Brandon Heath opens up on new album
Since Brandon Heath’s debut on Reunion Records in 2006 with “Don’t Get Comfortable,” he has become one of Christian music’s most respected artists and songwriters, earning an Emmy, five Grammy nominations and an American Music Award nomination.
He has been honored as a six-time GMA Dove Award recipient, including Male Vocalist of the Year in 2009 and 2010. These accolades reflect a strong radio career that includes the hits “I’m Not Who I Was,” “Give Me Your Eyes” and “Your Love,” which held the top position on the radio-airplay charts for eight consecutive weeks.
Heath, who used to live in The Woodlands, returns to the area when he joins Third Day at the Berry Center on Friday.
This year, Heath released “No Turning Back,” a project that finds him returning to a sound similar to his early work. Much of the album plays like journal entries as he recounts memories of childhood, meeting his wife and pivotal moments in his faith. On the title track, he commissioned the writing skills of David Leonard and Leslie Jordan of the band All Sons & Daughters.
“It’s the first single from my latest record. I wrote this about the experience I had 20 years ago when I stood in front of all my friends at a Young Life camp and decided to follow Jesus. I was telling the story to my friends in the band All Sons & Daughters, and they talked about the old hymn “I Have Decided,” so we wrote this song based on the hymn and my experience at that camp.”
The highlight of the record for me comes from the somewhat comical, somewhat convicting “Everything Must Go,” in which Heath hosts a garage sale to free himself of worldly burdens, singing, “I ain’t broke, and I ain’t dying, I just felt like simplifying.”
“Girl of My Dreams” is about married life and adds another little dash of humor to a sweet love song about his wife. The gears shift to the melancholy as Heath sets aside his guitar and sits behind the piano for the reflective ballad “S.O.S.”
If it’s been a while since you picked up some music from Heath, “No Turning Back” might be a perfect opportunity to get reacquainted with him.
Listen to Kent Matthews noon-1 p.m. on Saturdays and noon-5 p.m. on Sundays on NGEN radio (99.5 FM Sugar Land, 91.1 Lake Jackson-Galveston or online at ngenradio.com).