Brandi Carlile (born June 1, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, producer, and performer whose music draws on folk rock, Americana, country, and pop. Raised in Ravensdale, Washington, she began performing publicly while still young and built her early reputation in the Seattle music scene. There she met brothers Phil and Tim Hanseroth, who became her long-term collaborators. Although Carlile is the name on the records, the trio's shared musicianship and songwriting have been central to the sound of her career.
Carlile's first recordings were followed by her major-label debut, Brandi Carlile, in 2005. The album introduced her unusually powerful voice and an approach that could move from intimate acoustic writing to full-band rock. Her breakthrough came with The Story (2007), produced by T Bone Burnett. The title song, written with Phil Hanseroth and Tim Hanseroth, became one of her signature performances, combining a restrained opening with a dramatic vocal climax. The album also established Carlile as a distinctive presence beyond the conventional boundaries of country and folk music.
She continued to develop that balance on Give Up the Ghost (2009), Bear Creek (2012), and The Firewatcher's Daughter (2015). The latter marked an important turning point. Recorded with an emphasis on live-band energy, it earned Carlile her first Grammy Award nomination and helped place her more firmly within the modern Americana movement. Her songs often address identity, endurance, love, grief, and social exclusion, but her performances give those subjects a broad, anthemic scale rather than treating them as purely confessional material.
By the Way, I Forgive You (2018) brought Carlile her largest mainstream audience. The album's emotional directness and expansive arrangements led to six Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year. "The Joke" became its defining song and won Grammys for Best American Roots Performance and Best American Roots Song, while the album won Best Americana Album. The track's accompanying music video reinforced its theme of resilience by focusing on people who feel marginalized or misunderstood.
In 2019, Carlile joined Amanda Shires, Maren Morris, and Natalie Hemby to form the Highwomen. The group's self-titled debut treated classic country themes from a contemporary, female-centered perspective and produced the Grammy-winning song "Crowded Table." Carlile also expanded her work as a producer, contributing to projects by artists including Tanya Tucker, The Secret Sisters, Brandy Clark, and Joni Mitchell.
Her own In These Silent Days (2021) continued the songwriting partnership with the Hanseroth brothers and earned further acclaim, including Grammy wins for Americana Album and for "Broken Horses." Carlile has also become an important interpreter and collaborator, particularly through her work with Joni Mitchell and Elton John. Her collaboration with John produced the 2025 album Who Believes in Angels?, while Returning to Myself marked another chapter in her solo recording career.
Carlile's importance rests on the combination of vocal force, genre flexibility, and an unusually communal view of music-making. She has become a leading figure in Americana while retaining a reach into rock, pop, country, and televised or filmed performance. Her catalog is defined less by a single style than by the conviction that emotionally direct songwriting can belong in both an intimate room and a large arena.