Brett Kissel to hit the stage in Cardston

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on April 26, 2023.

Submitted photo Canadian country music artist Brett Kissel will be playing Cardston High School this weekend in a show that is taking him back to his roots.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

Brett Kissel’s travels have taken him to all parts of Alberta from playing hockey as a kid to performing on stages.

And now for the first time, the Canadian country music artist is hitting Cardston. Kissel will be playing Cardston High School on Saturday at 8 p.m. in a show that is taking him back to his roots.

In a phone interview last week, Kissel says the show, which is part of a tour promoting his four-album release “The Compass Project” is really exciting for him.

“I love to play, I love to perform and my agent gives me a call and he says ‘hey, they want to do this really special event in Cardston, Alberta.’ And I told him ‘you know what, I’ve been to every town in the province of Alberta, every single one. I’ve been there, I’ve played there or I’ve played hockey there or baseball there and I’ve never been to Cardston,” he said.

“So for that reason alone I said absolutely. Book the show,” Kissel said.

“I consider this to be small-town hoe-down which is right up my alley,” the award-winning artist said.

“This is exactly what I really wanted to do.”

The show is reflective of his newest album set, he said.

“We’re seeing the needle of the compass is pointing in all these different directions, all these different communities and I’m very very excited we get to do this. I haven’t been this excited for a show for a long time simply because this is new to me,” said Kissel.

“I’ve been very lucky over the last many years to get a lot of repeat business and play these big festivals and these big arenas. But to get a chance to kind of go back to my roots and play at the high school, I think is going to be really cool.”

In Cardston, Kissel will be putting on “a hell of a party,” with a lot of songs that he and his band have never played before in southern Alberta, including No. 1 hits.

“Because when you factor in three years of COVID, there’s four Number One songs we haven’t been able to play live for many people because now we’re obviously just getting back into the saddle.

“We’re going to play a lot of those great songs and the fact the four albums are coming out this year, what’s very exciting is we have a bunch of new material we’re going to play,” said Kissel.

“Knowing it’s a great rural community, I’m also probably going to look out at the crowd and say ‘ahh, maybe we should play some unique cover songs’ and take people on a trip down memory lane, too. The sky’s the limit for what we’re going to do.”

With COVID done and musicians back touring, he says things are better than ever before.

“I think it’s because of the mindset that I’m in and the mindset that my band is in. We don’t take it for granted. We always love performing and then when it was taken away from us, now we all realize the power of it and how important it is and how special it is to be on stage. Because of that, you just got the happiest group of guys rolling into each town and each city to get a chance to go play country music,” said Kissel.

The Compass Project explores various themes and showcases the versatility of the 32-year-old native of St. Paul, Alberta and diehard Edmonton Oilers fan.

Kissel’s latest single called “Never Have I Ever” has already generated seven million streams. The song was written by Kissel, Elizabeth Lowell Boland, Ron Lopata and Thomas Salter and is the featured tune on the South Album, which is the first installment of The Compass Project. The second album in the set, the East Album, will be released on April 28, the day before the Cardston show.

Kissel released his first single in 2012 and since then he’s had multiple gold singles as well as 16 top 10 radio hits a several platinum and gold-certified albums.

He has won 22 Canadian Country Music Association awards and three Juno awards. His versatility and musical interests are shown in the collaborations he’s had with such artists as Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, Charley Pride, Nelly and 98 Degrees.

Follow @albeebHerald on Twitter