Brandi Carlile (Extended)

Summary

The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert

Guest: Brandi Carlile (Extended)

Date: April 10, 2026
Podcast Overview:
In this heartfelt and lively episode, Stephen Colbert welcomes back acclaimed singer-songwriter and author Brandi Carlile. The conversation ranges from Brandi’s new album and her philosophy as a creator, to activism, community, and hilarious tales of fishing and vacuum cleaner scams. The pair share genuine admiration and humor, offering listeners a personal glimpse into Brandi’s life, artistry, and values, while celebrating meaningful connection—even across stark divides.

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Episode Summary

Warm Welcome and Toasts (01:10 – 03:07)

• Colbert warmly introduces Brandi, highlighting her 11 Grammy wins and bestselling authorship.
• The mutual admiration kicks off ("I just admire you enormously…" — Stephen Colbert, 01:47).
• Brandi brings her own wine, "Proud Angels," from XOBC Wines, inspired by Elton John. She seeks to make wine more inviting:

  “I always thought wine was kind of snooty and, like, inaccessible… I wanted to make wine feel more accessible to people and make a community out of it.”
  — Brandi Carlile (02:26-02:40)

• They raise a toast to the show, crew, and all the good done together.

The Creative Process – “Returning to Myself” (03:13 – 04:40)

• Discussion on Brandi’s latest album, Returning to Myself.
  • Brandi loves how music archives her personal evolution, becoming a roadmap for others.
  • On songwriting:

    “It's just happening. And it could be the most inconvenient time in the world…It's a mind takeover. …This is your mid-40s album, and you need to write these songs about this part of your life.”
    — Brandi Carlile (04:18–04:40)

Music & Activism – The Minneapolis ICE Benefit (04:40 – 06:20)

• Brandi recounts a Minneapolis concert that raised $700,000 for families affected by ICE operations, emphasizing the city's unity.
• Moving moment with “The Singing Resistance” performing “It’s Okay to Change Your Mind”:

  “I could get emotional…They sang this outside the lodgings and hotel rooms of ICE agents.”
  — Brandi Carlile (05:41–05:54)

• Colbert underscores the importance of forgiveness and dialogue:

  “If at any point you…understand that what you're doing is wrong, we're not gonna give you hell for changing your mind. That's okay. Change your mind.”
  — Stephen Colbert (06:01–06:10)

• Brandi reiterates her message: "it's okay to change your mind," hoping it reached listeners unprepared for it.

Bridging Divides & Empathy (06:20 – 06:52)

• Colbert:

  “I refuse to believe that we as a society will not be able to talk to each other…there’s something about love that is gonna get us through.”
  — Stephen Colbert (06:20–06:40)

• They both comment on loving people with different viewpoints.

A Story of Embarrassment, Change, and Standing Up (06:52 – 09:54)

• Brandi tells a vivid story about being scammed into buying a $1,200 vacuum as a struggling teen, highlighting embarrassment, shame, and ultimately standing up for herself.
  • The moral:

    “If we cast a vote for something that we are no longer signed up for, it's okay to change your mind…Don't double down on the vacuum. Change your mind.”
    — Brandi Carlile (09:24–09:54)

• Colbert relates this to personal and societal growth.

The Highwomen and New Music (09:54 – 10:31)

• Discussion about the all-female supergroup The Highwomen (with Maren Morris, Natalie Hemby, and Amanda Shires):
  • Brandi playfully notes, “Those girls are unruly, unformable… Yes, there is going to be an album, but we don't know when and we don't know how, which is the way that the best albums come, to be sure.”
    — Brandi Carlile (10:11–10:31)

Boats, Fishing, and Seakeepers – A Shared Passion (10:31 – 12:13)

• Lighthearted back-and-forth about fishing boats, stabilizers, and the shared challenge of getting partners to enjoy the open water:
  • Brandi: “All the time. Call my wife.”
    — Brandi Carlile (11:20)
• They discuss salmon and halibut seasons, planning a potential fishing trip with their families.
  • Brandi jokes:

    "They didn't even ask if I had a seakeeper."
    — Brandi Carlile (12:09–12:11)

Memorable Quotes

• Colbert: “I just admire you enormously and you're just a kind and lovely person.” (01:47)
• Brandi: “I always thought wine was kind of snooty and, like, inaccessible... I wanted to make wine feel more accessible to people and make a community out of it.” (02:26–02:40)
• Brandi: “It's okay to be embarrassed and ashamed, but you gotta get angry enough to say I'm not paying for the vacuum. Don't double down on the vacuum. Change your mind.” (09:44–09:54)
• Colbert: “I refuse to believe that we as a society will not be able to talk to each other anymore... there's something about love that is gonna get us through.” (06:20–06:40)

