Brandi Carlile has shared a reimagined version of her song “Church & State,” which she has dubbed “Church & State (Sad Gay Version).”

Carlile explains, “If ‘Church & State’ is a rallying cry for a world where one is free to believe what they choose, then the Sad Gay Version is a deep mourning for those who haven’t had the chance to live in such times yet—and for all those who fight to ensure we can continue to believe, love and share life together on our own terms, without consequence. Without interference.”

The track is the second number from Returning To Myself (Sad Gay Version), an expanded edition of Carlile’s 2025 album, Returning To Myself. It will be out digitally on September 25 via Interscope Records/Lost Highway. An exclusive signed rainbow vinyl edition of the deluxe album is available to those who pre-order by October 1, with orders set to ship on December 11. This special, one-time pressing and will only be available on Carlile’s website.

Returning To Myself (Sad Gay Version) features reworked versions of all 10 tunes rom the original album, with Carlile returning to Long Pond Studio to co-produce four tracks with The National’s Aaron Dessner. The collection includes a collaboration with Grammy-nominated composer and electronic musician Jon Hopkins (Brian Eno, Coldplay) on “Human (Sad Gay Version),” as well as a new version of Billy Joel’s “And So It Goes” exclusively on DSPs.

Carlile is currently in the midst of a summer tour. As first reported by Jambase, Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers guitarist Gibb Droll, who performed on bills with Carlile in 2006 and served as a special guest during select dates on The Story Tour in 2007 as well as on the 2009 album Give Up The Ghost, sat in with the award-winning musician at Charlotte, NC’s Spectrum Center on Tuesday. Their report notes, “According to The Charlotte Observer, Carlile told the Spectrum Center crowd that Droll jumped aboard her tour bus in Nashville without packing any clothes. Carlile performed at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena for the first time on Saturday. [At the show, Gregory Alan Isakov and Sarah Jarosz appeared on Dolly Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors, as a tribute to the country hero.] Droll emerged late in Tuesday’s main set for ‘Church & State’ and stayed for ‘Sinners, Saints and Fools’ and ‘The Joke.’ He returned during the encore for a cover of Alanis Morissette’s “Uninvited” and remained for “A Long Goodbye.”

Droll seems to have enjoyed his time on the road thus far and emerged once again yesterday during Carlile’s show at Duluth, GA’s Gas South Arena, augmenting her band at various points during the night. Opening act The Head and the Heart also joined the evening’s headliner both night for the By the Way, I Forgive You track “Hold Out Your Hand.”  

Carlile and The Head and the Heart will perform at Fort Worth, TX’s Dickies Arena tomorrow.