EX- NHL PROSPECT SCORES ON CHARTS
Former NHL prospect is blazing up the charts with the first single from his new album
CHAD BROWNLEE Opening for Dierks Bentley When: Wednesday, 7: 30 p. m. Where: Centre for Performing Arts, 777 Homer St. Tickets: $ 55 -$ 72 at Ticketmaster. ca or 604- 280- 4444
Rising country music star Chad Brownlee remembers the exact moment when his hockey career ended and his musical life truly began. It was in 2008, when Brownlee was playing for the Idaho Steelheads, the Dallas Stars’ farm team.
“I was sitting on the bench — it was my last year playing — and I looked at the clock and I was wishing for the game to be over,” Brownlee said in a recent interview. “I just watched the seconds count down thinking, ‘ I just want to hit the showers and get out of here.’ That’s when the light bulb went on: ‘ This isn’t what I’m supposed to be doing.’ I played the rest of the season and as soon as it was done, the hardest thing I had to do was tell my parents I was quitting hockey. But it was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.”
The Kelowna- born 27- year- old, who was picked 190th over- all by the Vancouver Canucks in the sixth round of the 2003 NHL entry draft, obviously made the right decision.
On the verge of releasing his second album, Love Me or Leave Me ( out Tuesday), Brownlee is hitting his stride.
The album’s titular single has been blazing up the charts, and Brownlee is going on the road with Dierks Bentley, kicking things off at the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts on Wednesday.
Brownlee, who now lives in Langley, cleaned up with five B. C. Country Music Awards in 2011, including entertainer of the year, and was the recipient of the 2011 Country Music Award Rising Star based on the strength of his self- titled debut released in 2010.
On Love Me or Leave Me, Brownlee incorporates many of the influences he knew growing up.
“My parents listened to Fleetwood Mac and The Eagles,” Brownlee said. “That was the music I was brought up with at a young age. But it wasn’t until Garth Brooks came onto the scene that I became a real country fan.
“He had a different vibe, a different take on the genre. I really think he was a pioneer. I was just so drawn to the sounds he was making and the songs he was writing.”
The album resonates with great poprock hooks and glossy country textures, and it may not be such a surprise that love is the central theme to the record.
Quite fitting, then, that the album’s release date happens to be Valentine’s Day.
“There was a bit of a perfect storm; it kind of worked out well,” Brownlee said with a chuckle.
“Obviously when we started writing for the album we didn’t think we wanted to release it on Valentine’s Day. But as it came closer and closer, we thought of what the title track was going to be, and it being the first single that had a lot of success, it seemed Love Me or Leave Me was the nobrainer. Then we saw Valentine’s Day was coming up and said, ‘ Hey, let’s put the two together.’”
The album was recorded at Vogville Studios in Port Coquitlam with engineer Paul Shatto and manager/ guitarist/ producer Mitch Merrett, and features a number of musicians from the Vancouver area.
“We really set a mood from beginning to end on this,” Brownlee said. “We wanted to take the listener through a bit of a journey, different moods and emotions. I think people are attracted to songs they can feel, not just hear.
“It’s more of a pop country sound. It’s not traditional country, which a lot of people think when I tell them I play country: The pickup truck and the dog riding shotgun. Country is a genre that allows versatility. Canadian country is like a small town, and I’m very fortunate to be part of it.”
While he dreams of making it big in Nashville and would love to work there in the future, Brownlee is cautious not to get ahead of himself.
“It’s like the hockey analogy,” he said. “I take it ‘ shift by shift.’”