Life on the road, in a song
Musician Brandi Carlile’s life and work intertwine
Unlike most business travelers, Brandi Carlile spends more time in her tour bus than flying on planes and staying in hotels as she goes from city to city to work.
The Seattle-based singer-songwriter, whose new album, Bear Creek, is out today on Columbia Records, drove more than 35,000 miles and flew 32,000 miles to perform in more than 85 cities and towns last year.
Carlile crisscrossed the Lower 48 states several times, performing 114 shows in big cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, and smaller places such as Cooperstown, N.Y., and Beaver Creek, Colo.
She squeezed in a road trip to Canada and trips by air to Alaska and London.
“When I turned 30, I started to feel all those miles,” says Carlile who turned 31 on Friday and has toured extensively for nearly a decade. “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.”
Carlile lives on the outskirts of Seattle in a cabin on a property that’s also home to two goats, two chickens, two cats, a horse and a dog, but she’s aware of the role the road has played in shaping her music and lyrics. Her fifth album for a major record label, Bear
Creek — named for the studio in Woodinville, Wash., where it was recorded — kicks off with Hard Way Home.
I’ve wept alone/ I know what it means to be on my own/ The things I’ve known/ Looks like I’m taking the hard way home.
The road weighs heavily on the album’s ninth cut, What Did I Ever Come Here For, which begins with the lyrics, I’d been gone for so long/ And how I missed you/ My heart was aching for home.
Favorite places
Travel can also be uplifting for Carlile, who has spent most of her days on the road with cowriters Phil and Tim Hanseroth, twin brothers who play guitars, percussion and sing in her band.
Carlile says she’s excited about traveling to Morrison, Colo., next month and headlining for the first time at her favorite venue, Red Rocks.
She previously was a warm-up act at the spectacular park and amphitheater with natural redrock formations in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
“Colorado is an oasis, an otherworldly mountain place,” Carlile says. “I’ve played so many shows in Colorado that I think I’m the Colorado house band.”
She says she has met many “wonderful” people in the South, particularly in Texas. “It’s the southern hospitality,” she says. “The South will warm your heart.”
New York also is a special place, though she says it “scares” and “always intimidates” her.
“It’s full of energy and unlike any other place in the world,” Carlile says. “It motivates me and hits me like a lightning bolt.”
Internationally, her favorite city may be London, because “its history is so rich,” and the city “is so beautiful.” Carlile says she once thought Londoners were harsh, “but the truth is, they’re so shy, and it takes a few minutes” to understand them.
She adores Australia — “the entire country blows my mind” — and says Bergen, Norway, is “absolutely stunning,” because it “looks like a scene out of a snow globe.”
Giving back
Income from years of shows made it possible for Carlile and the Hanseroths to found a charity, The Looking Out Foundation, and $1 of every concert ticket sold is donated to the foundation, which funds other organizations that support the arts, women, public health, the hungry and the homeless.
“The work I do with our foundation is as impor-
tant to me as my music,” Carlile says.
With all the traveling she’s done, it’s not surprising that one of her favorite musicians is Willie Nelson, who wrote On The Road Again. Her favorite album is Lucinda Williams’ Car Wheels on a
Gravel Road.
Carlile says Williams is “a pioneer” whom she met for the first time in April, when they were performing at an Austin concert celebrating the music of Johnny Cash. It was an awkward meeting:
“I spilled whiskey all over her, but Sheryl Crow saved the day by coming over and cleaning it up,” Carlile says.
Beside Williams, other favorites include coun-
try veterans Kris Kristofferson, Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton. Carlile says she would like to record with such contemporary musicians as Miranda Lambert, Shooter Jennings and The Civil Wars.
Elton John, though, “is my greatest hero,” she says. “He has influenced my songwriting and my lifestyle.” Someone Saved My Life Tonight from
the Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy album is her favorite John song. She says she also loves his classic 1970 album Tumbleweed Connec
tion.
Carlile was touring in Fort Collins, Colo., three years ago when she received word that John agreed to play on a song for Give Up The Ghost, Carlile’s 2009 album on Columbia Records. Despite a snowstorm, she diverted from her schedule and got on the next flight to Las Vegas to meet John at the Palms. They headed for a recording studio and, in two takes with John on piano and vocals, recorded
Caroline, another road song.
Every motel, every town/ Pieces scattered all around/ Promises that I can’t be/ Someone’s heart that I can’t keep/ Days so long I couldn’t speak/ Roads so rocky I can’t sleep/ But I’ve seen things so beautiful/ All around this broken world.
When the world feels broken or the stress of travel mounts, Carlile has a remedy on the road that never seems to fail. She rounds up one of the Hanseroth brothers and leaves whatever city she is in.
“Every city has a town outside with a lake,” she says. “I pull out my fishing pole and fish. I’ve been doing that for a long time.”