”I live every day like there’ll never be a last one till they’re gone“ -Brandi Carlile
Brandi Carlile grew up outside Seattle, in Ravensdale, Washington, where she was isolated from neighbors but surrounded by music. Her mother, Teresa Carlile, was a singer and that afforded her the opportunity to perform onstage when she was a child. She was immediately hooked: ”It was the lights, the band, the applause, the nervousness and adrenaline. It was really, really rewarding especially for an eight-year-old kid and I will never forget it,“ says Carlile.
From then on, Carlile’s goal was to be a musician. She began honing her skills by listening to her favorite singers and studying their voices. ”I wanted to learn to scream my head off like Thom Yorke (Radiohead) and I wanted to learn to yodel,“ says Carlile. She listened to Patsy Cline songs and experimented to see how loud and high she could sing and how long she could hold a note. While working as a backup singer for an Elvis impersonator, she learned to sing harmonies and layer vocals. By the time she was 17-years-old, Carlile had taught herself to play piano and guitar and was performing everywhere she could.
When one of her favorite Seattle rock bands (The Fighting Machinists) disbanded, Carlile called guitarist Tim Hanseroth and asked him to write songs with her. Hanseroth and his twin brother, bassist Phil Hanseroth joined Carlile as her band. The trio signed with Red Ink/Columbia Records and their debut album Brandi Carlile was released in July, 2005.
Brandi Carlile was selected among the Top 20 albums in E! Online’s ”Replay 2005“ and three songs from the album were featured on ABC’s hit drama Grey’s Anatomy. Carlile was named by Rolling Stone as one of ”10 Artists to Watch in 2005“ and by Interview magazine as one of four female recording artists to watch in 2005.
Carlile’s eponymous debut was released for a second time in June, 2006. The reissue includes a new recording of ”Throw It All Away.“ ”It’s probably my favorite song on the record, but when we recorded it, we didn’t really have the means to get the sound the way I wanted it,“ says Carlile. ”It’s really cool that I’m getting a second chance at this song because it’s dear to my heart. Plus it will give people a little taste of what’s to come on the next record.“ The new release also includes a radio edit of "What Can I Say" and two bonus tracks including a live performance of the Elton John/Bernie Taupin song "Sixty Years On" and a cello version of "Tragedy."
During the summer of 2006, Carlile and the Hanseroth twins spent two weeks at the Los Angeles home of Grammy Award-winning producer T Bone Burnett, tweaking songs for their next album before heading to The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, B.C. Their sophomore Columbia Records release The Story (April, 2007) was recorded live to two-inch analog tape on vintage instruments owned by Burnett.
Carlile told American Songwriter, ”With the last two years of touring and being on the road, I’ve learned that a live show should never sound like a record; a record should sound like a live show.“ The Story boasts the same emotive intensity as the band’s performances.
Few albums made today represent a band actually playing music together, because the conventional studio process involves tracking vocals and each instrument separately. The focus when recording The Story was to capture the feel of a stage performance, so it was recorded live with the musicians together in one room while Brandi looked on from the vocal booth. ”Being able to see each other was important because it allowed us to lock in and let things flow like we do on stage,“ explains Carlile.
Guest musicians on The Story include cellist Josh Neumann, David Palmer and Keefus Ciancia on keyboard and drummer Matt Chamberlain. Carlile was joined on vocals by Indigo Girls Amy Ray and Emily Saliers for ”Cannonball.“ A long-time fan of the duo, Carlile says, ”I don’t think I would play guitar if it weren’t for the Indigo Girls. It means the world to me to have them on my record.“ Carlile previously contributed vocals to “Last Tears,“ the closing track of the Indigo Girls’ Despite Our Differences album in 2006.
Songs on The Story were written alternately by Brandi, Tim and Phil and are the trio’s personal stories. Says Carlile, ”We’ve been playing some of these songs for years. I wrote ”Turpentine“ when I was a teenager.“ The title track, which moves slowly and without warning heightens to an all-out crescendo of Carlile’s explosive voice, was used by Grey’s Anatomy for a full-length prime-time video cut to scenes from the show.
When asked how it feels to be living out her dream, Carlile says, ”It feels like a hundred different things everyday. It’s a whirlwind of meeting my heroes and being exhausted and playing big shows and playing small shows and not getting sleep but then getting to do really cool things all the time. It’s so much more than I could have hoped for, wished for or expected.“
Maureen Palli
May, 2007.
| 
