During the Grammy Awards on Sunday (April 3), Brandi Carlile — introduced by Joni Mitchell and Bonnie Raitt — delivered a soaring performance of her hit “Right On Time,” off her seventh album In These Silent Days.
The album, released last year, helped Carlile score five Grammy nominations, even competing against herself for song of the year with both “Right On Time” and her collaboration with Alicia Keys “A Beautiful Noise.” She makes history as the first woman songwriter to land two nods in this category in the same year.
For the performance, Carlile not only delivered two stunning high notes, but also proved what makes this song so striking: it’s balance. While she played up its tender, ballad-leaning moments, she wasted no time driving it home with a heavier rock section, complete with glowing rainbow lights illuminating the stage.
In addition to song of the year, Carlile is up for record of the year and best pop solo performance (also for “Right On Time,” and best American roots performance for “Same Devil”). She has a total of 17 nominates, and has collected six trophies.
Carlile, along with Jon Batiste, were the artist directors at this year’s MusiCares event, which honored Mitchell and was held in Las Vegas on Friday (April 1). There, Carlile performed her take on Mitchell’s “Woodstock” and later accompanied the legend on “Big Yellow Taxi.” Late last year, Carlile performed Mitchell’s groundbreaking album Blue in its entirety for a one-night special at Carnegie Hall.
In addition to releasing an album last year, Carlile also wrote a memoir and made her Saturday Night Live debut as musical guest.