Brandi Carlile
Brandi Carlile
Brandi M. Carlileis an American alternative country and folk rock singer-songwriter. Born in Ravensdale, Washington, she dropped out of high school to pursue a career in music, teaching herself piano and guitar. Her first commercial album, Brandi Carlile, was released to critical acclaim but to limited commercial success. Carlile garnered wider recognition for her 2007 single The Story, from the album of the same name, was a greater commercial success, and was used by General Motors for commercials...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCountry Singer
Date of Birth1 June 1981
CityRavansdale, WA
CountryUnited States of America
Privilege and complacency paralyze me with fear sometimes.
Privilege and complacency paralyze me with fear sometimes. But the less vulnerable we are because of privilege, the country we're born in, or the security we enjoy, the more vulnerable our souls are to apathy.
My songwriting is so influenced by orchestrated music, dramatic, super glam rock-y stuff. Two of my biggest influences in songwriting were Elton John and Freddie Mercury.
The hardest thing about being on the road is not being with my animals.
I'm really tough. It's a state of mind.
When I started out, I was definitely writing about experiences that I hadn't had yet. The songs were just based on my influences, songwriters that had written songs before me and that were more experienced and 20, 30 years older than me.
It's really important to me to promote worthy causes. But not in a heavy, obligatory, responsibility way. I really admired that as a kid, learning about the 'Elton John AIDS Foundation.' And I was obsessed with The Indigo Girls. And they are the consummate activist group, always reaching out, especially to Native causes and things like that.
'Hallelujah' is going to be a standard that our grandkids, our great-great grandkids will learn to sing in church. It's one of those really, really special songs.
I grew up in a single-wide, three-bedroom mobile home with my family. And now I see them, like, half a dozen times a year. Figuring out how to come home and talk to them again and feel like myself has probably been the greatest challenge.
When I turned 30, I started to feel all those miles. At times, you want to turn the faucet off a bit, but I never want to stop traveling. That's what it's all about - taking the music to the people.
I think I was probably looking for gay role models when I was younger, before I even knew or thought I was gay. I didn't really make the connection that they were gay, but I felt drawn to them because they were going against the grain, and I knew there was something that they had that everybody else didn't have. It was an edge.
In life, I'm most inspired by entertaining people and driven by the desire to do it by such a powerful force that I think it influences everything I do.
It's impossible to just come up with one thing that I could say to the world. That's why I've spent my life in the pursuit of the opportunity to sing to it. Summing it up goes against what fuels me.
I used to turn to nature and animals a lot. And fishing. I spend time still with my Bible and the gospel music, and I still have to feed the animals! But my wife and daughter have brought me a world of perspective when I'm feeling just a little "extra important."