Lessons to be Learned from Brandi Carlile by Maria Grant

I’ve been a huge fan of Brandi Carlile for years. I love her voice. I love the songs she writes. But lately, I’ve been thinking about what a difference she has made in two performers’ lives—Joni Mitchell and Elton John. Perhaps we can all learn a few lessons from her efforts. 

Joni Mitchell has been a “rockstar” folksinger and songwriter since the 1960’s. Her famous songs include Chelsea Morning, Both Sides Now, Big Yellow Taxi, and River, to name only a few. In 2015, Mitchell suffered a brain aneurysm rupture which led to a long period of recovery and therapy. She basically needed to learn to walk again. For the next several years, she stopped making public appearances. 

In 2017, Carlile organized music sessions and recruited musicians to play music and sing in Mitchell’s Laurel Canyon living room. These sessions were called Joni Jams. In 2022, Mitchell joined Carlile and others at the Newport Festival. It was her first public performance in nine years, and it was a triumphant return. The response was overwhelming. 

Mitchell got the performing bug again and has done several concerts since then, many of them with Carlile, as well as a host of others. (If you haven’t watched the Kennedy Center honor Joni Mitchell, accessible on YouTube, please do. You will be in for a special treat, especially listening to Carlile, who frequently reinterprets Mitchell’s songs, sing River. By the way, I don’t imagine many folk singers will be frequenting the Kennedy Center in the coming days and months.)

The legendary Elton John, also one of my all-time favorites, has been dealing with a severe eye infection that has left him blind in one eye and with only limited vision in the other. Carlile and John have been friends for almost 20 years. Carlile credits John with being the main reason she picked up an instrument and wrote a song when she was just eleven. To stir John’s creative juices after his eye issues surfaced, Carlile and John collaborated on an album called Who Believes in Angels? If you haven’t heard any tracks from it, trust me, it’s well worth the time. The songs are magical and almost tear-inducing. The recent collaboration for this new album inspired the ailing John to new creative heights. Together they have made a sensational album. John says it’s his best since 1975!

These two scenarios of Carlile coming to, in a sense, rescue ailing musicians got me thinking. It’s a wonderful thing when people make Herculean efforts to rehabilitate others and reignite hope and talent. We have all had teachers, professors, friends, relatives, and colleagues who have been huge influences on our lives. Many of them may suffer from various maladies in their later years. It’s a true service if, with kindness and empathy, we make an effort to spend time with them, letting them know how special their talents are and how much they have influenced our lives. It also is a way of letting them know that all isn’t over yet—there may still be some gas in the tank for more creativity and output—even if it is of a different kind. (Think Matisse’s fabulous cut-outs when he was almost blind, or Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 when he was virtually deaf.) 

In doing so, we won’t just be helping an ailing soul, we too will gain special rewards. Imagine how both Joni Mitchell and Elton John have enriched Brandi Carlile’s life. It’s truly amazing. Plus, studies have shown that helping others can reduce stress, improve moods, and even boost immune systems. 

The closing lyric from the new Elton John/Brandi Carlile cover song, “Who Believes in Angels Anyway?” is: “There’s no need to curse the stars or bite before you bark. But when you need someone to walk with in the dark, I have been there. Man, I’ve been there.” That pretty much says it all. 

Maria Grant was principal-in-charge of the federal human capital practice of an international consulting firm. While on the Eastern Shore, she focuses on writing, reading, music, and nature.