{"id":460385,"date":"2026-02-07T20:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T20:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/460385\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T20:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T20:36:11","slug":"brandi-carlile-on-singing-at-the-super-bowl-hanging-out-with-joni-mitchell-and-fishing-without-bananas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/460385\/","title":{"rendered":"Brandi Carlile on singing at the Super Bowl, hanging out with Joni Mitchell and fishing without bananas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Illustration by The Globe and Mail\/Collier Schor<\/p>\n

With 11 Grammys and eight solo albums to her name, Brandi Carlile has carved a singular space in music, fusing folk storytelling with the power of rock and the depth of soul. <\/p>\n

Her voice can morph from sounding like a quiet afternoon in an intimate coffee house to a night out at a packed arena. This weekend Carlile\u2019s range is getting tested at the Superbowl, where the singer is set to sing, \u201cAmerica the Beautiful.\u201d While her forte is crafting deeply personal songs (The Story, Human and The Joke being the most popular), her ability to connect with legends has proven to be formidable. She coaxed both Joni Mitchell and Annie Lennox back to the stage and recently collaborated with Elton John on an album.<\/p>\n

Off stage, Carlile lives in Washington state with her British wife, Catherine Shepherd and their two daughters. Together they helm a charity The Looking Out Foundation, which focuses on social justice causes. <\/p>\n

Shortly before the Super Bowl and her concert at Toronto\u2019s Scotiabank Arena on Feb. 18, Carlile opens up about Canadian obsessions \u2013 like fishing in B.C. \u2013 and her bond with Mitchell.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re singing America the Beautiful at the Super Bowl. How have you considered performing this song in this political climate?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been incredibly mind-expanding. I always wished it was our anthem. Listening to Ray Charles and Whitney Houston sing it, it sounds like a belief about where America\u2019s going instead of a brag about where it is \u2013 or where it\u2019s been. When I learned the woman who wrote it was a lesbian, and why she wrote it, it started to feel more like a hope, a prayer, a belief than a celebration. I can\u2019t lean into celebration right now, but I can lean into where we need to get to.<\/p>\n

Singer Jill Scott received backlash for rewriting the U.S. national anthem at Essence Fest recently. What do you think about criticism artists face when they reinterpret songs that are deemed sacred?<\/p>\n

She certainly didn\u2019t deserve that critique. Activism exists on a spectrum \u2013 from protest to philanthropy \u2013 and where people fall on it has to do with how honest they can be with themselves. Are you articulate? Do you have resources? Are you brave enough to put your body in harm\u2019s way? How you answer [those questions] becomes your legacy.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re considered an honorary Canadian because you were able to coax Joni Mitchell out of retirement. What is a night off with Mitchell really like?<\/p>\n

She\u2019s formidable, but she\u2019s also light on her feet. She has this helium balloon laugh that could peel paint. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

(L to R) Charlie Puth, Coco Jones, and Brandi Carlile are interviewed during the Super Bowl LX Pregame & Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show news conference at Moscone Center West in San Francisco on Thursday.Ishika Samant\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

A song on your album called Joni, is dedicated to Mitchell and has the lyrics: \u201cShe laughs at all the pop stars. And she doesn\u2019t even care if they hear her.\u201d Please spill the tea. <\/p>\n

She does laugh at the way we dance, the way we dress, and she does not care who hears it. That verse came from being in Vegas together during the Grammys. It was unserious, light \u2013 a girlfriend\u2019s weekend. She wanted to play blackjack \u2013 but wouldn\u2019t bet over $10. The house had to lower the table to $5!<\/p>\n

Mitchell says she wants to deliver lines to her audiences like Marlon Brando did on the big screen. Who would you say is your Brando? <\/p>\n

Meryl Streep or Kathy Bates. They understand the potency of one word and hold their ground like nobody else. I watch everything they touch.<\/p>\n

In your memoir, Broken Horses, you write about fulfilling your mom\u2019s dream to be a famous singer. Does her energy find its way into your life and art?<\/p>\n

A thousand times a day \u2013 when I answer the phone, when I sing. There\u2019s a particular twang that comes out, and I hear her. Her voice comes out speaking and singing. And her mother\u2019s voice too.<\/p>\n

How has your perspective of your song Church & State, off your latest album, Returning to Myself, changed with the news cycle?<\/p>\n

When I wrote it, I was worried about keeping my family together. I married my wife before it was legal, and navigating immigration was terrifying. It gave me a window into what immigrants experience without resources. Now it\u2019s shifted. I feel protective of faith from the state as much as the state from the church. Keeping them separate is make-or-break for the United States.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Brandi Carlile arrives for the 68th Annual Grammy Awards at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, Feb. 1.ETIENNE LAURENT\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

What conversations are most urgent in your household while raising two daughters?<\/p>\n

The plight of displaced people globally. Refugees, asylum seekers, economic migrants \u2013 anyone forced from their home out of self-preservation. <\/p>\n

You\u2019ve said it\u2019s as important for your daughters to see you in costume performing as it is to see you in sweats on the couch. <\/p>\n

They keep trying to choose which one is really mom. I explain to them that both things are really mom. They\u2019d rather have me in a fun shirt and a baseball cap talking about pipe jigs than to have me in Gucci on stage because they don\u2019t have to share, you know, pipe jig mom. <\/p>\n

How do you stay independently creative when being online influences us daily?<\/p>\n

As soon as the algorithm starts to know me, I get mad and disconnect. I pray a lot. That pulls me into a transcendent place. Reading progressive Christian writers shattered my unconscious biases and ideas about nationalism. It gave me a global, non-Western perspective. That exploration is how I maintain autonomy in this curated time.<\/p>\n

After the tour is done, where will you bring the family on vacation?<\/p>\n

Fishing season starts mid-April, so I\u2019m off. My phone will say: \u2018Welcome to Canada\u2019 because I\u2019ll be right on the border of British Columbia fishing for salmon and halibut with my daughters all spring.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s in your fishing bag?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m almost always fishing in Canada \u2013 right on the Washington\u2013Canada line. That\u2019s where I\u2019m fishing for halibut. So for that I\u2019ll have copper jigs, treble hooks, Shimano Ugly Stik halibut rods, but no bananas. You cannot have bananas on a boat. It\u2019s terrible luck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Illustration by The Globe and Mail\/Collier Schor With 11 Grammys and eight solo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341,2922],"class_list":{"0":"post-460385","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-noastack"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}