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Timestamps of Key Segments

• 01:10 – Introduction and mutual admiration
• 02:03 – XOBC Wine and toast
• 03:28 – Brandi’s new album, Returning to Myself
• 04:40 – Songwriting process & phases of life
• 04:53 – Minneapolis ICE benefit concert and activism
• 05:41 – “The Singing Resistance” and “It’s Okay to Change Your Mind”
• 06:20 – Colbert’s reflection on love across divisions
• 06:52 – Brandi’s vacuum cleaner scam story and its lesson
• 09:54 – The Highwomen reunion and album tease
• 10:31 – Boat talk and fishing plans

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Closing Thoughts

This episode showcases Brandi Carlile’s open-hearted and humorous personality, a devotion to honesty and change, and her bond with Stephen Colbert. Whether discussing activism, artistic process, or the hazards of door-to-door sales, the conversation offers warmth, insight, and memorable laughs, leaving listeners inspired to embrace change—on stage, at sea, or in life.

Transcript

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[McDonald's Promo Host]

K Pop Demon Hunters, Haja Boy's Breakfast meal and Hunt Tricks meal have just dropped at McDonald's. They're calling this a battle for the fans. What do you say to that, Rumi?

[Brandi Carlile]

It's not a battle. So glad the Saja boys could take breakfast and give our meal the rest of the day.

[Stephen Colbert]

It is an honor to share.

[Brandi Carlile]

No, it's our honor. It is our larger honor.

[McDonald's Promo Host]

No, really stop. You can really feel the respect in this battle. Pick a meal to pick a side.

[Brandi Carlile]

Ba da ba ba ba.

[Stephen Colbert]

And participate in McDonald's while supplies last.

[Brandi Carlile]

It's the Late Show Pontchow with Stephen Colbert.

[Stephen Colbert]

Welcome back friends, ladies and gentlemen. My next guest Tonight is an 11 time Grammy Award winning singer and songwriter and New York Times bestselling author. Please welcome back to the Late show our friend Brandi Carlisle. Hi.

[Brandi Carlile]

Hi.

[Stephen Colbert]

Nice to see you. Brandi.

[Brandi Carlile]

It's so nice to see you and everyone.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah. One of the nicest things about having done this show the last 11 years was to get to know you a little bit. I just want to start off by saying that and I was so happy you could come back before the show was over.

[Brandi Carlile]

That means a lot.

[Stephen Colbert]

I just admire you enormously and you're just a kind and lovely person.

[Brandi Carlile]

Oh, thanks. I couldn't thank you.

[Stephen Colbert]

You brought us something to drink which is lovely. I wish more guests did that. Ok, so this is that they give you some hint about whether it's going to be. Tell me about what we are about to pop open here.

[Brandi Carlile]

Oh, this is Proud Angels. This is one of my wines and the XOBC wines.

[Stephen Colbert]

Your wine?

[Brandi Carlile]

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And this one's sparkling. And I named this one after the Elton John album who believes in Angels?

[Stephen Colbert]

That's nice. And how does one nice job. How does Juan get into the wine game? Why did this start for you?

[Brandi Carlile]

Well, I love wine by the way. Ok. But.

[Stephen Colbert]

Ooh, that's.

[Brandi Carlile]

I don't know. I always just like. I always thought wine was kind of snooty and, like, inaccessible. Hard for people to get into. It's like golf or something. You have to have a collared shirt to drink wine.

[Stephen Colbert]

You have to have a collared shirt. I'll get you collared shirt.

[Brandi Carlile]

Yeah, Okay. I don't know. I wanted to make wine feel more accessible to people and make a community out of it.

[Stephen Colbert]

And this is from Washington State.

[Brandi Carlile]

It's from Washington state, where I live. That's nice.

[Stephen Colbert]

Cheers.

[Brandi Carlile]

But I want to raise a toast to you, Stephen, and to the show and your whole crew.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yes, to the crew.

[Brandi Carlile]

And all of the good. And the band.

[Stephen Colbert]

And the band.

[Brandi Carlile]

And all of the good that you've done in the world and that I know you'll continue to do.

[Stephen Colbert]

You're very nice. Thank you very much. What's lovely and crisp.

[Brandi Carlile]

Good, right?

[Stephen Colbert]

That's very nice.

[Brandi Carlile]

We could drink this on your bowl.

[Stephen Colbert]

Turned that off a little bit right there. Just made sure. This could be a long interview. You don't know. We could be snowed in or something like that. Now, last time you were here, back in September, this album was about to come out.

[Brandi Carlile]

That's right.

