When I called Paul Brandt last week, the country singer was at his home in the outskirts of Calgary. To be more specific, Brandt was sitting in his recording studio, built within his 100-year old barn, and he apologized for the quality of his phone line, which he damaged slightly with his tractor earlier. All of this this is to say that Paul Brandt is about as country as a person can be. His mark on Canadian country music is undeniable: 13 Canadian Country Music Association Awards, a CMA Award and 8 Junos. And if those credentials weren't enough, Brandt was the first Canadian male since Hank Snow to hit the top 10 in the US country music charts.
Still, despite his successes within country music, his anticipated new album is not what fans of his brand of straight-shooting popular country might expect. Instead, on Just As I Am, Brandt has takes listeners back to the hymns and songs he grew up as a member of a tiny gospel church in Alberta. And with it, Brandt joins a strong tradition of country artists taking on gospel music – from Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash to the Oak Ridge Boys and Randy Travis.
Below, Brandt discusses his musical journey, his faith and the friends he called up to help him create his latest project.
LISTENPaul Brandt/Just As I Am
Album stream.
Tracklist
The album was inspired by the music of West Hillhurst Gospel Hall. Can you tell us about the church?
When my grandparents emigrated from Eastern Europe to Canada, they were searching for one that was similar to the one my grandfather went to. They travelled from Ontario, where they landed, all the way to British Columbia and back to Alberta. They found the West Hillhurst Gospel Hall, and there were about 75 people there. It was a very small and legalistic church. The music that was played there was all a capella, and no instruments were allowed. In some ways it was limiting but in other ways it was a great way to cut my teeth on music, there in its purest form. It was there that I started to fall in love with these hymns that we've included on this album.
So the songs here on the album would have been part of the weekly service?
There are a few exceptions. I think a few people would have rolled over in their graves if we'd been singing Why Me by Kris Kristofferson. If they weren't songs from the hymnbook, people would get together on say a Tuesday night or after the service on Sunday and have a sing, a hymn-sing. If we would have had instruments, we'd have jammed, but this was just people singing their favourite songs. It was influential on me getting into music.
So at some point you brought out a guitar. Were your parents and the people around you supportive?
We started by going to this legalistic church, where people talked about what we don't do as Christians, instead of talking about what we do. There's a couple of different approaches to that, even with people who within the Christian faith – a battle between legalism and grace. My parents eventually saw that the place we were had an emphasis on legalism and had a pendulum swing. It was a bit of a headtrip because at 13 years old we'd stopped going and I'd gone into junior high and picked up a guitar. The first song I learned was Four Strong Winds by Ian Tyson. I'd been writing poetry. The speakers at West Hillhurst would read from the King James Bible, read the words and study them and bring them back to the original roots of Greek and Latin. I became a real word geek, and read poetry and Bartlett's and the dictionary. And when I iced up the guitar for the first time, it all began to make sense. I put music to my words and it sounded more country than anything else. The melodies I'd been singing in the church started to influence my songwriting. For us, as a family, it was a process for us to define what it meant to have a relationship with God. It's been a great one my whole life.
You met Patty Loveless long before she appeared on this album, after winning a songwriting contest when you were just starting out.
It was Calgary's classic country station, 1060 CFAC, and they were running a contest to call in and write a ditty, an advertisement for something. If you were chosen you got tickets to see Patty at the Silver Dollar Action Centre and Casino. I won this thing, and showed up. I saw Patty play, just before her Grammy and she broke through. I was a huge fan, and I waited in line to get an autograph. I had my demo tape and wanted to give it to her. In the music business I've come to learn that's a bit of a no-no. It's hard for artists to accept that. She was great, but the road manager said no, we can't accept that. She signed an autograph and I was on my way.
Eight months later, I signed a record deal, had a song on the radio and was opening up a show for her. There are a lot of very successful people in this business, and it's hard for everyone to take the time. Patty is one of those who remember your name.
How did she come to get involved on the record?
We've always had a mutual respect. And this project came up, but I had no expectations, I just had a lot of hopes. I was sitting here in the barn one day, and the phone rang and I just about fell off my chair. She recorded her part for "Amazing Grace" (listen) in her studio down in Georgia. Listen to what she did on that. It's a way of singing called old lining - a traditional call-and-response way of singing gospel music or sacred songs in the mountain of Kentucky. It was amazing to work with her.
Ricky Skaggs also appears on the album. Do you go way back with him as well?
He used to do a series at the Ryman – faith-based songs. And he had me on one time, at the beginning of my career. We were going so hard that I was having vocal difficulty. He was very encouraging, and very helpful.
When it came time to do this project, I really wanted to have the group the Whites on the album. A good friend of mine is married to one of the Whites, and Ricky is also married to one of the Whites. I asked them, and asked if Ricky would, and he agreed.
We lived in Nashville for about a decade, and we've been able to hang on to our Nashville contacts even after moving back to Alberta. As a country music fan, it's amazing for me to be able to call these people up and ask them to swing by the studio. I'm really thankful that they did.
How does working out of Alberta compare to Nashville?
Being in Nashville, especially back in 1996 – it was necessary for somebody who wanted to make inroads in popular country music. It was what you did. I always say - if you want to grow wheat, go to the Prairies. It's the same thing with Nashville. Now, you can make music from anywhere, but I've found that having that Nashville connection is key. There's a real community that happens there.
The two places have some similarities, but I look at Nashville as having the industry part of country, and Alberta is one of those places that has the lifestyle part.
At this point, you have a huge fan base. Was there any trepidation though, from moving away from country and giving them a bluegrass gospel album? Do you view it as a risk in any way?
It’s funny… there was a time in country music where no one would even blink at this. But I think you're right – as an artist if you are not on a limb… you're probably not doing your job. This album for me, in some ways, is a tip of the hat to my musical roots. It’s the kind of thing that spotlights country music's deep roots in gospel. They are influential to the art form.
I don’t know if we've lost it, but we've kind of forgotten it along the way. I wouldn't be doing country music if it weren't for these songs. They are important to me for many different reasons, but strictly from a musical sense, this used to be very normal. But it's not anymore. And I think that's interesting. I'm excited to spotlight these songs for people who might not have heard them before, and let people see the richness of the musical heritage, and the message of them. I love that had the opportunity to record an album that stretches me as a musician, that has a bluegrass feel to it and traditional country feel.
This is really fun for me on a lot of different levels, and hope it's the kind of thing that our fans can follow along through it. I don't think it signals a change, though. To me, this is country music.
Related:
Paul Brandt's Just As I Am: full album stream
Kris Kristofferson to the Louvin Brothers: When gospel meets country
Q in Calgary Part 1 -- Paul Brandt
Video: Paul Brandt- A Proper Send Off