“Broken Horses” by Brandi Carlile

REVIEW BY MEREDITH MCKINNIE

“I had two broken horses…and they were the most unbroken creatures I’ve met here on earth.”

I remember the moment I first registered Brandi Carlile as a formidable artist. By happenstance, I caught her 2019 performance of “The Joke” at the 61st Grammy Awards. I sat transfixed as Carlile’s lyrics, “I have been to the movies, I’ve seen how it ends” sent shivers up my spine. “This is a bonafide writer,” I thought. Carlile’s memoir Broken Horses provides even more evidence of that sentiment. From start to finish, I felt like I was sitting in the middle of a deep conversation with Brandi, reveling in her balance of humility and self-confidence, her commitment to her craft, and her unabashed acknowledgement of her background. 

Young Brandi grew up amidst deep poverty in rural Washington. With an alcoholic father and a mother longing for stardom, Brandi found small-town fame in local talent shows, allured by the rush of the stage. A commitment to the audience members’ experience stays with Brandi even as she reaches megastardom when her album In These Silent Days wins Best Americana Album (an accolade she coveted more than Best Album) in 2023. Her backwoods upbringing manifests in adulthood, as she still lives in rural Washington (where she once was a high-school dropout), banished from the local church for refusing to renounce her sexuality. Now her bucolic environment is ensconced in love with her wife Catherine Shepherd and two daughters, Evangeline and Elijah. Carlile lives for collaboration, teaming up with idols like Elton John, Dolly Parton, and Joni Mitchell; and fostering the budding talent of newcomer Tish Melton. Carlile’s quiet confidence is not so much something she discovered as something innate, a knowing beyond the circumstances of her childhood.  

By the end of the first page of Broken Horses, Carlile will lather you in the goodness of phenomenal prose and radical self-awareness. I kept reading passages over again, committing them to memory, amazed by the writing talent of someone who seemed to have life working against her. Each chapter concludes with song lyrics, first from those who inspired the artist, then lyrics from the artist herself. She reminds us of the power of forgiveness and the imperative of empathy. Unlike many artists, she does not take her stardom too seriously, instead using her musical leverage to elevate and resurrect the careers of others. In recounting her experiences, she evokes a sage-like quality – saying all the right things, for the right reasons, and from the right places. 

“If you find me in my work, I haven’t done my job. If you find yourself, then I’m an artist.”