Brandi Carlile took home best rock performance and best rock song for “Broken Horses” during the Grammy Premiere ceremony this afternoon (Feb. 5) at Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater. The track can be found on the artist’s 2021 album In These Silent Days, which is nominated for a total of seven Grammys tonight.
“Rock and roll, man,” Carlile exclaimed when accepting best rock performance in tandem with longtime bandmates Phil and Tim Hanseroth. “I cannot tell you how much this means to us. When I met these guys 22 years ago, we decided to get in a van together and be in a band. They were covered in Ramones tattoos. They had never even played an acoustic guitar. And then this happened!” Carlile also thanked “everybody in Seattle that made us want to strive for this incredible accolade.”
During her second acceptance speech, Carlile thanked her mom for telling to “stop singing so angry,” advice she said she ignored. “I cut my hair, learned how to scream, and just won a Grammy for a rock and roll song I sang with all my heart,” she quipped.
Later during the pre-show, In These Silent Days won again for best Americana album. “We recorded this album in one room, one place, live,” Carlile said while thanking producers Dave Cobb and Shooter Jennings. “We kept our hearts right on our sleeves and it means everything to me to win this in Americana, which is my community.”
Beyond In These Silent Days, Carlile last year facilitated Joni Mitchell’s return to live performance for the first time in nine years at the Newport Folk Festival and released a separate, “Laurel Canyon-inspired” version of In These Silent Days titled In the Canyon Haze. She will tour with Pink this summer and also bring Mitchell back to the live stage for two blowout June shows at the Gorge in Washington State.
The artist was the subject of our September 2021 cover story, which you can read here.
