it on radio in an empty diner and danced to it.

In a November 2002 interview, Carlile identified herself as a lesbian. She later told the Los Angeles Times, "I don't have to have a lot of formality around it ... there were people before me who paved the way." In June 2012 she announced she was engaged to Catherine Shepherd. The two were married in Boston, Massachusetts, on September 15, 2012. The couple have two daughters, Evangeline and Elijah.

In 2011, Carlile's album Live at Benaroya Hall with the Seattle Symphony reached number 14 on the Top Rock Albums chart. The live album finds Carlile performing a mix of original songs and cover material. Recorded during two sold-out shows in November 2010 at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Washington, the album features Washington-native Carlile and her long-time band (including brothers Phil and Tim Hanseroth) performing alongside the Seattle Symphony. Andrew Leahey from AllMusic called it Carlile's best and wrote, "'Live at Benaroya Hall' is more concerned with dressing up Carlile's music in elegant, orchestral clothing, and the results are pretty stunning, from the grandeur of "The Story"—now featuring horns, woodwinds, and strings. This isn't Brandi Carlile's first concert album, but it's certainly the best."

Carlile was also a judge for the 10th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.

Carlile won Seattle's City of Music Breakthrough Award for 2010.

Give Up the Ghost was released in 2009 and debuted at No. 26 on the Billboard 200. Produced by Grammy Award-winning producer Rick Rubin, it featured a collaboration with Elton John on the song "Caroline" as well as Amy Ray, drummer Chad Smith and keyboardist Benmont Tench. In 2010, National Geographic Channel in Latin America chose the song "If There Was No You" from the album as a jingle to promote its series "Grandes Migraciones" (Great Migrations). Also that same year, during the 21st GLAAD Media Awards, Carlile was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for "Outstanding Music Artist" for the album. The album peaked at No. 26 on US Billboard 200.

Her second album The Story was produced by T Bone Burnett. It includes a collaboration with the Indigo Girls on "Cannonball." The album was recorded in an 11-day session with Carlile, the Hanseroths and drummer Matt Chamberlain to capture the raw intensity of Carlile's live performances. The crack in Carlile's vocals during the title track, "The Story", came out by accident and was a direct result of the way the album was recorded. "The Story" was featured heavily in General Motors commercials during the 2008 Summer Olympics, leading to increased exposure to her music. In response to the advertisement, album sales increased 368 percent from 1,323 to 6,198. Sales for the lead single, "The Story", increased in downloads of 28,091 copies."The Story" peaked at No. 5 on the iTunes Music Store's most purchased list. The song was also used in the 2008 commercial for Super Bock and helped the song reach No. 1 and the album reach No. 4 on the Portuguese charts. "The Story" was featured on the end credits of the romantic drama film The Lucky One.

In 2008, Carlile and Tim and Phil Hanseroth established the Looking Out Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization to give financial support to causes in which they believe. The foundation has awarded grants to organizations including Reverb, Honor the Earth, The Bridge School, UNICEF, The Women's Funding Alliance, Doctors Without Borders and the HRC. The Looking Out Foundation has launched numerous grassroots campaigns including Looking Out For The Hungry, The If Project and The Story Campaign. Carlile donates $1 from every concert ticket sale to the foundation. In January 2010, Looking Out Foundation partnered with the Seattle Police Department, the Indigo Girls, and two local Seattle self-defense studios to support the Fight the Fear Campaign.

Born in Ravensdale, Washington, a rural town southeast of Seattle, Carlile dropped out of high school to pursue a career in music, teaching herself piano and guitar. Her debut major label album, Brandi Carlile, was released to critical acclaim yet achieved limited commercial success. Carlile garnered wider recognition with her 2007 single "The Story", from her album of the same name. The Story was awarded gold status in 2017, having sold more than 500,000 copies to date. The Firewatcher's Daughter earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Americana Album and peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard 200.

Carlile has released seven albums, including The Story (2007), Give Up the Ghost (2009), and Live at Benaroya Hall with the Seattle Symphony (2011), the latter reaching No. 14 on the Top Rock Albums chart. In May 2017, Carlile released Cover Stories, featuring 14 artists covering tracks from the original The Story album, including Adele, Pearl Jam, and Dolly Parton, it debuted at No. 30 on the Billboard 200. Her latest album, By the Way, I Forgive You, was released in February 2018 to critical and commercial acclaim. It debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, her highest charted position to date, and also reached No. 1 on Billboard's Top Rock Albums.

"It wasn't until 2007's The Story—her T-Bone Burnett-produced sophomore release—that we realized even half of what we'd been dealt. Nearly a minute into the second song, something about her shifted from promise to absolute certainty as Carlile let loose a hurricane of lung power” wrote Rachael Maddux for Paste magazine.

In 2007 Carlile performed at the Borderline in London and as guest on Newton Faulkner's UK tour. She was the opening act for Maroon 5 and OneRepublic during their Australia tour. In April 2008, she performed on the BBC2 show Later... with Jools Holland.

By the end of 2006, Carlile had embarked on several headlining tours and supported a variety of artists including Ray LaMontagne, The Fray, Chris Isaak, Tori Amos, and Shawn Colvin.

The album earned enthusiastic reviews; she was featured on Rolling Stone' s "10 Artists to Watch in 2005" list, and other "artist to watch" lists by Interview and Paste. In his review of the album, Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote, "The accolades, combined with cover artwork that captures her at her cutest – as if she were a cousin of Rachael Leigh Cook – might make some listeners suspicious of Carlile, since the cumulative effect makes her seem like a pretty, prepackaged creation." He further wrote, "her music is... rich, warm, and seductive, familiar in its form and sound, yet sounding fresh, even original, particularly in how her folky singer/songwriter foundation blends with her art-pop inclinations."

Carlile began her career performing in Seattle music clubs with twin brothers Tim and Phil Hanseroth. In the beginning, Columbia Records signed Carlile in 2004 on the strength of songs she had been recording periodically at home. Released in 2005, Carlile showcased those early songs along with newly recorded tracks in the self-titled album Brandi Carlile. The 2006 re-release by Columbia Records included re-recordings of "Throw It All Away" and "What Can I Say".

Brandi M. Carlile (born June 1, 1981) is a multiple Grammy award winning singer-songwriter and producer whose music spans multiple genres. As of 2020, Carlile has released six studio albums and earned eleven Grammy Award nominations, including one for The Firewatcher's Daughter, six for By the Way, I Forgive You, and three for her work as producer and songwriter on Tanya Tucker’s 2019 album While I’m Livin’. She was the most nominated woman at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards (six) including nominations for Album of the Year (By the Way, I Forgive You), Record of the Year and Song of the Year ("The Joke"). In 2019, Carlile formed an all-female quartet with Amanda Shires, Maren Morris and Natalie Hemby called The Highwomen. They released their debut album The Highwomen in 2019 to critical and commercial acclaim.

Carlile was born on June 1, 1981, in Ravensdale, Washington, United States, a small town 30 miles outside Seattle. Growing up in the only house for miles, Carlile played in the woods, built forts and played music with her brother Jay and sister Tiffany. Brandi, whose mother is a singer, taught herself to sing when she was a little girl, and she started singing country songs on stage when she was 8 years old.

Carlile was nominated for the Top Americana Album category, with her The Firewatcher's Daughter for the 58th Annual Grammy Awards.