This is Fresh Air. I'm David Beancouli, sitting in for Terry Gross.

Today's guest, Grammy Award-winning songwriter singer and guitarist Brandy Carlyle

is poised to win more Grammys when winners are announced in February.

Last week, she was nominated for 7.

Her album, In These Silent Days, is up for album of the year,

and she received a record of the year nomination for her song, You and Me on the Rock.

Terry interviewed Brandy Carlyle last year about her memoir Broken Horses,

which reached number one on the New York Times bestseller list.

It gets off to a dramatic start, with her near death from meningococcal meningitis at the age of four.

She had tough times growing up, periods of poverty and moving around a lot with her family.

Her father drank too much, and she was bullied and was a bully in school.

She felt like a misfit, but things got better.

She realized she was gay, she found women she loved,

and she fulfilled her childhood dream of becoming a successful singer and songwriter.

She met the hands-er-off twins, Tim and Phil, and they formed a band that has stuck together.

Carlyle also is a part of the group The High Women, along with Amanda Shires, Marin Morris, and Natalie Hembee.

Carlyle and her wife, Catherine, have two daughters and live on a compound in the state of Washington,

with the hands-er-off twins and their children.

Phil is married to Carlyle's younger sister Tiffany, and Tim is married to Catherine's sister.

Let's start with Brandy Carlyle's song The Joke, which won two Grammys in 2019.

Your feeling nervous, aren't you, boy, with your quiet voice and impeccable style?

Don't ever let them steal your joy and your gentle ways to keep them from running wild.

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