Those of you that have been following me and my little blog since I started in 2006 know how much I love Brandi Carlile. I’ve seen her four times in Portland, Oregon – and have each of her three albums; Brandi Carlile, The Story and the new Give Up the Ghost.

Brandi is one of those artists that really gets to me. Her music has always moved me. The music is so passionate and emotional, I’ve been known to cry and at the very least get goosebumps when I listen to her.  Forget seeing her live.  I’m a complete mess! She has one of the strongest, most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard.  I feel like I connect with her when she sings, and I know that’s why most people love her like I do.

Portland loves Brandi.  Her hometown is close, just outside of Seattle, Washington.  When Brandi comes to Portland, she is so jazzed and excited and happy to be onstage. When I talked to her last night, I told her I thought the show was great – and her performance was so energetic. She said that when she gets close to home, she gets her “second wind”. Like I said earlier, I’ve seen her perform three times previous, all in smaller venues. Last night she performed for the first time in the Arlene Schnizter Concert Hall, which seats over 2,700, and there were few empty seats. She spoke over and over about how much it meant to her to be playing in the Hall, which is one of Portland’s most beautiful theaters. You could tell she was loving it, it was her best performance to date!

Give Up the Ghost is Brandi’s third album, and in my opinion is her best yet.  She collaborated with her idol Elton John on the track “Caroline”, and the rest of the album boasts talent like the Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench and Amy Ray from the Indigo Girls.

Her voice is her greatest instrument. She has a voice that has only gotten better over the last three years. There are a few songs in particular that really got to me on the new album.   My favorite song is “That Year” which Brandi said she wrote for a dear friend who committed suicide when they were both 16. She told the audience it took her 10 years to forgive her friend for committing suicide.  She woke up one morning, and realized that she was wrong – and wrote the song “That Year”.

When she sang the song – I melted.  I witnessed a suicide when I was 18 – and just hearing her sing the song, I got chills. This song is one of the reasons why she is so special to me.

I must have been sleeping, I must have been drinking,
I haven’t been dreaming about you for years. There was a sharp
turn and a sunburn I was too cool for high school that year.

Must have have been New Years. No one invited you, took things too far but I missed you and your antics. You were lonesome and blue-eyed and so special to us.

You could have taken a long break instead of a long drop from a high place. Ten years I never spoke your name. Now it feels good to say it. Your my friend again.

Said he forgave you, I said I hated you, he was the bigger man, I was sixteen. All the innocence it took well I guess you finally made the year book. That year. That year.

You should have taken some time away instead of a long drop, instead of a leap of faith, ten years I never spoke your name. Now it feels good to say that your my friend again. your my friend again.

I was angry, I was a baptist, I was a daughter, I was wrong.

She wrapped her show with a very long encore.  She covered Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues - which had the whole crowd on their feet and dancing. She covered the Beatles’ Let it Be, and ended the night with the most beautiful version of Mad World I’ve ever heard.

After the show, which was unbelievable and amazing, I was able to meet her.  And I was able to thank her for what she’s done for me.  She is one of those performers that has really gotten to me, and my husband. Three years of listening to her beautiful music – and I was able to thank her in person.  That doesn’t happen everyday.  She was just as beautiful in person.

She asked asked what we thought of the show. I was like “ARE YOU KIDDING!” Of course she was brilliant!

So what’s my bottom line? Brandi Carlile is amazing, and if you don’t have her latest album Give Up the Ghost, then you have to pick it up.

Here I am meeting Brandi last night.

Visit Brandi on Myspace
Order Give Up the Ghost on Amazon

Pictures by Troy Kujala