Ahead of the release of their new single “Who Believes In Angels?,” the title track from their just-announced collaborative album set for release on April 4, Audacy host Mike Adam got a chance to speak with Brandi Carlile and Elton John about how this amazing joint venture came to be.

Although The Who’s Pete Townshend spilled the beans on this project last summer, Elton tells us, “I just forgot about it, and I think most people forgot about it… I didn't scold him. I love Pete. He's one of my dearest friends, so…”

“I didn't forget about it, I loved it!” adds Brandi.

Expanding on what Townshend revealed was a lightning-fast recording process, Elton says, “We went in with nothing and came out three weeks later with fourteen songs, ten of which make the album. I had a lot of doubt making this record and I was tired, I was irritable, and the first four or five days were really kind of powder keg time. But once we got past that, It was just plain sailing. It was just brilliant.”

“The lyrics that we got from Bernie [Taupin] and Brandi were so amazing, Andrew Watt, the producer,” he adds, giving all of his collaborators their flowers. “The four people involved in this whole project, and it was very much a team effort.”

“All the lyrics I got were amazing, and they were so easy to write to,” Elton continues. “When you get great lyrics, I write very quickly. So, Brandi's lyrics and Bernard's lyrics were so good that the songs came together really quickly. We had a great band, we had Chad [Smith] from the [Red Hot] Chili Peppers on drums, and we had, Pino Palladino on bass, and we had Josh Klinghoffer from the Chili Peppers on synth, and Andrew Watt on guitar with Brandi.”

“And Elton on piano,” Brandi chimed in accordingly.

“It was one of the most enjoyable, incredibly quick albums I've ever made. It was wonderful,” John explained. “The energy in the room, it was electric. You could get an electric shock if you touched the wall!”

Agreeing that there was some rough water to tread when first coming together, Brandi says, “We pretty much saw eye to eye after that first few days, everything clicked. We just really inspire each other and we didn't know for sure… We knew we loved each other and then we had this great friendship, but I didn't know if we would inspire each other, so it was really scary in the beginning, but we really did. And then everything from the beginning to the end was mostly smooth sailing, and we just tend to acquiesce toward one another, I think as artists in general.”

Fans will be happy to hear that there is a full visual aspect to this new album as well. “We filmed every song being written, we filmed every song being recorded,” Elton tells us. “We had nine cameras on the go all the time. Eventually, you'll be able to see the shenanigans that went on at the beginning of the album, which weren't pretty, but it was necessary for the sparks to fly at the beginning, mostly from me, to get that energy going, and boy was that energy in that room when we got going. It was fantastic!”

“The best part of the cameras was, I never saw one,” Brandi adds. “They were fixed, so I didn't know where they were and we were forgetting about them all the time. So, it's not as if there was a person standing there with a camera. We forgot, and our behavior reflects that!”

Obviously, keeping the cat in the bag around such a massive collaboration was going to be tough. Though Elton admits he “didn't play it to many people,” Brandi reminded him that he did give Kate Bush an early listen, and of course, Pete Townshend.

Brandi says she played it recently for Bon Iver, and Aaron Dessner of The National, “and the looks on their faces were just, you can't fake loving an album that much,” she says. “So, we know we've done a really special thing, we're really excited.”

“It’s just incredibly life-affirming to me,” Brandi adds. “ ...