Brandi Carlile

Our first thought is that The Story is more proof that the Pacific Northwest is the new Nashville and Brandi Carlile the second coming of Patsy Cline (via Melissa Etheridge and singer-songwriters including Jeff Buckley, Stevie Nicks, and Elton John) or, rather, the singer Patsy wasn't allowed to be. But although Carlile knows what to do when life hands you a blue yodel and a bucketful of lemons (duh, make a country song -- and spiked lemonade), country is too limiting and singer-songwriter too bland to attest to the breadth of richness her voice is capable of.