Brandi Carlile hasn’t performed in Tucson in several years, but that hasn’t stopped her from sneaking into her favorite vacation destination.

She and her family — her wife of three years Catherine Shepherd and year-old daughter Evangeline, snuck into town last spring.

“We’ve been back a few times,” she said, noting that Shepherd loves Tucson almost as much as she does. “We’re going to spend a little extra time there this time, too. I like playing golf in Tucson and I’ve got to have Mexican food while I’m there. It’s a vacation destination for me. I love my Tucson.”

The Seattle alt-country/rock singer-songwriter brings her tour for her new album “The Firewatcher’s Daughter” to the Rialto Theatre on Thursday, Sept. 24. It’s her first release since leaving Columbia Records in 2012.

The album dropped in March at No. 1 on the U.S. rock and folk charts.

“It’s been a really great album to get to play on the road,” said the 34-year-old, who is touring with her longtime bandmates twins Tim and Phil Hanseroth, a drummer who also plays piano and a cellist who also plays percussion. “I’ve been looking forward to it for a really long time and now that we’ve done it, I don’t think I’m ever going to get tired of this one.”

We caught up with her last week to talk about the album, the tour and her new role as mom. 

This album is largely regarded by critics as your best to date. There’s a renewed energy and intensity to it.

“I think so, too. I think it’s really special.”

I understand this was one of the most interesting recording processes you’ve gone through in your 10-year career.

“There was something about this one that was really visceral and no hiding. And that is interesting in and of itself because there is always going to be a level of posturing when you are making a record, trying to fit into a zone or become a character. In this case, I personally did not have a choice. I was anticipating the birth of my daughter and my wife was really, really close to giving birth to Evangeline. She did about two days after we finished the record. So there was a lot I was trying to say and to do before that happened.”

This was a true, 100 percent collaboration between you and the twins.

“Absolutely. They always are, but in the past we’ve always incorporated a producer and the one before, ‘Bear Creek,’ we didn’t. So we were starting to move toward that kind of self-produced trio kind of vibe. And I think we really kind of nailed it on ‘Firewatcher’s Daughter’ as far as what our language is when we work in that way.”

On this album you channel Johnny Cash on “The Stranger At My Door” and you have some amazing trio harmonies on the first single “The Eye.” What is your favorite song on this album to sing live?

“Probably ‘Mainstream Kid’ right now, the really punk rock one. I love doing that one. It’s a real cut-loose moment. â€Ļ If everyone got to sing at that level and that volume on stage â€Ļ and everyone got to do a song like ‘Mainstream Kid’ every day, then I don’t think we’d have any problems in the world.”

This album kind of shows all shades of Brandi Carlile and the band. It’s a nice fabric of pop music. Was that the intent?

“That genre-bending style comes from me and the twins being three different people, three different writers. It’s three very different contributors going through three different stages of life and being very honest about what we are feeling at any given time musically. So we don’t try to stay in the boundaries of genre. We actually try to get out of it as much as we can.”

How have audiences responded to the album?

“People love it. They’ve been singing along to the songs. It makes us really proud to get out and feel that energy coming back from the audience that they love the album. It means a lot to us. Anytime you take a risk there’s always that chance that it might not be well received.”

This album has really made a splash.

“This has done better than any of our albums have done. There are a lot of things that can be attributed to that, but we don’t even know why or what the science is behind that. But for some reason it has been really well received. â€Ļ All we know is what brings people out to see us in our concerts, and what we think that that is is really giving a (expletive) and caring so much about what our shows are and how they translate and never doing the same thing twice and always trying to make it a satisfying experience for the people who come and see us. And all the while remembering that we are all people and whatever makes them buy a ticket, make a plan and get a babysitter that night is something that’s really, really important. And the band realizes how important it is.”

You haven’t played a Tucson show in three years. What can we expect to see?

“Something totally different. New songs. Different musicians on stage. Everything that’s on stage we’ve come up with ourselves. New covers. We play new instruments. Everything is different.”

“We have an opening band that is astounding. They are called Baskery and they are incredible. â€Ļ They are three sisters from Sweden. One plays standup bass. The other one plays electric guitar and sings and the other one plays a kick-drum drumset configuration while playing electric banjo through rock-and-roll distortion pedals. And they sing in three-part harmony and they do screams and war cries. They jump off the kick drum. They are an unbelievable show in and of itself. It is so good and so hard to go on after them because they are so incredible.”

Will we see them on stage with you?

“They just started joining us for a cover tune we’ve been doing. It’s a lot of fun.”

What’s it like in your new role as mom?

“I love it. There’s nothing about it that I don’t love. She’s a cute little thing. She’s getting her 16-month molars and she slept through the night on the bus last night and it was kind of a relief to everybody.”

Does the family travel with you?

“All of our families travel with us so we’ve got three kids, three wives.”

How has having a family changed your approach to music and what you do musically?

“It hasn’t. If anything it’s given me a heightened awareness as far as a global heightened awareness. And that always makes its way into my music and the way I perform and the way I feel when I perform. But I think what would really affect me negatively would be not having them with me.”

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