‘I Would Know Your Voice Anywhere’: Brandi Carlile Reconnects with WXPN

“I would know your voice anywhere,” Brandi Carlile told WXPN host Dan Reed, kicking off a conversation that felt equal parts interview and reunion. The two have known each other for more than two decades, dating back to an intimate 2005 gig at Philadelphia’s now-closed Tin Angel. “It felt like that album came out to no one, but you,” Carlile said. She told Reed she’s never forgotten how seriously he took her from the start – “you treated it like I was Amy Winehouse or something.”

Now, two decades later, the stages are a little bigger. Carlile is currently preparing to perform “America the Beautiful” at the Super Bowl. Days later, she’ll launch her U.S. tour at Philadelphia’s Xfinity Mobile Arena on Feb. 10, in support of her new album, Returning to Myself.

The record is built on a collaborative process that Carlile says is vital to her growth. Working with heavy-hitting producers Aaron Dessner, Justin Vernon, and Andrew Watt, she actively sought out “mentors and kind of guardian angels” who would challenge her instincts.

“There’s always been conflict,” she explained to Reed. “They come into my life and they sort of break me apart and I grow.” Even now, she rejects the idea of creating in a vacuum. “I can’t produce my own art from inside of it: I need that push and pull.”

That rigor extends to her songwriting, which she now measures against a daunting new metric: the Joni Mitchell standard. Carlile described her internal “litmus test” for every new song: “I drive up to that gate and walk inside that house and play this for Joni Mitchell. And if the answer is no, I don’t even finish it.”

Thematically, the album tackles introspection, a concept Carlile says she has historically been adverse to “I’m really opposed to the message of self care, and kind of self anything.. ” She eventually agreed to the journey, provided it was “U-shaped,” going inward only to ensure she could return to the world better than before. “I looked around, I’m okay with what I see, but now I’m back,” she said. “I just wanna be with other people.”

That outward focus is perhaps most noticeable on the track “Church and State,” which Dan described as the heaviest thing she’s ever done. Written while “spiraling and feeling really angry” on election night, Carlile views the song as a defense of the “American experiment,” arguing that governing through religious interpretation “goes against what we are… which is a dream.” It is also a physical feat to perform; she notes with satisfaction that the song “shreds my voice and I love [to] shred my voice.”

For that upcoming “America the Beautiful” performance at the Super Bowl, she has been studying the original text, which she considers “one of the most beautiful poems.” Yet, despite the high stakes and the packed schedule, she says her life at home with her wife and daughters remains settled.

“We’re just having the best time together,” Carlile said. “We’re in the sweet spot, man.”

Brandi Carlile plays Xfinity Mobile Arena on Tuesday, February 10th with The Head and the Heart. Her new album Returning to Myself is out now.

Win a VIP Brandi Carlile Experience! Donate to WXPN and you’ll be entered for a chance to win two tickets, a private pre-show soundcheck, early entry, and priority merch access to Brandi Carlile’s February 10, 2026 show at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Five winners will be selected. Contest ends Friday, January 23 at 11:59 PM ET. View full contest rules.