Brandi Carlile as Country

If I’m completely honest, I have always been one of those people that has turned their nose up at country music. Why would I want to listen to someone sing about drinking and trucks? It didn’t seem overly thought-provoking or interesting to me. That was until I found Brandi Carlile. Her raw vocal and honest storytelling filled me with a true understanding of what an emotional vulnerability through music can mean. She compelled me to further explore country music and her involvement within it today. Although her most recent album, In These Silent Days (2021) insights food for thought, the album that inspired a love of country music in me was By The Way, I Forgive You (2018). However, I was surprised to see there has been much dispute from those in the country music industry as to whether or not she is actually a country artist. This led me to wonder what elements actually create a country track? Is it the instrumentation? Or is it themes? Although there are a plethora of topics I could discuss, the most poignant seems to be authenticity.

Authenticity has been key to defining the genre of country music, with authenticity being seen as a representation of rural and working-class themes. But what makes music authentic? Can a theme create an authentic feeling? Surely authenticity equate to what is authentic for the artist; there cannot be a measure of authenticity. To me, authenticity is a representation of your life, your thoughts and feelings, and your hardships. If authenticity is the most significant identifier of country music, Brandi Carlile does not miss the mark.

Carlile spans authenticity on many levels. Firstly, her vocal timbre throughout her album creates an emotional vulnerability and a sense of pain, particularly in the song ‘Hold Out Your Hand’. When singing ‘A licence for killing your own native son, For a careless mistake and a fake plastic gun?’, Carlile sings with such emotion that it could be classified as shouting. This lyric, reflecting police brutality and issues of gun laws in the United States, gives an authentic narrative as to the political happenings in the US and Carlile’s feelings towards them. Carlile uses her music as a platform and a way to speak out about her political positioning, and opposes issues that are rarely targeted in country music. Her idea that being a country artist is greater than just her is reflected here – she directly speaks of the tensions and issues in the United States. It is this attitude that directly removes her from the traditional genre of country music, and why I felt such a pull towards her music.

Not only does her vocal timbre create an emotional authenticity, her subject matter pertains to her lifestyle and issues of acceptance within the country industry with being part of the LGBTQ+ community. Instead of creating feelings of nostalgia in her lyrical content, which is often associated with authenticity and country music (a longing for the ‘good old days’), Carlile pushes for a future of equality. There is no sense of wanting to return to the past, but a want for a better and brighter future for minority groups. By The Way, I Forgive You reflects this in ‘The Joke’, where she sings: ‘I have been to the movies, I’ve seen how it ends, And the joke’s on them’. This entire song, and this lyric, identify Carlile’s hope that the future will be an all accepting place for all groups of people. Her lyrical content creates a sense of the struggles she’s faced and her feelings for a more inclusive future. She portrays an authentic narrative of what life has been like for her and what she sees the future becoming: the joke is on those who do not see a future where everyone is equal.

Carlile also changes the narrative of typical gender constructs. She is, I believe, one of the first women to fully remove herself from the ‘traditional’ ties of the country music genre, particularly with this album. Most female country artists submit to the idea of heterosexuality and traditional family values of marriage, children, and being a housewife. This typical gender construct is another element that Carlile acknowledges, yet simultaneously breaks away from. Talk of marriage and being a mother is done – ‘The Mother’– and it is done with an intense vulnerability. ‘The Mother’ captures the difficulties of being a parent for all genders, not just mothers. Here, her feelings are so well presented and expressed, listeners cannot help but understand and empathise with her struggles. This brings in the authenticity country music seeks to find, and Carlile does this with ease, particularly in this album. Carlile captures the true essence of what it is like to be human.

For me, Carlile is moving country music forward. She is creating a new age of country music. Carlile reflects hope for change. Hope that we are moving into a more inclusive music industry, particularly in an industry that has previously excluded anyone who is not a white, straight, male. She is reflecting a change we are trying to make in society; a change that allows minorities voices to be seen, heard and represented. It is for these reasons that Brandi Carlile changed my opinion on country music, and helped me to understand the power it has to create raw emotional narratives.