3 Classic Americana Duets Featuring Brandi Carlile That Will Fill You With Emotion

When Brandi Carlile rocketed onto the scene in 2018 thanks to her LP By the Way, I Forgive You, there was no turning back for the Pacific Northwest artist. While fans knew her already thanks to her hit song “The Story,” it was after her hit “The Joke” on that 2018 record that she earned even more praise and several Grammy Award trophies.

Since then, Carlile has been working to grow her career as well as connect with other big name stars, and even help build the careers of other talented artists. Here below, we wanted to explore three duets that Carlile was a part of. Indeed, these are three Americana duets featuring Brandi Carlile that will fill you with emotion.

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“Party of One” by Brandi Carlile featuring Sam Smith (2018)

While this song was originally on Carlile’s 2018 LP By the Way, I Forgive You, it wasn’t done quite like this. It was solo and not nearly as lush. On this version, Carlile and the golden-voiced, British-born singer Sam Smith recorded their melancholy rendition for a standalone single and, well, the song gives chills. With Carlile’s woodgrain timbre and Smith’s ray-of-sunshine vocals, it was an instant classic. And since it dropped, the video for the recording has garnered more than 8 million views on YouTube alone. Together they sing,

“Waiter, send this to the table, the party of one”
The only other lonely soul in this place
And so you’re finishing up your coffee, but then where you’re gonna run?
Where’d you get that look on your face?

You should always let the sun go down on your anger
Let it burn you to sleep
Bring it closer to danger, to surrender and retreat
Sing your sad soul to sleep

“Same Devil” by Brandy Clark featuring Brandi Carlile from Your Life Is a Record (Deluxe, 2020)

An incredible song about unique lives and our shared pain, this song from Brandy and Brandi cuts to the quick of your music-loving soul. With their voices harmonizing like light and dark, this song, though not necessarily familiar to a giant audience, was an instant classic when it was released. It’s a song that finds your heart and surrounds it with talent and trepidation. Indeed, on the the tune the two Americana standouts sing,

There’s a guy sellin’ baggies by a telephone pole
To a dime bag girl who’s gonna sell her soul
On a corner, ’round the corner from where her mama sits
Waitin’ on a call she hopes she never gets
And there’s a boy by a locker, white knuckles his bag
Hopin’ that bully picks that other fag
Hidin’ in the closet, playin’ pretend
For a Sunday mornin’ sermon, daddy preachin’ on sin

Same train, different track
Different mama, same heart attack
Same bullet, different gun
Different cross, same son
Same hell, different levels
Different demons (different demons)
Same devil

“You’re Not Alone” by Allison Russell featuring Brandi Carlile (2022)

This song was originally released on the 2019 album Songs of Our Native Daughters from the group Native Daughters, of which Allison Russell was a member. But then in 2022 Russell and Carlile did their own rendition and released it together as a duet. Russell, who boasts two standout solo albums (Outside Child and The Returner), is a friend of Carlile’s and someone Carlile has been shining a light on for years now. And on this heartfelt tune, they sing together,

Hey, my little evening star
How bright you are
Anywhere you go
You’re not alone

Rocks and bugs and angel wings
Every little shiny thing
Anywhere you go
You’re not alone

You’re the north star and the compass
Always finding something wondrous
Anywhere you go
You’re not alone

Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images