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.

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