Brandi Carlile’s first album earned critical raves and landed her supporting roles on tour with big-name artists. It also placed three songs on Grey’s Anatomy, giving her a boost in name recognition as she set about recording her second album. T Bone Burnett took the reins as producer.
The Story, released in 2009, went on to sell 500,000 copies and remains Carlile’s top-selling release to date. The collection of poignant country rock tracks is similar to her debut in style and tone but the quality of both the sound and the songs feels like it’s been turned up a notch.
My take on this album is that just about every one of its songs would make a perfect end-credits tune after a particularly powerful movie. That’s very high praise coming from me.
It means all of these songs feel like moments of meaningful reflection. They have the power to sum up a moving 2-hour experience in four minutes. Whether quiet or loud, acoustic or electric, they all feel emotionally cathartic and satisfying.
The most satisfying of all is the title track, which became Carlile’s biggest hit and showed up on many TV shows and commercials. It even landed at #1 on the Portuguese charts, of all places.
Carlile’s vocal performance on ‘The Story’ is a thing of beauty, particularly when the song kicks into another gear around the 50-second mark and she takes control in a way few modern performers can.
All of these lines across my face
Tell you the story of who I am
So many stories of where I’ve been
And how I got to where I am
[Chorus]
But these stories don’t mean anything
When you’ve got no one to tell them to, it’s true
I was made for you
[Verse 2]
I climbed across the mountaintops
Swam all across the ocean blue
I crossed all the lines and I broke all the rules
But baby, I broke them all for you
[Chorus]
Oh, because even when I was flat broke
You made me feel like a million bucks, you do
I was made for you
[Instrumental Break]
[Verse 3]
You see the smile that’s on my mouth
It’s hiding the words that don’t come out
And all of our friends who think that I’m blessed
They don’t know my head is a mess
[Chorus]
No, they don’t know who I really am
And they don’t know what I’ve been through like you do
And I was made for you
[Breakdown]
All of these lines across my face
Tell you the story of who I am
So many stories of where I’ve been
And how I got to where I am
[Chorus]
Oh, but these stories don’t mean anything
When you’ve got no one to tell them to, it’s true
I was made for you
[Outro]
Oh yeah, well, it’s true
That I was made for you
Meet Me In Montauk 
Who knew the Portuguese had such good taste and a penchant for American folk rock?
Lovely song beautifully sung ❤️
I love the tone of her voice. It’s gratifying that an artist such as Carlile can break through all the Dua Lipa’s and Ariana Grande’s who chart in the 2020’s. She reminds me of Bonnie Raif, and I can’t think of any higher praise.
Raitt. Damn spell check!