Brandi Carlile: the Americana star delivers the most awe-inspiring concert of the year
Ten-time Grammy winner Brandi Carlile is revered by her peers in the American music business. In a fleeting UK appearance, she showed her loyal British fans exactly why. This was an awe-inspiring concert of incredible singing and immaculate harmonising, packed with powerful songs in evocative acoustic arrangements, delivered with warmth and character. Something magical transpired in the beautiful Theatre Royal Drury Lane, which Carlile herself acknowledged: “I live for nights like this,” she beamed with delight. “This is easily my favourite ever show.”
Carlile supported Fleetwood Mac superstar Stevie Nicks at Hyde Park at the weekend, where she won a lot of admirers in the 65,000-strong crowd with her full electric band. For the more intimate environs of the 2,000-capacity Theatre Royal, the 43-year-old singer-songwriter’s main backing was provided by twin brothers Phil and Tim Hanseroth, on acoustic bass and acoustic lead guitar respectively. This unit have played together for 25 years, and it shows. They blend three-part harmonies where it is impossible to hear the join. “You wanna know how culty and weird we are?” said Carlile. “Phil is married to my sister, and we all live together.” The trio are so perfectly in tune that even their vibratos move in unison. It is like listening to prime Crosby Stills and Nash (the latter a self-declared Carlile fan) with Roy Orbison on lead vocals.
Carlile herself is that good, her voice scaling extraordinary heights, shifting gears across the octaves from contralto to soprano with fluid ease. When she first came on, she marvelled at the acoustics in the Theatre Royal, peeling off a tremulous series of falsetto notes that rose up to the Gods. “It’s so fun to sing in here!” she declared with delight. Well, she showed it, all night. Her double Grammy award winning song The Joke was a breathtaking tour de force.
Carlile is an Americana artist, which she described as “country music not of a certain persuasion.” The good stuff, in other words, unrestricted by the generic formulations of country pop. Her glorious cover versions revealed a lot. She blasted through an epic version of Elton John’s Madman Across the Water, with help from dreadlocked cello and violin duo Sister Strings (Elton is another big Carlile fan). She gave us a superlative version of Joni Mitchell’s Carey (Carlile has been a driving force behind Joni’s recent revival, and they frequently perform together). She delivered a delicate take on Linda Ronstadt ballad Long Long Time with Britain’s Dave Mackay guesting on piano. And she performed a melancholy reworking of Closer to Fine by US folk rock duo The Indigo Girls, duetting beautifully with her British wife, Catherine Shepherd (not a professional musician). “We love sad lesbian songs,” said Carlile. “Is there any other kind?” joked Shepherd.
Carlile has been an unabashed advocate of the LGBTQ community for most of her career, which might help explain the presence in the audience of another women’s rights legend, tennis champion Billie Jean King. The fact that Carlile has risen to such prominence in an innately conservative US musical genre surely says something about the sheer quality of her work. She and her band are as good as it gets. I hope Britain takes her to heart and she becomes a more regular visitor to these shores.
No further UK dates
