‘SNL’: Watch Brandi Carlile’s Gale-Force Debut

For her first-ever performance on Saturday Night Live, country singer Brandi Carlile launched right into her defiant heartland jam, “Broken Horses,” wearing a gleaming Elvis-inspired gold lamé suit. But for all the glam, the energy of the music was straight barroom rock and roll. Carlile wielded her burnished guitar like she was steering a colt, her streaky brown hair hanging loosely around her face.

Carlile returned to the stage to perform her swelling country-rock drama, “Right on Time,” the lead single from her stunning new album, In These Silent Days. This time, Carlile wore a glittering black-and-white suit, appearing alone on a darkened stage, playing the opening verse on piano. The crowd gasped as she turned to the camera and sang the end of the verse in chilling a cappella. Then, Carlile picked up her guitar and rejoined the rest of her band at the front of the stage, bringing the song about two embattled lovers to its soul-melting crescendo.

In These Silent Days is Carlile’s seventh album and the highly-anticipated follow-up to her 2018 album, By the Way, I Forgive You, which was produced by David Cobb and Shooter Jennings, and earned a bevy of Grammy nods, including Song of The Year, for its single “The Joke.” Carlile went on to co-found the country music supergroup, the Highwomen, with Amanda Shires, Maren Morris, and Natalie Hemby. Her first memoir, Broken Horses, was released last spring.

Listen to our recent IndieLand Music Now interview with Carlile by pressing play above, or download and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.