Brandi Carlile had quite a night at the 61st GRAMMY Awards, winning in three of her categories: Best Americana Album for By The Way, I Forgive You and Best American Roots Performance and Best American Roots Song for "The Joke."
During an interview backstage in the TV/Radio room, Carlile reflected on what the night meant not only for her career, but her genre, the gay community, and especially for women in music this year.
"It wasn't strictly a vocalist year. We talked a lot about producers. Linda Perry didn't win but she did an amazing job this year, and I hope that she wins next year. We got our first mastering engineer [Emily Lazar] that won this year," Carlile said to a room full of reporters. "I'm producing records, and am really heartened by women who are getting more involved in the building locks of the infrastructure of our business."
Carlile also saw her performance of "The Joke" during the GRAMMY telecast as a full-circle moment, recalling some of her early inspirational GRAMMY moments.
"I was allowed to stay up late at night as a young child to watch Whitney and Celine and Aretha hit the notes on the GRAMMYs, and to think that some gay kid somewhere in some small town got to stay up late tonight to see me hit the notes is something that I'll never forget," she added.
Carlile also talked about what the Americana genre means to her, how "The Joke" grew from a challenge by producer Dave Cobb and more.
