Paul Brandt
Born and raised in Calgary, Brandt loved gospel music and learned to play the guitar while growing up. His aspirations for a career lay in other areas, however, and after high school, he chose to study nursing, working at Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary.
He officially traded clipboard and stethoscope for cowboy hat and guitar in 1996, when “Calm Before the Storm” was named Best Canadian Country Song by SOCAN (Canada’s performing rights society) during Canada’s annual Country Music Week. Warner Music Canada and Reprise Records in Nashville snatched him up in a joint deal and Country Music Television named him Male Rising Video Star of 1996.
The hits “I Do,” “I Meant to Do That” and “Take It from Me” came on the heels of each other, and Brandt was soon topping Canadian and American Country charts.
But in spite of the rushing excitement of success, life in Music City wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
“Liz and I were having to spend a lot of time apart at certain points of my career and we didn’t want that. We really wanted our marriage to be a priority.
“I started asking the record label if they would let me out of that deal ... and eventually the record label said it would be okay for me to go and do my own thing. It was terrifying but at the same time it was also pretty exciting,” remembers Brandt.
Moving back to his birthplace in May 2005, he started Brandt-T Records. “We went and started our own record label and that label was very successful,” Brandt says.
His newest project has him trying something new. “We recorded half of it in Vancouver — the first recording I’ve done in Canada in my career — and half was done in Nashville,” Brandt explains.
“Half of the songs are about the North American experience of Christmas — the hustle and bustle and shopping and fun — and the other half are things that are important to me about Christmas when it comes to how it relates to Jesus,” he says.
“I’m really excited about it.”
But even more important to Brandt than A Gift is the ‘Gift’ that started the whole Christmas celebration. “I think we all have a feeling inside that it would be wonderful to receive a gift with no strings attached,” says Brandt. “And that’s really what the Christmas story is all about.
“When Jesus came, He came to offer freedom and eternal life for whoever believes in Him. There are no strings attached. It’s a simple gift that all you have to do is accept.
“The first time I heard the story of Jesus and what He’s done for me was when my parents decided to give their lives to Jesus and accept the gift that He’s given,” Brandt remembers.
His parents’ decision made a huge impact on Brandt’s entire life. “For me at that time, I was six years old, and I hadn’t done a lot of hard living, but there was something inside of me telling me I needed that. And so I remember praying and asking Jesus to be a part of my life.”
And Brandt can testify to the fact that God’s gift is like none other. “When Jesus came, He really changed everything,” explains Brandt. “It’s the message of the gospel — of Jesus coming to save us from our sins by being the ultimate sacrifice when He died on the cross — it’s the thing that’s absolutely changed my life and that I pin all of my hope on.”
Source: http://www.livinglightnews.org
