O'Keeffe "Dark Iris I"

Been watching lots of female music performances on You Tube. This means, of course:
more Brandi Carlile blogging!

First: I've You Tubed Brandi singing "Folsom Prison Blues" at several venues. She revs up her audience every time. A fun performance at House of Blues, in Dallas. Brandi's got her Boy Scout shirt on; her hair hangin down in her face; and she's workin those lyrics up, down, and around. What I appreciate about Brandi, more than anything: SHE JUST LIKES PLAYING THE MUSIC. Watch her. She genuinely just likes playing the music. It's performance and it's fun.

Second: Brandi and the twins are off to tour through Australia and England. They are becoming more known, as several venues in England are sold out in advance.

Third: After England, Brandi and the boys are taking three months off for rest, and they need it. They've been touring really heavily for over a year. On You Tube, you can literally track them becoming more and more worn down by life on the road. In spring and summer of 2007, Brandi looks fresh. By fall and winter of '07, playing what looks like 4 and 5 nights a week - a different town every night - you see her starting to look more wan and worn down. By spring 2008, she is soldiering forward, yet telltale signs of the physical toll are obvious.

In Feb '08, Brandi performed with Shawn Colvin, Lyle Lovett, Emmylou Harris, and other musicians on "Cayamo Cruise", which was a cruise for music fans. The musicians performed in multiple venues on the ship. Everything was very relaxed, and I noticed both Brandi and Shawn Colvin seemed a bit tipsy during a performance. I figure Brandi had a little Keith Richards life on the road I'm so weary thing going on. Here's Cayamo Brandi singing "The Weight"(and missing her cue, though not due to alcohol consumption). Brandi has a small part about 30 seconds in. When she can sing low, her voice has heart. It hints at something true, and it draws you in.

Fourth: Brandi's biggest hit so far is "The Story". It starts acoustic, and slowish, then goes electric and fastish. When recording it, Brandi's record company producer would not let her play guitar on her very own song on her very own CD. As she began recording the vocals, she was frustrated and incensed. She sang a note in an angry way, as she was being pouty and giving attitude to the jerks who wouldn't let her play her guitar. She accidentally cracked the note, and everyone really liked it, and that's the version they put out on the album. Now, in every concert, everyone waits for her to sing that cracked note. K.D. Lang was worried about Brandi's voice, and told her if the cracked note hurt she should just stop singing it.

Note also, in this performance - which is also at House of Blues in Dallas - Brandi is developing real fans. Everyone in the audience knows the proper lyrics, and Brandi seems delighted by that.

Notice what a natural performer she is. She is completely confident in her musicianship. She doesn't have to worry and overconcentrate on playing and singing proper notes, and this frees her up to flirt with the audience, and to have fun playing the music.

The Story Lyrics; Year: 2007

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
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
I climbed across the mountain tops
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
Because even when I was flat broke
You made me feel like a million bucks
You do
I was made for you
You see the smile that's on my mouth
It's hiding the words that don't come out
And all of my friends who think that I'm blessed
They don't know my head is a mess
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...
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
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.

The Story Lyrics on
http://www.lyricsmania.com/