[Stephen Colbert]

Last time you're here. Returning to myself. It's out now. So how is it, like, for this to be out in the world, for people to see you return to yourself?

[Brandi Carlile]

Oh, it's amazing, man. It's like the best part about my job is that I get to sort of like document and archive all my phases that I go through as a person. Just that we all go through as a person, that I have this outlet for it. And then I get to sort of go on stage and sing for all these people, my feelings and what I'm going through. And hopefully somebody else will recognize themselves in that and it can become a roadmap.

[Stephen Colbert]

I'm asking about the process of making an album. I've never asked any artist this before. I don't know why. It seems obvious. Do you go like, okay, it's time for me to write an album, or do you end up just writing all the time and going, oh, God, I made an album. Like, how does that work for you? Which comes first, I'm going to do it or just doing it?

[Brandi Carlile]

Just doing it. It's just happening. And it could be the most inconvenient time in the world. It could be during fishing season. It could be, you know, over your birthday.

[Stephen Colbert]

Well, it's so inconvenient. To be insp.

[Brandi Carlile]

Well, I mean, you can't always drop everything, but it does. It's a mind takeover. It just took over my mind. And it was just time. It was like, oh, this is your mid-40s album, and you need to write these songs about this part of your life, you know.

[Stephen Colbert]

In February, you played a show in Minneapolis, raised $700,000. Raised $700,000 for the families affected by ICE. And the show was live streamed globally.

[Brandi Carlile]

Y.

[Stephen Colbert]

A lot of music off of here, I assume. And I'm just curious, with that big platform, what is the message that you wanted to send?

[Brandi Carlile]

Well, I knew that there was going to be a certain kind of like. Like mindedness in the crowd, you know, with the people that. Yeah. That already had tickets that were coming to the show. And most of them had bought tickets, you know, before the sort of occupation that they were dealing with as a city. And so they had just been through something really trying to. And they had just set an example for the rest of the country for what it could look like to come together across the aisle in some ways to defeat something so oppressive, which is what the takeover of ICE was in Minneapolis. And at the end of the concert, we had this amazing group of women called the Singing Resistance come out and they wrote this song called it's okay To Change youe Mind. And I could get emotional talking about it. They sang this outside of the lodgings and the hotel rooms of ICE agents.

[Stephen Colbert]

I heard them sing that song. It was writing and a beautiful idea too. That invitation, like, it's okay. If at any point you feel or you understand that what you're doing is wrong, we're not gonna give you hell for changing your mind. That's okay. Change your mind.

[Brandi Carlile]

Yeah. So they came out on stage at the end and we sang that song and it streamed out to people that maybe didn't know what they were getting into. And that's what I was sort of hoping for that would be my message, was that it's okay to change your mind.

[Stephen Colbert]

Which is really lovely. I mean, it's. There's something on the other side of this. I refuse to believe that we as a society will not be able to talk to each other anymore. I mean, not you and me, but like, with our neighbors and our friends and the people. There's something about love that is gonna get us through. That it is possible to love the people with whom you adamantly disagree.

[Brandi Carlile]

Yes.

[Stephen Colbert]

I do it all the time.

[Brandi Carlile]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

And we have to remember that. That it's okay to change your Mind and to be open, to change your own mind. If there's something you misjudged about someone, when's the time that you've changed your mind?

[Brandi Carlile]

I do have this story about when I was younger, when I first moved out of my parents house and I was living alone and things weren't going so great for me financially, I wasn't doing so well. I was working part time as a roofing laborer and I was a barista. And I had only ever come from positions of service. I'd only ever seen my parents work in positions of service. And I always just kind of felt like underneath everybody else. And so I'm like living in this house, it's not going that great. And one day a vacuum cleaner salesman came to my house and knocked on the door. And he was brilliant by the way. He looked at me and talked to me like I had, like I was a customer, like I had money and like he worked for me, you know, even though I was just a 19 year old roofing laborer barista and, and he's really given me, he's given me this feeling of value. And halfway through the conversation, he takes his test strip out of his pocket, dips it in a bottle of water, waves it around and tells me that my house is unhealthy and I'm gonna be sick unless I end up with this vacuum cleaner. And I'm like, dude, I make like 5.25 an hour. I can't get your vacuum cleaner, man. And he's like, well, you know what? You're really young, you're really cool. I think there's something special about you. I'm going to make sure you get it. You don't have to pay for it. I'll talk to my boss, I'll make sure that you get this for free. And if anything ever does come of it where you have to pay, it'll be years down the road. So dude leaves my house and I.

[Stephen Colbert]

You signed something?

[Brandi Carlile]

I did.

