Brandi Carlile said that helping Joni Mitchell return to performing "falls into the category of my legacy as a human—like raising my kids, marrying my wife, and honoring my parents" in a new interview with Time
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Carlile helped Mitchell take the stage at Newport Folk Festival in 2022 for her first full set in 20 years
The pair recently attended the 2026 Grammy Awards together
Brandi Carlileis reflecting on her profound friendship withJoni Mitchell.
In an interview withTime, Carlile, 44, said that helping Mitchell, 82, get back to performing, particularly the stage during the 2024 Grammys, "falls into the category of my legacy as a human—like raising my kids, marrying my wife, and honoring my parents."
Carlile's eighth studio albumReturning To Myselfincludes the song "Joni," a shimmering folksy Laurel Canyon-inspired ode to the singer's friendship with Mitchell. The 11-time Grammy winner experienced a ruptured brain aneurysm in 2015, and Carlile played a key role in helping Mitchell return to the stage.
"She's inspired me in so many ways, but I think one of the most profound ways is in what Iwon'twrite because of Joni," Carlile told PEOPLE exclusively in 2025. "There are songs that just don't get through the filter anymore of, 'Can I drive up to that gate and play this song for Joni over a glass of wine?' If I can't, it doesn't get written."
Carlile said Mitchell is a "standard" for her in that way when it comes to her songwriting.
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"I don't really understand the metric of how I judge those things. It just have to do with how I feel when I'm playing them," Carlile told PEOPLE last year.
In 2022, Carlile helped encourage Mitchell to perform her first full set in 20 yearsat Newport Folk Festival, where she sang 13 songs, including classics like "A Case of You," "Both Sides Now" and "Big Yellow Taxi." Seven years earlier, Mitchell feared she might never sing again aftersuffering a near-fatal brain aneurysm.
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The pair of longtime friends attended the2026 Grammy Awards together. After acknowledging that Mitchell enjoyed Bruno Mars' performance of "I Just Might," Trevor Noah walked over to theBluesinger and Carlile, asking for "a moment for Joni Mitchell," which was met with a standing ovation.
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