If you’re already a Brandi Carlile fan (I don’t think there’s any musician I’ve listened to more in the last five years), there’s an excellent chance you’ll find Broken Horses charming, funny, illuminating and poignant. If you’re not a fan, Broken Horses might well make you into one, especially now, because the book feels like the antithesis of social distancing — replete with Carlile and her identical twin collaborators Tim and Phil Hanseroth touring in vans and buses (more recently with their wives and children in tow) and performing songs they’ve written together to celebratory crowds. Carlile’s warmly colloquial tone evokes listening to stories, possibly in a bar, told by a friend who leads a life far more interesting than your own. Each mostly chronological chapter concludes with a plethora of photos, handwritten captions and song lyrics by Carlile and others ... That I finished reading without a clear sense of the personalities of either Hanseroth brother could reflect Carlile’s deference to their privacy or a blurring between their identities and hers.

... carries with it the same gritty honesty and self-reflection that fans find in the singer/songwriter's music ... Brandi does in Broken Horses what fans have come to expect from her: She explores the personal in a way that is unruffled and universally relatable ... Fans who are accustomed to the lines of truth that cut through Brandi's music will find more jewels in the book. Whether she's telling of those who believed in her music early and championed her career when she was just starting out, or speaking to the active, love-as-a-verb emotion that she teaches her daughters, Broken Horses isn't just another addition to pantheon of celebrity musician memoirs. Even casual fans will find depth and exploration here that'll keep them turning the page ... Brandi also writes candidly about her journey as a lesbian person of faith and her path into marriage and motherhood. These are experiences and conversations that remain pivotal in any person's life, but especially in the life of someone in the LGBTQ+ community ... Brandi's stories come alive anew, and new fans and old will feel more connected than ever to the singer's wise and wonderful words.

... an exegesis of empathy: how it took root within [Carlile], the ways it's dictated her relationships, its role as the engine driving her songwriting. The same things that make her music so remarkable can be found in her prose: If you're a fan of Carlile, you already love this book ... Carlile is reluctant to simply recount one milestone after another, instead offering through-lines that generate connections ... Even the book's structure is sneakily sharp, with each chapter followed by lyrics to relevant songs .. Carlile writes in a voice that's earthy, frank, endearingly dorky, and open-hearted ... She's generous with her faults and generous to them.

With Sir Elton and Bernie Taupin likely having the biggest historic impact on her songwriting, it might not be a leap to imagine that the cheeky humor and conversational style of Me had at least a slight influence on the wry laugh lines that pop up with just a little less regularity in her tome, too ... Carlile is that rare pop or rock star gifted with complete self-consciousness and confidence but also the soulful clairvoyance to read a room… even a really, really big, global room ... playing up the high-minded (or Highwoman-minded) aspects of her life and career risks undercutting what a fun and sometimes irreverent read Broken Horses is. As a prose writer, Carlile has an ongoing playfulness that emanates naturally from a life that always has seemed full of play, whatever emotional traumas she might have been going through ... Carlile’s life seems about equal parts hardscrabble and charmed, so when the Cinderella moments come —becoming a BFF at Joni Mitchell’s in the last couple years being one of them — she’s still continents away from anything the reader will experience as entitlement ... Even for any potential reader whose eyes might glaze over at the thought of social issues, there’s plenty to chew on in Broken Horses just as a show-biz memoir ... The final chapters could risk being too 'We Are the Champions'-level triumphant, but this Cinderella really likes to get her knees dirty with tasks like advanced carpentry and forestry, after the ball ... The cherry on top of her story is that she’s not just figuratively blazing trails.

Carlile’s writing reflects the same candor that listeners get when they hear her music. She uses a casual tone and often addresses readers directly, which makes the narrative feel like a conversation with a friend ... Carlile makes the format her own by including song lyrics and personal photos between each chapter ... A good read for fans of Carlile who want a peek into her life and her growth as a musician.

Thirty-nine may seem a little young to write a memoir, but in Carlile’s opinion no one is too young, too old or too uninteresting to write their own story ... Broken Horses shines for this very reason. It’s clear that through writing the full arc of her story, not only does the reader get to better know the Americana singer, but she begins to better understand herself ... She’s perceptive, vulnerable, humble, funny and above all else, a good story teller. She’d already proven her storytelling chops as a lyricist and she proves them once again in these pages. She knows how to use a few words to make a big impact.

... captivating ... She doesn’t sugarcoat the disappointments that came her way, instead recalling them with a self-awareness that allows balance for her marriage, motherhood, and national tours. While the author’s rise to fame was impressive, it is her raw emotion that resonates after the book’s end.

Carlile has quite a story to tell ... Throughout the narrative, Carlile shows acute grace and clarity as she follows her navigation of certain rites of passage ... Along with lyrics and snapshots that suggest a scrapbook, the author provides crucial behind-the-scenes insight into her rise to stardom. Especially illuminating are her descriptions of the process of creating such songs as 'The Story' and 'The Joke' showing how her personal struggles strengthened her art. The story builds to her Grammy triumphs, her role in the Highwomen supergroup, her co-production of childhood hero Tanya Tucker, and her friendships with Joni Mitchell, Elton John, and the Obamas. With plenty more likely to come, the memoir ends on a high note ... An intimate, life-affirming look at a musician whose artistic journey is far from over.