A portion of our summer entertainment schedule always goes to attending outdoor concerts, generally devoted to rock acts and most often at our nearby venue, the Britt Festival in Jacksonville, Oregon. It’s hard to beat great music on a warm summer night with stars overhead and a glass of wine in hand. The current pandemic has certainly suspended that kind of activity, but at least one of my favorite artists is offering an alternative that provides a unique experience with benefits one can’t achieve at a concert with thousands in attendance.

My daughter Jenny introduced me to Brandi Carlile at least a dozen years ago, and one of the first concerts I attended at the Britt after we moved here featured Brandi and her bandmates and fellow songwriters, twin brothers Tim and Phil Hanseroth. Usually assigned to the “Americana” genre, their music encompasses rock, folk, country and pop and features lovely three-part harmonies and Brandi’s powerful, emotive vocals and soaring range. They’ve garnered a number of Grammy nominations and blew the socks off of the audience at the Grammys last year with their performance of “The Joke” from their latest album, By the Way, I Forgive You. Can you tell I’m a fan? I appreciate both the music and the thoughtful, inventive, intelligent lyrics they write, but I also am impressed with their dedication to doing good with their success through their Looking Out Foundation, which supports causes and organizations that often go unnoticed.

Turns out the band misses performing as much as their fans miss going to concerts, so about a month ago they put the word out on social media that they would perform the entirety of an album of their fans’ choice, based on an online survey. The overwhelming choice was the latest, By the Way, I Forgive You, and word went out that the performance would be livestreamed on veeps.com, with the performance available for subsequent unlimited viewing for two weeks following the live event. The cost? Only 10 bucks, although one could pay more if one’s heart and pocketbook allowed. The beneficiaries would be all the band’s musicians and crew who aren’t earning any pay in this concert-less summer.

I logged on just before the “concert” was set to begin, and it was fun to see the comments from other fans, some tuning in from locations all around the globe. Brandi and the twins and Josh Neumann, who plays cello and an assortment of other instruments, all live on adjoining properties in a rural area southeast of Seattle, so they’ve been quarantining in their own bubble and were able to come together in a barn studio there to produce the performance. They played through every song on the album, plus a few bonus numbers, with plenty of chat in between numbers. The small space made for a very intimate experience, and unlike in a concert venue, we got to see the performers tuning their instruments and hear the exchanges between them. (Brandi commented on how much she now appreciates the guitar techs who normally handle the tuning job on stage.) The sound quality was excellent, and I enjoyed the more acoustic take of some of the usually more electric numbers.

Throughout the performance, viewers were reminded they could donate to Fund Racial Justice by texting to a given number, adding to the financial benefits the concert provided others. At the end, the band announced they would be performing their previous album, Firewatcher’s Daughter, in two weeks’ time, also through veeps.com and with the same playing time and cost. I also tuned in for that performance, and though veep.com experienced some difficulties with some viewers unable to log on initially, it proved again to be a wonderful way to enjoy a live performance of one of my favorite bands. Revenue again went to musicians and crew currently out of work, and donations went to Fund Racial Justice. Although the next date hasn’t been set, the band promises to return to play each of its albums in their entirety (plus, there are always a few bonus numbers as an “encore”) this summer, so the concert void will be filled for me, if only in a different format.

A number of artists are also finding ways to get their music out to their fans via livestreaming on various platforms; check their social media platforms to find out if your favorite performers are coming live to a device near you to get your summer music fix!

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor