HALL OF FAME
CCMA honours Paul Brandt
No, Paul Brandt. It’s not the meanest prank ever.
The country star had to wonder if someone was pulling his leg when the CCMA phoned to say he was being inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.
“That was quite the day. I was driving around in my truck and hit the hands-free when the call came and I actually had to pull over, I thought they were totally kidding me,” he says.
Maybe he forgets that he’s the most-played Canadian country artist ever on country radio. Speaking of which, his first single, My Heart Has a History, is the most played Canadian country song since the Nielson BDS chart began in 1996. And he’s the most-awarded male Canadian country music artist in history.
So if Paul Brandt is asked if he deserves it, he should say, “I do.” And, speaking of that, when his song I Do hit No. 1 in the States, he became the first male Canadian country artist on the US Billboard Top 20 since 1976.
Fully qualified, Brandt will enter the hall at the CCMA Awards in Saskatoon on Sunday, on national TV and in front of a live audience at SaskTel Centre. Ron MacLean, of Hockey Night in Canada fame, will make the induction presentation.
Brandt got to know MacLean by working on Hometown Hockey.
“I really made a great connection with him as a friend and I thought it would be really cool if he could be part of the CCMAs in some way,” says Brandt.
(Hockey Night in Canada was a big deal in the Brandt household. They didn’t get a TV until he was 13. It was black and white and stayed in the closet until Saturday night for Hockey Night in Canada).
Before his big moment at the arena with parents and friends attending, Brandt has some work to do. He’s on the bill of Friday’s Legends Concert at TCU Place.
“I’m looking forward to that, especially because Ian Tyson is going to be there. I mean, there have to be bigger words than icon. He’s really set a standard in Canada and music in general. So it’ll be a lot of fun to be sharing the stage.”
Brandt will also have brand new music to share. His new single, The Journey, just came out, and an album of the same name is due in the new year.
The Journey lives up to its name. A massive road trip of some 6,000 kilometres was part of the development process. Brandt, who lives on a ranch outside Calgary, rode his motorcycle to Phoenix on the first leg. Then he went back later to pick it up and worked his way home along the Pacific Coast Highway. Photographer Tanner Wendell Stewart documented the trip on social media.
An important element in the process was working with new talents, pushing him past his comfort zone.
“That, to me, is necessary for the creative process. You need to be out on a limb. While I think people will recognize these songs as Paul Brandt songs, I’m hoping that they will see that we’re taking some risks as well.”
There’s an inherent contradiction in an artist’s life, Brandt points out. You have to document life, but you want to enjoy it at the same time.
“When I look back on my career, it’s always been a balance between the two — should I stop and take a picture of this, or should I just experience it?
“Now with being the father of two kids, a nine-year-old and six-yearold, there’s all those bittersweet moments where you love where you are but you know you’ll never be there again. Those are the things that music has really taught me over the years.”