Song of the Day #4,850: ‘Broken Horses’ – Brandi Carlile

Continuing my track-by-track presentation of Brandi Carlile’s In These Silent Days

The fourth track of In These Silent Days is an unexpected burst of righteous anger, and proof that Carlile can tear it up with the best of them. She channels her inner rock star in her live shows, but this is the first time I’ve heard it unleashed on a record.

The song shares a title with Carlile’s memoir, and she says it was inspired by the emotions stirred within her when writing the book.

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Song of the Day #4,849: ‘This Time Tomorrow’ – Brandi Carlile

Continuing my track-by-track presentation of Brandi Carlile’s In These Silent Days

Third track ‘This Time Tomorrow’ is a simple acoustic number making lovely use of three-party harmony by Carlile and her two bandmates, twins Tim and Phil Hanseroth.

Carlile and the twins have seven children between them, and this song was written to help those children deal with their parents’ eventual deaths. As Carlile put it, “we were basically creating a family heirloom for the seven, for the kids that, pray to God, are going to outlive us by a margin.”

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Song of the Day #4,848: ‘You and Me On the Rock’ – Brandi Carlile

Continuing my track-by-track presentation of Brandi Carlile’s In These Silent Days

Brandi Carlile befriended Joni Mitchell over the past several years, first earning an invite to the legend’s house for private jam sessions and later being tapped to perform Mitchell’s classic album Blue in live performances.

On In These Silent Days‘ second track, ‘You and Me On the Rock,’ Carlile wears that influence on her sleeve. The guitar sound here is straight out of Blue-era Mitchell.

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Song of the Day #4,847: ‘Right On Time (Live)’ – Brandi Carlile

Back in April, I did a quick deep dive into the six album releases by Brandi Carlile. At the time, her next album had been teased but not announced. Well, it arrived this month.

In These Silent Days is Carlile’s first album since the widely celebrated 2018 release By the Way, I Forgive You. That album won multiple Grammys and led to a star-making live performance on the award show’s main stage. Since then, Carlile has penned a best-selling memoir, befriended and performed a tribute to Joni Mitchell, and palled around with the Obamas.

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Song of the Day #4,846: ‘Yodel’ – Nellie McKay

‘Yodel’ is a sweet little track from Nellie McKay’s 2006 album Pretty Little Head. It is also, apparently, something of a collector’s item.

I found the track on YouTube, where the lone comment, by a fellow named Jaimes Palacio, reads:

“You are the hero of my day! Thank you for putting this out there because SONY, AMAZON and ITUNES are all f**king us and only releasing the 16 song truncated version. Unless, you want to send $150.00 (or more) on a 2 CD package on Amazon…”

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