song performed: title track from the album The Story
conan’s reaction: “great. thanks for coming back *shakes brandi’s hand* that was grea, thank you very much.  brandi carlile everybody, we’ll take a break, we’ll be right back *conan starts talking to brandi and does a funny guitar-holding-elvis-hip move*”

the band: maybe this is an exercise in what works (at least for me).  last night’s band, blue october, write very emotional songs and sing with passion, blah blah blah. i wrote about the fact that i didn’t get it. well tonight’s performer brandi carlile, while i also don’t know her from adam, didn’t annoy me so much.  her story seems familiar - small town girl, gets into music, tries everything possible to get gigs, writes songs, gets signed, forms and band, etc.

while i’d loved to make up a story that brandi is mandy moore crossed with a belinda carlisle, she’s not. i think she’s kind of a sound of her influences, a little bit of country, a little bit patsy cline, a little bit janis joplin, a little bit melissa ethridge, a little bit joan jett? which in this world of musicians coming from smaller places wanting to go big is a good thing. they say don’t discard your influences.

I guess brandi had such a drive to make a success of herself that she played through the Seattle bar scene, eventually coming across the band that her twin guitar/bassist played in.  when they broke up she convinced them to play with her.  ahhh, sweet.

the performance: everything else lined up similar to last night’s performance. the stage started in blurry blue lights (was there fog pumped in?), the song started slow with vocals, the guitar and bassist had similar haircuts, there was even a string ensemble instrument (cello vs. violin). however when brandi was done, I was ready for more show.

my first reaction btw fwiw was this “yes! twins!”.  brandi’s guitar was purty. I think conan had a crush on her by the end.  at times, she sang loud…and it was just that…loud (don’t lose your voice brandi).  when they came back from commercial break, conan had brandi by herself in a seat next to him.

i did find that if i jumped about twenty seconds, the stage would be blue-lit, then jump forward again and the stage was orange.  back and forth - it was quite fun.

other notes: in one photo on her myspace page, she’s also wearing a marching band jacket. now i think she’s cool too.