Brandi Carlile released her fourth album, Bear Creek, in 2012. The record is named after Bear Creek Studio in Washington state, a farmhouse recording studio where artists of all sorts have cut albums. Carlile has been based in Washington for two decades, so recording there didn’t require much of a commute.
The album’s sound is appropriate to its rural setting. This is the most country-sounding album in Carlile’s output to date, though it does take a couple of detours into foot-stomping blues rock and, on its final track, something close to New Age.
I rank Bear Creek a notch below its three predecessors, primarily because of its simpler ambitions. Also, that final track, ‘Just Kids,’ meanders for far too long without stumbling upon anything resembling a groove or a melody.
It’s actually impressive that it wasn’t until the last song on her fourth album that Carlile released a song I’d consider skipping.
I’d rather focus on the opening track, ‘Hard Way Home,’ which is far more representative of this rootsy record.
I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up
I just count the rain
Wearing the floor through the boards again
I wish I could find a soul to steal
I could be the engine, you could be the wheel
We could drive it home, and never have to worry about being alone
Oooh, I follow my tracks
See all the times I should have turned back
Oooh, I wept alone
I know what it means to be on my own
Oooh, the things I have known
Looks like I’m taking the hard way home
Oooh, the seeds I’ve sown
Taking the hard way home
Taking the hard way home
I never did learn how to follow the rules
I never was good at sleeping while the moon was full
I just lie and burn
Wreck my mind while the planet turns
Sometimes wish I could start again
I’d try and do the right thing every now and then
I’d step in line
That’s what I would do if I could turn back time
Oooh, I follow my tracks
See all the times I should have turned back
Oooh, I wept alone
I know what it means to be on my own
Oooh, the things I’ve known
Looks like I’m taking the hard way home
Oooh, the seeds I’ve sown
Taking the hard way home
Taking the hard way home
I tell you how I want to live
Forget about the take
Forget about the give
I want to leave this town
Fake my death and never be found
Oooh, I follow my tracks
See all the times I should have turned back
Oooh, I wept alone
I know what it means to be on my own
Oooh, the things I’ve known
Looks like I’m taking the hard way home
Oooh, the seeds I’ve sown
Taking the hard way home
Taking the hard way home
Sometimes lose my faith in luck
I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up
I just count the rain
Wearing the floor through the boards again
I wish I could find a soul to steal
I could be the engine, you could be the wheel
When we’re driving home, I never have to worry about being alone
Oooh, the things I have known
Looks like I’m taking the hard way home
Oooh, the seeds I’ve sown
Taking the hard way home
Taking the hard way home
Taking the hard way home
Meet Me In Montauk 
This is the type of country song that just does nothing for me, so, if it is representative of most of the rest of the album, I’ll pass.