Breaking: Brandi’s Ryman Show Just Got Way Cooler

By Dale Geist, Editor

By now you probably know that Brandi Carlile will be returning to the Ryman on March 28th for her first full-band show since the start of the pandemic. You may know that the show will benefit the Rainey Day Fund and Fanny’s School of Music. What you may not know, because this just broke: CMT is going to match every dollar raised by the Rainey Day Fund and donate it to Rissi Palmer’s Color Me Country Fund – and Carlile’s own Looking Out Foundation is going to match donations to all three.

The news about CMT’s generous gesture was revealed by Palmer in an Instagram Live chat between the two artists on Monday afternoon. The announcement was immediately followed by Brandi asking her wife, Catherine, to read from a piece of paper, which turned out to be an announcement that the Looking Out Foundation would be matching donations to all three orgs.

When asked by Palmer what to expect from the show, Carlile, who just nabbed a fourth Grammy (as a writer on “Crowded Table,” Best Country Song winner), promised only two things: her Grammy-winning song “The Joke,” and “I’m thinking some covers, maybe some Led Zeppelin, because it’s my first full-band show in a year, so I’m gonna scream my face off.”

(Palmer was visibly grateful for the opportunity to tell Carlile about the first time she heard “The Joke.” It was a cathartic experience, coming as it did on the heels of a personal trauma. Carlile in turn was clearly moved by the story.)

The livestream concert takes place at 7pm Central, this Sunday, March 28th. Tickets start at $28, and a $48 ticket package includes a copy of Carlile’s upcoming memoir, “Broken Horses.” For more information go to brandicarlile.veeps.com.

The Rainey Day Fund (named after Ma Rainey, “the mother of the blues” – both Black and queer), assists BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and disabled artists. The Color Me Country Fund aids artists of color through direct grants. Fanny’s School of Music is an ambitious community initiative from Fanny’s House of Music in Nashville.