Brandi Carlile delivered a powerful performance as the 65th Annual Grammy Awards show got underway on Sunday evening (February 5), and she was introduced to the stage by the best trio: her wife, Catherine Shepherd, and the couple’s two daughters. Shepherd was proud to introduce, “in our humble opinion, one of the greatest, most authentic artists and human beings on the planet.”

By the time she set foot on the stage at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, Carlile was already a three-time Grammy Award winner that evening. The powerhouse singer-songwriter had won the Best Rock Performance category (“Broken Horses”), the Best Rock Song category (“Broken Horses”) and the Best Americana Album category (In These Silent Days).

Carlile lit up the Crypto.com Arena stage with a performance of her Grammy Award-winning song, “Broken Horses,” on Sunday evening. It’s one of 10 tracks that appeared on her Grammy Award-winning album, In These Silent Days, which also includes “Right On Time,” “You and Me On The Rock” feat. Lucius (a song for Catherine), and other fan-favorites. Carlile wrote In These Silent Days while quarantining during the pandemic, teaming up with longtime collaborators and bandmates Tim and Phil Hanseroth to make it happen. She recorded the project in Nashville with producers Dave Cobb and Shooter Jennings.

“Never before have the twins and I written an album during a time of such uncertainty and quiet solitude,” Carlile said in a statement when her album released. “I never imagined that I'd feel so exposed and weird as an artist without the armor of a costume, the thrill of an applause and the platform of the sacred stage. Despite all this, the songs flowed through — pure and unperformed, loud and proud, joyful and mournful. Written in my barn during a time of deep and personal reckoning. There’s plenty reflection…but mostly it's a celebration. This album is what drama mixed with joy sounds like. It's resistance and gratitude, righteous anger and radical forgiveness. It's the sound of these silent days.”

Christa Cooper