"Give Up the Ghost," Carlile's third studio album, is scheduled to surface Sept. 1. The Rick Rubin-produced set includes the track "Caroline," a collaboration with Elton John.

"It was insane," Carlile told the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper in May about working with John, her musical idol. "It was like an out-of-body experience. He's been my hero since I was 11 years old. To get to work with Elton, it was just crazy. I don't even know how to describe it. He was amazing. He nailed the piano in one take. It took him an hour and a half to sing and play piano on this song, and then he stuck around and absolutely schooled me on new music for two hours and gave me a music lesson, basically. It was wonderful."

The new set follows 2007's "The Story," which was produced by Grammy-winner T Bone Burnett (Counting Crows, Roy Orbison).