From a small town in Alberta to the big stage, Brett Kissel is making waves in the country music industry.
The St. Paul-area native is leading the way in the Canadian Country Music Awards (CCMA) this year, with a long list of nominations including Entertainer of the Year, Apple Music Fans’ Choice Award, Interactive Artist or Group of the Year, MNP Male Artist of the Year, and Anthem Entertainment Songwriter of the Year.
“It feels incredible. To lead the way with the nominations is a wonderful piece of news,” Kissel told the Nouvelle.
“It’s truly outstanding to be at this point in your career and have the industry and fans support you in that way is kind of the ultimate feeling.”
This isn’t the first time the Lakelander has found himself amongst Canada’s best country music artists.
“I’ve been nominated every year since I was about 16-years-old,” Kissel said.
This year, he’s up for the Apple Music Fans’ Choice Award.
“To me, that’s the Stanley Cup, that’s the big award of the night,” stated Kissel, adding if he wins, he plans on bringing the celebration home to the Lakeland.
“If everyone in the Lakeland area could vote for me at ccmafanvote.com… We can win that Stanley Cup together, and my goal is to bring that trophy back to the area so we can have a giant party.”
However, Kissel noted, music isn’t about being recognized.
“You’re just trying to create good music for your fans and music that you think will make a difference, whether it’s writing a party anthem or writing something that’s really reflective and poignant and important to talk about an issue.”
He continued, “I feel really good that over the last number of years especially, that I’ve been able to have some really great success when it comes to the songs I’m writing and performing.”
When creating his latest album “We Were That Song,” Kissel expressed the importance of covering all musical bases.
From more traditional country songs such as “Burgers and Fries,” to more out of the box concepts like “Damn,” Kissel wanted to include a little something for everyone.
“When you have all of these different types of songs on one record, I truly believed there was something for everybody. I was very thankful that at the Juno Awards we were awarded the country music album of the year, I think because of the diversity, and now we have five nominations for this record, which I truly believe has everything to do with the decision we made two years ago when we went into the studio and said ‘we’re going to make a very inclusive record and a very exciting record that anybody from any walk of life could find something on this project that they enjoy,’” he exclaimed.
Kissel isn’t only celebrating his CCMA success.
“I got to do a wonderful headline show at Merit, BC at their festival called the Rockin’ River Fest. One of their headliners was Jason Aldean, another was Old Dominion, and I was the third headliner, which was special for a kid from the Bonnyville and St. Paul area to headline and perform shoulder-to-shoulder with these guys,” detailed Kissel, adding they set an attendance record for the night they hit the stage.
The rising star also opened for Brooks and Dunn at the Big Valley Jamboree, where once again, they set an attendance record, this time for their specific time slot.
What topped it all off, was when Kissel’s idol, Garth Brooks, invited him on stage.
“I was invited to open for Garth Brooks. We opened at the Mosaic Stadium in Regina where we had 45,000 people at the show. My concert was rained out, so I didn’t get the opportunity to perform my set, but Garth Brooks invited me to join him on stage, so we sang his song ‘Friends in Low Places,’” outlined Kissel. “We sang it to 45,000 screaming country fans, so that was probably the highlight of my career.”
He added, “He’s been my idol and the guy that I’ve looked up to from afar for many years. Now that we’ve formed a great friendship and I’ve done a number of shows with him, it’s extremely special to get a chance to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him and have him take me under his wing.”
