brandi.jpgNext weekend, local darling Brandi Carlile will be back in town for KMTT’s annual Mountain Music Festival at Marymoor Park (along with Pat Monahan and Landon Pigg). That performance makes perfect sense. Carlile is all over 103.7 The Mountain’s playlist, and has been for years now. She’s become a bit of an international sensation in those years, though, expanding her reach through tireless touring from Seattle’s tiny folk and rock clubs to the rest of the country and the world across the oceans. Fresh off opening slots for mainstream giants like Sheryl Crow and Maroon 5, and a brief moment in a Nashville studio working on the follow-up to last year’s The Story, Carlile and crew have a lot to celebrate.

But, just to prove she hasn’t lost touch with her local roots, she’ll be rolling into town a day early (Fri., Aug. 15) and setting up shop at the Tractor Tavern for a so-called secret show. So-called because her name is nowhere on the bill, and the show isn’t included in the tour calendar on her website. However, it is clearly listed on the Tractor calendar as a double billing: “Late Morning Lullaby” with the Fighting Machinists (the former phrase referring to the opening track from The Story, the latter to the band her twin collaborators used to rock with in their pre-Carlile days). Clearly local Brandi-philes have been all over this “secret,” because the show is sold out. However, if you’re crazy-obsessed enough to shell out the big bucks, you can probably score some tickets on Craigslist.