By now, Brandi Carlile has established herself as a perennial Grammy contender, thanks to an immaculate midcareer run that’s seen the Washington folk-rocker hit new gears as a vocalist, songwriter and an eager collaborator with a genuine spirit. As Carlile’s transcended from a theater-packing Americana star to a household name and arena headliner, it’s no longer a surprise to see her name alongside gargantuan pop stars like Adele and Beyoncé in the Grammys’ premier categories. The only thing left for Carlile to accomplish at the Grammys is to actually win one of the big ones, having gone 0-7 in the Big Three categories heading into 2023.
We’ll find out during Sunday night’s 65th Annual Grammy Awards if Carlile can put the feather in her Grammys cap with wins for album and record of the year. But even before the televised show, she started adding to her trophy case.
Carlile got off to a hot start Sunday, picking up her first wins for best rock song and performance for “Broken Horses,” a dusty canyon rocker from 2021’s “In These Silent Days.”
“Let’s rock ‘n’ roll!” Carlile hollered after she and the Hanseroth twins made their way to the podium to accept the best rock performance award as the house band played Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name. “Oh, I cannot tell you how much this means to us. We were born and raised in Seattle and when I met these guys 22 years ago, we decided to get in a van and be a band together, and I met them and they were covered in Ramones tattoos, they had never even played an acoustic guitar. And then this happened.”
Among the usual acknowledgments to her team, bandmates, etc., Carlile added a thank you to “everybody in Seattle that made us want to strive for this incredible accolade.”
A minute later, the trio returned to accept the best rock song honor, where they faced competition from legacy artists Ozzy Osbourne and Red Hot Chili Peppers and indie heavyweights The War on Drugs and Turnstile.
“Oh my God, this is amaaaazing!” a floored Carlile exclaimed. “Oh, I’ll never be the same. My mom’s out there, Teresa Carlile. Mom, I gotta thank you for telling me to stop singing so angry because I obviously ignored that like I ignored everything you ever told me to do. But I cut my hair and I learned how to scream and I just won a Grammy for a rock ‘n’ roll song that I wrote with all my heart.”
Three of Carlile’s seven nominations this year came in her Americana/roots home base. After losing out to “my hero” Bonnie Raitt for best Americana performance and best American roots song, Carlile’s name was called again, with “In These Silent Days” winning best Americana album.
“Damn, I thought Bonnie was about to sweep!” a still-giddy Carlile exclaimed, having walked through another gauntlet of hugs en route to the stage.
“We recorded this album in one room, one place, live,” she said. “We kept first or second takes, we kept our hearts right on our sleeve. And it means everything to me to win this in Americana, which is my community that I love so much.”
Other artists with Seattle ties weren’t as fortunate during the daytime ceremony where most of the trophies were dealt out. Singer-songwriter Zach Bryan, a Navy vet who was stationed in Washington when his career exploded, lost best country solo performance to one of the genre’s true legends, Willie Nelson.
Recorded at Woodinville’s fabled Bear Creek Studio, Bryan’s heartwrenching “Something in the Orange” became a streaming monster with little support from traditional country radio. Bryan, who doesn’t consider himself a country singer, has been one of music’s coolest breakout stories since being honorably discharged in 2021, immediately playing to throngs of fervent fans across the country. The Oklahoma native and former Whidbey Island resident was a blatant snub in the best new artist category, likely because he’s shown no interest in cozying up to the Nashville establishment.
Perfume Genius, the creative vehicle of Seattle/L.A. art-pop vet Mike Hadreas, was up for best alternative music performance for his cameo on Yeah Yeah Yeahs comeback single “Spitting Off the Edge of the World.” Instead, the prize went to buzzy U.K. band Wet Leg with their quirky indie-rock hit “Chaise Longue.”
Elsewhere, “Chloe and the 20th Century,” the latest album from former Seattleite and current Sub Pop star Father John Misty, was up for an engineering award, losing out to the crew that worked on Harry Styles’ “Harry’s House.”
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