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Paul Brandt brings co-headlining tour to Red Deer

Alberta-born country star Paul Brandt is bringing his co-headlining tour to Red Deer this fall.
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ON THE ROAD - Paul Brandt is set to hit the road in a co-headlining tour along with Dean Brody next month. They make a stop in Red Deer OCt. 6th

Alberta-born country star Paul Brandt is bringing his co-headlining tour to Red Deer this fall.

Brandt is teaming up with country singer Dean Brody for the Road Trip Tour, which will make stops in 22 cities across the country beginning Sept. 24th. The duo plays the Centrium on Oct. 6th.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s kind of a once in a lifetime thing. We have never done a co-headlining tour before and to get to go and do this with Dean is really exciting. I think he is a great artist and we’ve had a lot of fun getting to know each other already in the promotions,” said Brandt. “I think we are going to have a blast out there.”

Brandt added there is nothing like being on the road.

“The road is just a lot of fun. We get comments from people backstage or get a chance to chat with people in autograph lines – the comment that we get almost all the time is, ‘Boy, you guys look like you have a lot of fun out there.’

“For me, that’s very rewarding but it’s also pretty easy. I just go out and do what I love to do. When you get on the road and you feel the hum of the tires and you’re hitting a different city every single night, there is just an adrenaline rush that comes with that. It’s a lot of fun.”

He added another highlight of being on tour is getting to play for a different audience every night.

“Every audience in my experience has a bit of a different personality,” said Brandt. “You take the time to listen and to observe and what is moving them and what they are enjoying. There is almost a little subtlety in each town and it ends up almost like a conversation.”

Brandt recalls when he was just getting started in his music career, before he had a record deal, he took a trip to Nashville with his dad. They ate at the BlueBird Café.

“People knew about the BlueBird but there was still something that was not shiny about it. It was very real feeling. This lady got up on stage – a songwriter I had never seen before or since – and she just communicated to us through her music,” he said. “It was such an amazing feeling and a transcendent feeling for me. It really impacted me and it made me look at songwriting and performing in a very different way.”

Growing up, Brandt said he was told that his great grandfather, who he had never met, was an opera singer in Russia and traveled around singing and opening up for some of the bigger names at the time.

“I’ll never forget the first time I sang in front of my grandfather – he just started to weep. He said that I had the same voice as his dad,” he said. “That was a real moment for me.”

A passion for music came early for Brandt starting at six-years-old where he sang at his church in Calgary.

“I got a guitar at age 13 and I was writing poetry, so I put the two together and they sounded like songs,” he said. “I just kept going. I was sort of obsessed with it. It was something that I loved to do and my family was so supportive.”

Shortly after, Brandt began entering talent contests, one of which was at the Calgary Stampede.

After three years of entering that particular contest, he won. “I won it singing Garth Brooks tunes and got a prize to go record some music in a studio. One of those songs ended up making its way to Nashville and that is when the fateful call came. I got a call from the label and they asked if they could come and see my band play, and I called them right back and said sure. I called my friend right away and said, ‘Dude, you have to help me put a band together’,” he added with a laugh. “I love it and I never take it for granted because a lot of people never get that shot. But it happened in an unusual way.”

As for inspiration for new material, Brandt said it comes from daily life.

“I’ve heard from people that the best approach in songwriting is just to be a great observer of life. That is what I try and do,” he said. “I’m always filtering and jotting down ideas or singing into my phone to remember stuff.”

As for what keeps Brandt going – he said it is his love of music.

“I told myself early on that I was only going to do this as long as it was fun, and it never stopped. There are always challenges to anything that is worth anything.

“There is always stuff that you have to overcome,” he said. “I absolutely love what I get to do. There are days where you are pulling yourself out of bed, but it’s worth it. Getting to impact lives and use the music as a platform for something bigger than just entertainment – all of those things really keep me going.”

To purchase tickets, visit www.roadtriptour.ca, or www.ticketmaster.ca.

efawcett@reddeerexpress.com