ADAM BRAND

Adam Brand has won the coveted Golden Guitar Award 12 times, has three platinum albums and five gold. Now he tells Marc Andrews why country isn’t just for hillbillies.

My music is very much for standing up for what you believe in. Love is the greatest thing of all.

DNA: Welcome to the world of DNA… Adam

Brandy: [Laughs] No worries! Is country music finally ready to embrace a gay audience? Yeah, our music is a lot more grown up than people give it credit for. Country music essentially is very real music. It really reflects our lives and what we have first hand experience at. There shouldn’t be any distinctions as to whether it’s gay, a colour, or where you come from. There is a viewpoint that country music is all hillbillies, but it is a more accepting art form than people realise.

You’re obviously very accepting, too, if you’re talking to DNA. It’s no issue for me. What I look for in people isn’t where they are from, or whether they are gay or not, but whether they are respectful and sincere people. Nothing else should matter. I don’t believe anyone should push their opinions on anyone else about how they should live. A good friend of mine, Daniel Jarvis, is deaf and is gay and he and his partner have been together ten years. They are a great couple and very close friends of the family. He signs to music and I have had him up on stage to sign while I sing. It’s very powerful. I don’t call my gay friends that – they’re just my friends [laughs].

You just signed to a new record label. Why the change? I went to the States for a couple of years, then came home and was a free agent. It always helps to have a fresh start. I’ve been doing this for a while so you can get a little stale and set in your ways [laughs]. Your most recent single, Freedom Rebels, was also something unexpected of you. It felt like the right time to do that. I stopped short of calling my new album, My Acoustic Diary, a greatest hits album, although there are some of my singles and hits on there, but I also included tracks that meant a lot to me. There was scope to throw the rulebook out of the window and just do what felt right. Freedom Rebels is that fresh, wind-blowing-in-your hair and driving-down-the-highway-to-whoknows-where kind of song. Could this be a song people sing at gay marriage rallies? Absolutely. The words in it talk about how if you’ve ever been told that you’re not good enough or don’t know what you’re doing, we’re still going to be here when the dust settles. It’s a pretty defiant song which sums up by saying we’ve got each other and that’s enough. It was a point in my life where I knew I didn’t need other people’s validation and just had to do what was right for me.

Would you consider performing at the Sydney

Mardi Gras? Mate, I will perform anywhere [laughs]! I’ll perform on the back of a truck. Have any of your songs had dance remixes? They haven’t, but that’s on the radar. Freedom Rebels might be a good track to do that.

You also won Dancing With The Stars, so you know your way around a dance floor! [Laughs] Well, you would think I would. I did win but I didn’t dance my way through the show, I talked my way through it [laughs]. What I lack in talent I make up for in charm. That’s all I had going for me [laughs]. It was an amazing time in my life and a big experience. I dabble in TV, but I love cooking. I am happy if I can spend ten hours in the kitchen cooking for people. It’s creative, but I also love making people happy.

We’ll have to pop over to your place for dinner some time! Absolutely [laughs]. I have an Italian heritage, so there’s obviously pasta or fresh fish. What’s your message to the readers of DNA? I don’t profess to being a great poet or the voice of a generation. I just write and sing about things that have sincere emotional content for me. My music is very much for standing up for what you believe in. Love is the greatest thing of all. Everything for me is borne out of love. If you have love in your heart then you’re alright by me. So you’re not just pro-gay marriage, but prolove? Definitely. I do believe in true love. My heart is open and I appreciate DNA wanting to speak with me.

more: My Acoustic Diary is released through ABC Records. adambrand.com.au