Broken Horses

Brandi Carlile grew up poor in rural Washington State, moving between houses, dropping out of high school, and singing in bars while she was still a teenager. Broken Horses traces her outsider childhood, the near-fatal bout of meningitis that shaped her early years, the moment a pastor refused to baptize her because she was gay, and the long road from open-mic nights to the Grammy stage. The memoir moves through the friendships and creative partnerships that built her band, the wife and daughters who anchored her, and the faith she rebuilt on her own terms. Carlile writes each chapter around one of her songs, using her own catalog as a map through a life spent turning hard years into music.