She’s earned nine Grammys for writing and recording hits like “The Joke” (2019), “Bring My Flowers Now” (2020), “Crowded Table” (2021) and her most recent album “In These Silent Days” (2022), which featured gems like “Right on Time,” “Broken Horses” and my personal favorite “You and Me on the Rock.”
Brandi Carlile is certainly a big enough draw on her own, but Wolf Trap decided to expand her visit into a special two-day festival for Pride Month with the Out & About Festival in Vienna, Virginia this Saturday and Sunday, June 24 and 25.
“It was really something that came about when we were thinking about Brandi Carlile,” Wolf Trap President Arvind Manocha told WTOP. “She’s a wonderful friend to Wolf Trap and obviously an artist who is really having a moment of moments. She is everywhere, she’s an incredible person and incredible artist. We built this first and foremost around her and doing this in Pride Month we thought, ‘How can we make this bigger than two days with Brandi?”
Saturday’s lineup includes the Alphabet Rockers at the Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods, followed by Jake Wesley Rogers and Bad Moves on Meadow Stage, then Rufus Wainwright, Yola and Brandi Carlile at the Filene Center.
“Every time Brandi comes to Wolf Trap, it’s always a special event, it’s always a unique and different experience,” Manocha said. “I won’t forget, for example, that when we were coming out of COVID and we had gotten back to launching in full capacity again, Brandi was one of those first artists that helped us usher that era back in, which was obviously a very special time for us to be part of that experience, which was also our 50th anniversary.”
Sunday features Jazzy Ash & The Leaping Lizards at the Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods, followed by Brandy Clark and Oh He Dead at Meadow Stage, then Lucius, Celisse and Brandi Carlile closing it out at the Filene Center.
“Many of the artists on this bill have performed on festival dates or in collaboration with Brandi at other times, so there’s certainly a universe of artists that exists both in our universe and in the Brandi Carlile personal universe, so it wasn’t hard to start going down the path of other artists that we could invite,” Manocha said.
Daily ticket purchases include entrance to the Filene Center and Meadow Stage performances, but Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods performances require a separate ticket. Find more ticket information here.
“It’s both an LGBTQ festival of artists and allies, and it’s also an opportunity to really get out into nature and experience the entire park in an all-day setting,” Manocha said. “That’s how we came up with ‘Out & About.’ It’s an ‘out’ festival, it’s also an opportunity to get ‘out’ of the Filene Center and ‘about’ into the rest of the park. It’ll be a wonderful way for people to spend the day in a natural oasis listening to incredible artists in celebration of pride.”
Listen to our full conversation here.
