Brandi Carlile: Tiny Desk Concert

Ann Powers | December 3, 2025
Brandi Carlile has a way of making any performance feel like a tête-à-tête, a deep emotional exchange between friends that just happens to take place in a crowd. Yet the challenge of bringing songs from her gorgeous new album Returning to Myself to the Tiny Desk still shook her.

"It's the kind of thing that really makes your blood run a little cold," Carlile says, laying down her acoustic guitar after the gentle "A War with Time." She then turns to the Roland keyboard mounted on the desktop and begins "A Woman Oversees," a song she and her accompanists had never before performed live.

With its arching gospel melody, the ballad gives Carlile the chance to show how she's fully grown into her voice — in every sense — in the 13 years since she last appeared at the Desk. Back then she was flanked by her bandmates-for-life Phil and Tim Hanseroth, frowning a little as she belted out heartfelt countryish rockers. Now Carlile is a bona fide superstar whose compositions feel like instant classics. She could rest in her fame, but her restless soul keeps leading her into new configurations.

Here, she gives the twins a day off and enlists the string players Chauntee and Monique Ross (aka Sistastrings) and the upright bassist Solomon Dorsey to lend elegance to fresh compositions. She brings her whole self into these songs, like the new album's title track, with its guitar part reminiscent of Heart's Nancy Wilson and lyrics about balancing family and self-care. "Returning to myself is just returning me to you," she sings of her loved ones, and of all of us lucky to witness her evolution.

SET LIST
"A War with Time"
"A Woman Oversees"
"Human"
"Returning to Myself"

WATCH an interview with Brandi Carlile on NPR's "Wild Card" here: https://youtu.be/j_OHsKHBW0o

MUSICIANS
Brandi Carlile: vocals, guitar, keys
Chauntee Ross: violin, background vocals
Monique Ross: cello, keys, background vocals
Solomon Dorsey: bass, background vocals

TINY DESK TEAM
Producers: Bobby Carter, Ann Powers
Director: Kara Frame
Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell
Video Editor: Joshua Bryant
Videographers: Kara Frame, Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant
Audio Engineer: Hannah Gluvna
Production Assistants: Dora Levite, Dhanika Pineda
Photographer: Michael Zamora
Series Editor: Lars Gotrich
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Executive Director: Sonali Mehta
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson, Robin Hilton

#nprmusic #tinydesk #brandicarlile

Support for NPR Music comes from Moises. A platform created by musicians, for musicians and used by 70 million artists worldwide – to learn, create, and collaborate. Available for download.