'Nothing that happens very fast stays for very long" is Brandi Carlile's motto, which is perhaps the reason you may not recognise her name. Not yet anyway.

But while she may be taking her time, Carlile has come a long way since her humble beginnings as a country girl from outside Seattle, where she would listen to her mother singing country tunes and be taught Motown harmonies by her brothers. Nowadays, her list of admirers reads like a who's who of the music industry. Regularly lauding her are the likes of Eartha Kitt, kd lang and uber-producer Rick Rubin, while the list of collaborators on her latest album, Give Up The Ghost, includes Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers fame and Benmont Tench from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

One of the real testaments to how far this indie-country musician has come, though, lies in her own personal battles. As a teenager, Carlile was diagnosed with attention-deficit disorder and struggled in school. "They wanted to medicate me so I could concentrate in math class. I decided to stop going and went out busking instead."

She's now learned to channel her emotions through singing, and her vocal range and ability attest to this. But she bubbles over when she talks about how she recently realised her childhood dream of recording with her long-standing idol, Elton John, on the song 'Caroline'.

"He's the greatest of all time. I love him," she says. "Recording with Elton John was the real deal. He's very funny and a serious musician at the same time. Focused, talented and inspired and makes sure to leave an impression on you. He's the most inspired artist I've ever met. Top of the list."

Carlile's own songwriting is focused in her present; one tip she took away from working with Elton John was not to look into the past too much but to examine what's happening now.

"Give up the Ghost is an old time biblical term usually meaning 'the passing'. For me it was more of a transition," she says. "I was obsessing over fans, putting out a record of their firsts... first love, first loss, first coming of age – really big, deep things to write about that everyone relates to because they are pivotal and really important, you know.

"I didn't want to make a record full of road songs... I knew nothing had really happened to me since I put out the first record except for recording but there is a way you can write about what's going on in your life without having to be specific. The way you do that is to sort of transition beyond ourselves and think what you are really going through and to do that you have to sort of give up the ghost."

Another childhood hero featuring on the album is Amy Ray from the Indigo Girls. "She's my best friend. We've been really close for a few years now. I couldn't imagine not hearing her voice in the records I make," she says. "Her voice in particular on the song 'Looking Out' was important because it rides a fine line between being a rock'n'roll song and a ballad. Those kind of songs you have to be careful of. If you have a guy singing harmony, it sounds like a duet because it's so big and powerful. And if you have your own voice it sounds over-produced. Amy's voice is so genderless – it's totally androgynous and it carries weight with it. No-one else sounds like her. Amy turned me on to Damien Dempsey. She's a big fan of his and caught one of his gigs last year when the Indigo Girls played in Ireland."

Give Up The Ghost is the third album Carlile and Ray have made together. The first and second albums, Brandi Carlile and The Story, are the home of many songs that have featured on the likes of hit TV drama Grey's Anatomy.

Carlile has been touring for the last five years, and far from letting her vast list of accolades and admirers blur her vision, she says she is solely "all about the show". For her forthcoming European tour, which includes two Irish shows, she's bringing a support act from the US, Katie Herzig, whose music has also featured on Grey's Anatomy, as well as Bones and Smallville.

"I'm really excited," says Herzig. "I actually went to Ireland when I graduated for a break and just travelled round the country. We went to the Guinness Store and even did a few open mics in Dublin."

For both the headliner and support act, the principle that nothing that happens very fast stays for very long is apt. Both started their own gradual ascent many moons ago, and are now finally reaching the dizzy heights they dreamed of.

Brandi Carlile plays Spring and Airbrake, Belfast, on Thursday and The Academy, Dublin, on Friday