Eleven-time Grammy winner and Americana music luminary Brandi Carlile is among those paying tribute to the late singer-songwriter, actor and political activist Kris Kristofferson, who died Saturday, Sept. 28 at age 88.
“Just sitting in a hotel cafe and crying into my coffee today…” Carlile said in an Instagram post published on Monday (Sept. 30). “Yesterday I didn’t know how to talk about the passing of Kris Kristofferson. My feelings about it can’t be contained in these kinds of micro expressions. I do know we need them, and that engaging in the celebration of someone’s life over social media and on these tiny screens is righteous and necessary … it’s emotionally galvanizing for our community and it helps us all to process the loss of a great, great man. But I have to admit, it is hard to grieve this here. I’m missing my friends today.”
Kristofferson previously appeared in the 2012 music video for Carlile’s song “That Wasn’t Me,” and Carlile was part of Kristofferson’s backing band in 2016. “I had the profound pleasure and honor of being in Kris’s band for a little while. The [Hanseroth] twins and I will never forget that shine we stood in when we played music next to him,” she said in her post. “Kris believed in me a long time ago when he agreed to act in my tiny little music video about addiction and forgiveness… for free by the way. He never told me why he did it and I never asked.”
She added that she would “never forget his chuckle and the twinkle in his eye when I asked him if he thought The Highwomen was a good idea…” The 2019 album The Highwomen (from Carlile, Amanda Shires, Maren Morris and Natalie Hemby) was inspired by the country supergroup The Highwaymen, which featured Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.
Carlile and Kristofferson also collaborated on the song “A Case of You,” featured on the Joni Mitchell-honoring live album Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration. In her statement, Carlile said that the rocker and his wife Lisa “literally brought me to Joni” and “changed my life in countless ways over the last fifteen years.”
Closing her post, Carlile added that “I will never forget him and I’ll never forget a single shot of whisky with him,” before offering her condolences to the singer’s family. “What a ride, Kristoffersons! I hope you know we all love you so … and we are so grateful for the years you gave us with your once-in-a-lifetime man.”
Carlile is one of many artists honoring Kristofferson’s multitude of talents and multi-faceted career, alongside Dolly Parton, Eric Church, Reba McEntire and others.
Read Carlile’s full tribute to Kristofferson below.
