Brandi Carlile Confirms New Highwomen Album Is Coming

Brandi Carlile says the Highwomen will finally gather to record a new album. The supergroup of Carlile, Maren Morris, Natalie Hemby, and Amanda Shires released their critically acclaimed self-titled debut in 2019.

“We’re getting together to do another one,” Carlile told Rolling Stone in an interview following her headlining concert in Minneapolis on Saturday night. “I’m done keeping secrets.”

Carlile’s remarks come after Shires told Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now podcast earlier this summer that the members, including frequent collaborator Brittney Spencer, were gearing up to write. “Me and Brandi and Maren and Brittney have talked about writing this winter,” Shires said. “All signs point to ‘yes,’ if I was the Magic 8-Ball.”

While there’s no date on when a new album may arrive, or even when the musicians will enter the studio, the Highwomen are confirmed for at least one appearance. Some iteration of the group is billed to perform at Brandi Carlile’s May 31 headlining concert at the Gorge in Washington state.

Carlile, who released her latest album, Returning to Myself, last October spoke at length with Rolling Stone about the ICE protests in Minneapolis and stressed that Trump voters who may object to his administration’s tactics of what she calls “violent theater” can still change their mind. Despite the turmoil, however, she said she remains hopeful for the country and connecting with people across the political divide.

“I’m so lucky to have this job because — and I said it out there onstage — it’s not lost on me that I may have limited access to all kinds of people. It’s not lost on me that unless I’m singing at the Super Bowl, I may only really get to speak to and sing for one kind of person for the most part. But it trickles out. It aggregates,” she said. “Because everybody has got brothers and sisters and moms and dads and family members. And if the message gets potent and cohesive enough, it’ll make it.”

[Reporting by Dan Hyman]