Tim Hanseroth: Celebs Rumors

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Allison Russell, Brandi Carlile and Billy Strings were among the winners Wednesday night at the Americana Honors & Awards ceremony in Nashville, where the love was spread around among the genre’s current leading lights. Six different performers prevailed in the six voted categories, with newcomer Sierra Ferrell, instrumentalist Larissa Maestro and the husband-wife duo the War and Treaty also coming up winners. The competition can be more inter-familial at the Americana Awards than at other shows, and the three leading nominees — Carlile, Russell and Yola, who had three nominations each — have been particularly tight-knit in supporting and guesting with one another. Carlile was even instrumental in helping get Russell her record deal with Fantasy Records.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The FOMO of having missed Joni Mitchell’s appearance at the Newport Folk Festival last summer no longer needs to be so strong. Most of that comeback set, which as augmented by an all-star cast, is being released as a live album in July, “At Newport,” produced by Mitchell and Brandi Carlile. The album will be released by Rhino on July 28, four days after the one-year anniversary of the surprise show at the Rhode Island Festival. The guest stars who shared lead vocals and instrumentals with Carlile during the “Joni Jam” will all be represented — including Carlile, Marcus Mumford, Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith, Lucius, Celisse and Wynonna Judd. Other players included Phil and Tim Hanseroth, Allison Russell and Blake Mills.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic God only knows it was a matter of time until the Recording Academy picked the Beach Boys as the recipient of one of its annual all-star tributes, and the group’s legacy isn’t done any shame with “A Grammy Salute to the Beach Boys,” airing Sunday night at 8 ET/PT on CBS (and for on-demand streaming on Paramount+). No wrong harmonies are struck, literally or figurative, in a two-hour show that starts out feeling a little bit by-the-numbers but eventually lands on a series of knockout covers fit for a Wilson. Are you surprised that Brandi Carlile would be the highlight of a tribute special? Then come out from under your rock and do stay up late enough to catch both of her performances on the show, since she is one of a handful of artists granted both solo and duet slots in the setlist. First in the running order, she has a version of “In Your Room” that can’t really be considered “solo,” since she’s joined by bandmates Phil and Tim Hanseroth for an arrangement that has their modern mastery of three-part harmony paying homage to the Boys’ sub-incarnation as a balladic vocal trio. You hope for something transformative in tribute performances like these, and you know you’re getting the moment Carlile lends her perfectly subtle vibrato to the “roo-oo-oom” and “a-frai-ai-aid” to some of the opening lines. She and the Hanseroths make the bridge feel you’re doing a gentle waltz while enveloping yourself in a self-assuring hug, before the falsetto ending spoils that warmth with a chill down your spine. Yeah, it’s that good.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Tanya Tucker did not let much time slip away after the Country Music Hall of Fame announced her impending induction this week before coming out with an announcement of her own: She has a second album produced by the team of Brandi Carlile and Shooter Jennings coming soon, following up on a celebrated previous effort that earned Tucker her first two Grammy Awards. The album “Sweet Western Sound” will be out June 2 on Fantasy. A teaser track from the record, “Kindness” is out now. The song was written by Carlile’s bandmates Phil and Tim Hanseroth. The collection reunites the team that made Tucker’s comeback album, “While I’m Livin’,” a 2019 set that got the singer a Grammys for best country album, and its closing track, “Bring My Flowers Now,” which won best country song.

The 65th annual Grammy Awards are being handed out today and tonight in Los Angeles, and Deadline will be updated the winners list live. Check out the winners from the nontelevised Premiere Ceremony below.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Taylor Swift is not the only one re-recording fairly recent albums. Now Brandi Carlile has done it, although with very different reasons than the ones that prompted Swift to revisit her catalog. Carlile has gone back into the studio to redo last year’s “In These Silent Days” in its entirety, in a new, acoustic-focused version that’s been titled “In the Canyon Haze.” The newly recorded album will be out Sept. 28 and is preceded today by “You and Me on the Rock (In the Canyon Haze),” a remake that features her wife, Catherine Carlile, on harmony vocals. Carlile said that the project came about when she was looking at putting out a deluxe edition of “Silent Days” for the album’s upcoming anniversary, with bonus tracks, but settled on a way to make the entire album a bonus. The “canyon” part alludes to how the artist thinks the re-do aims for a vintage Laurel Canyon spirit in the reconfigured arrangements.

Chris Willman Music Writer“The Return of Tanya Tucker, Featuring Brandi Carlile,” a documentary that premiered Sunday at the South by Southwest Film Festival, has had its world rights acquired by Sony Pictures Classics, the company announced Wednesday.“I’m over the moon that this special documentary has found such a perfect home with Sony Pictures Classics,” said Carlile, who is an executive producer as well as a subject of the film, in a statement. “I don’t think there’s a more fascinating human being on the planet than Tanya Tucker.

Chris Willman Music WriterWith their two Grammy nominations for the album “Saturn Return” and song “Cabin,” the Secret Sisters are representing not just for sibling duos but, implicitly, for the rare power of an all-female (or almost all-female) team.

Variety Staff Follow Us on TwitterGrammy-winning singer, songwriter and producer Brandi Carlile and her musical collaborators, twin brothers Tim and Phil Hanseroth, have signed a worldwide administration agreement with Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG).Carlile has won five Grammys since releasing her critically acclaimed 2018 album “By The Way, I Forgive You,” which was written by Carlile and the Hanseroths and included the song “The Joke.” Carlile also won best country album at the the most recent Grammy Awards for co-producing Tanya Tucker’s “While I’m Livin’.” Again, Carlile and the Hanseroths teamed to co-write seven of the album’s ten tracks including “Bring My Flowers Now,” which was named best country song at the 2020 event.

DEALSUniversal Music Publishing in the US has signed an admin deal with Grammy winning singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile and the sibling duo she has long collaborated with, Tim and Phil Hanseroth. UMPG boss Jody Gerson says she’s a big fan of Carlile.

The Highwomen are giving fans an inside look at the making of their debut album.

By Chris Willman