[McDonald's Promo Host]

And

[Brandi Carlile]

a few days later I get this bill for like $1,200 for a vacuum cleaner. And I was so embarrassed. I didn't want to tell my mom and dad, I didn't want to tell anybody that I had got scammed into buying this vacuum cleaner in the position I was in. And I went from being embarrassed and ashamed to being mad. And I got angry with the guy and I called the boss of the place that sells the vacuum cleaner and I said, this dude scammed me. He lied to me. He made me believe something that Wasn't true. I'm gonna go to Kinko's, I'm make a stack of flyers, and I'm gonna follow this dude house to house. Everywhere he goes, I know what he looks like. And you're not gonna be able to sell any more vacuums unless you come and get this vacuum. I'm not gon. And they just gave me the vacuum after that. The point is.

[Stephen Colbert]

So what did you. What changed in your mind is.

[Brandi Carlile]

The point is, I got scammed, and I was embarrassed, and then I was mad, and that's what we need to do. If we cast a vote for something that we are no longer signed up for, it's okay to change your mind. It's okay to be embarrassed and ashamed, but you gotta get. You gotta get angry enough to say, I'm not paying for the vacuum. Don't double down on the vacuum. Change your mind.

[Stephen Colbert]

Well, lessons first all. Now, in 2019, you formed the supergroup the High Women with Maren Morris, Natalie Hemby, and Amanda Shires. They're reuniting next month at the Gorge Amphitheater. Is there going to be an album?

[Brandi Carlile]

Well, we formed as a group. I didn't form us. Those girls are unruly, unformable, unformable. And yes, there is going to be an album, but we don't know when and we don't know how, which is the way that the best albums come, to be sure. Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

Okay. Last time you were here, as you said, we talked about our boats. We discovered we had both had a love of boats and love of fishing. And you have the. I believe you have both the Skyhook and the Helm Master series. Yes, I switched from the Helm Master to the Skyhook. Far superior, in my opinion. If anyone from Mercury wants to send me some engines, that'd be fine with me. You invited me to go fishing. What?

[Brandi Carlile]

You have a seakeeper yet?

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah, I got the Seakeepeeper. I got the seakeeper, too.

[Brandi Carlile]

Okay.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's a gyroscopic stabilizer, which you guys need out on the west coast.

[Brandi Carlile]

I'm looking at them. I'm looking at them.

[Stephen Colbert]

Oh, do it.

[Brandi Carlile]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

Girlfriend. It is amazing. Like, you go like this. Like you're in beam seas. You just go up and down. None of this stuff. Do. You go out with somebody who doesn't love it as much as you ever.

[Brandi Carlile]

All the time. Call my wife.

[Stephen Colbert]

Your wife. Okay. I got one of those, too. Same feeling. I got the Sea Keeper for Evie because I can go deep with her. I can go out to the deep sea. And this boat's not finally, always. It's not always rolling like that. And that's what really gets you.

[Brandi Carlile]

Yeah, you can do this.

[Stephen Colbert]

Pitching's fine. You cannot roll at all. Exactly. And then you're not exhausted at the end of the day. We're doing an ad for the Seakeeper right now.

[Brandi Carlile]

Come on, Seakeeper.

[Stephen Colbert]

I only bring it up because the last time we were together, you said, why don't you come out fishing? And I'm just curious, when is the season? Like, when is the big salmon season for you guys?

[Brandi Carlile]

Halibut kicks in in May. Salmon come in late June. If you want to go out in July, you can get salmon and halibut.

[Stephen Colbert]

Wow. All right. Can we keep this open ended?

[Brandi Carlile]

Can we keep this open ended?

[Stephen Colbert]

All right.

[Brandi Carlile]

And I met your wife and daughters. They said they'll come in fishing with me. They didn't even ask if I had a seakeeper.

[Stephen Colbert]

All right, I'll hitch a ride with that.

[Brandi Carlile]

All right.

[Stephen Colbert]

Wonderful to see you. Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Late Show Pod show with Stephen Colbert. Just one more thing. If you want to see more of me, come to The Late Show YouTube channel for more clips and exclusives.

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[Brandi Carlile]

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[Brandi Carlile]

It is my great honor to welcome you all to Starfleet Academy.

[Stephen Colbert]

There's never been a better time to enroll in Star Trek.

[McDonald's Promo Host]

It's our job to prepare you for the unimaginable.

[Stephen Colbert]

To the Night Cadet.

[Brandi Carlile]

In high pressure situations, positive reinforcement is crucial to one's success. You're doing a great job. This is what we train for.

[Stephen Colbert]

These friends of mine, they all live for something bigger than themselves.

[Brandi Carlile]

Starfleet.

[Stephen Colbert]

Starfleet Academy New series now streaming on Paramount plus.