Singer-song writer Brandi Carlile may best be known for her hits including “Right On Time,” “Every Time I Hear That Song,” and “Same Devil,” but when she’s not writing her next big hit, Carlile is spending time with her family, wife Catherine Shepherd and their two children, Evangeline Ruth and Elijah Carlile. Carlile’s family took center stage during the 65th Annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 5, as they introduced her performance, with Shepherd giving a heartwarming speech celebrating her spouse, but who exactly is Carlile’s wife Catherine Shepherd.
Carlile, who privately came out at age 15 and then publicly in 2002, first met her wife over the phone in 2009. At the time, Shepherd, the daughter of actor and playwright Jack Sehpherd, was working for Beatles singer Paul McCartney’s charity Fight the Fear. Although Carlile simply reached out to donate some Beatles memorabilia to the singer’s campaign, she and Shepherd remained in contact regularly over the coming months before finally meeting in person in New York City in 2010, a moment that the Grammy-winning artist and social activist admitted to PEOPLE “was shocking to say the least,” quipping that throughout their long-distance phone calls, she “thought I was talking to somebody who was like 65 years old.” Their relationship quickly turned romantic, and on May 16, 2012, Carlile and Shepherd made their first public appearance together at the 2012 Donor Of The Day Celebration at The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.
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Brandi and Carlile tied the knot in Boston in front of family and friends in September 2012. Carlile shared the exciting news on Facebook by writing, “it was a total blast! We got married in a falling down barn and we had an amazing bluegrass band called Pickled Okra, a Molly Moons ice cream truck, cupcakes, wood fired pizza and our favorites The Secret Sisters played an amazing set.” She added that while she “got pretty teary during the ceremony,” her wife “was graceful and composed in true British fashion!” The couple’s Boston wedding was followed by a wedding in Washington, Carlile’s home state, and then another ceremony in London in February 2013. The following year, the newlyweds welcomed their first child, daughter Evangeline Ruth, via IVF treatment. Little Elijah followed in March 2018.
Their relationship has been a strong influence on Carlile’s music. In an interview with KEXP Radio in 2015, the singer revealed that Shepherd’s pregnancy had an impact on her 2015 album, The Firewatcher’s Daughter. She told the outlet, “my wife was about eight months pregnant when we started recording, and nine months when we finished, and the baby was born just a few days later. It was a really tricky time for me – and really special.”
Given the impact their love story has had on her career, it only made sense that Shephard and their two kids were on hand during the 2023 Grammys to introduce her “Broken Horses” performance. As she took the stage, Shepherd reflected on their relationship, telling viewers, “millions of viewers watching tonight fell in love with this next performer four years ago when she took the GRAMMYs stage for the first time and delivered one of the most iconic performances in GRAMMY history. I was lucky enough to marry her more than a decade ago, so I was way ahead of you.” She went on to call her wife, “one of the greatest, most authentic artists and human beings on the planet.”
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