Brandon Heath is my favourite Christian artist ever since 2006 when Aaron Shust recommended him on his MySpace page when Brandon was just coming out as a major records artist. “I’m Not Who I Was” immediately caught my attention and his positive encouraging voice stuck in my head to become an influence of change in my Christian life. I was thrilled when he released his second album, full of relevant and down-to-earth songs including “Give Me Your Eyes,” which has challenged me to see the world with compassion like Jesus and be that agent of change as Gandhi has said.
His albums further increase in sophistication of lyrics and the influence of TobyMac’s style is clearly evident on his third album. My favourite song in that album is “Only Water,” a chilling song about the theme of water in the Bible and brings that to our daily observations. It’s a bit melancholic and nostalgic in tone and I have to be careful not to let these emotions get to me at times or I’ll get depressed and that’ll defeat the purpose of his songs. Here’s the chorus:
And it washes over me
Like a single river stone
Changes everything
But has no power on its own
It’s only water
Brandon posted three biographies updating to each album. His third was sadly mostly about his awards and sales achievements instead of the actual album and the background stories. My favourite biography was the second, especially the beginning that captivated my lingering mind and heart:
Brandon Heath likes the little moments.
Those opportunities to observe, process and act upon what he witnesses in the world surrounding him are the primary traits of a great songwriter
I love how he words this and the fact that it’s true makes me love his personality even more. I really love his videos where he shows his caring and humourous side from the “What If We” series to questions and answers from fans to live sessions. The only regret that I get is probably that his indie albums are not available. Nevertheless, if you hear me Brandon, please never stop getting down to the personal level with people no matter how famous you become, because that’s why fans fell in love in the first place. I still remember when he gave out his cell number in his first album. I just pray now that God would continue to fulfill His will in him and his musical ministries.
He is what I call a real Christian and a real human being.
Leaving Eden (2011)
Life has changed a great deal for Brandon Heath since the release of his 2008 sophomore album What If We. The success of that project, fueled by the massive No. 1 single “Give Me Your Eyes,” catapulted Heath into the consciousness of Christian music fans.
With a true songwriter’s gift of making the personal universal, Heath became a voice you wanted to listen to, both in terms of tone and content of his words. And he’s been rewarded for that work with numerous trips to the Dove Awards stage to claim trophies, including two consecutive years (2009 and 2010) as the Gospel Music Association’s Male Vocalist of the Year.
When it came time for the GRAMMY-nominated artist to begin crafting the songs that make up this newest effort, titled Leaving Eden, one would assume his most comfortable part of the job – songwriting – would fall right into place. Fueled by collaboration, Brandon turned to his friends and fellow co-writers to help shape the new material. His first co-writing session was with award-winning songwriter/producer Jason Ingram, who previously teamed with Heath on their GMA 2009 Song of the Year hit, “Give Me Your Eyes.” The result is Leaving Eden’s first radio single, “Your Love.”
“Because of the success of the last song we had written together, on my way over there, I was feeling a little bit of pressure, and I think Jason was, too,” Brandon says. “But we prayed and asked God to give us His direction. We felt He wanted us to keep it simple and talk about His love. It was the first song written for the album and exactly the push I needed.”
However, following the inspired birth of “Your Love,” Brandon notes a steeper hill climbed in the creation of the rest of the project. “A lot of these songs came about with a little bit of struggle, with moments when I had no idea what God wanted me to say, but that said, my favorite songs on the album are now the ones I wrote at the last minute, and with the most effort.” Brandon says.
Along with taking great effort in the lyrical development, Heath also desired to present a slightly different sonic side to the music on Leaving Eden. The opener and title track kicks in with big tom beats introducing the lyrical keystone “…one more step away…”, nodding at the more muscular sound of the rest of the album.
“I wanted to bring more beats,” he continues. “This is the most pop I’ve ever gone, with post-hooks after the chorus, a very modern pop thing to do. But it was really cool to kinda be in the moment of what music is doing, but also make my own contribution and attempt to push the envelope in Christian music.”
Heath and Muckala and their cast of session players succeed, wrapping Brandon’s voice in a variety of settings from the epic moments of the title track to the acoustic quiet of “Only Water,” co-written with Country music’s CMA and ACM Award-winning Song of the Year writer Lee Thomas Miller. It’s evident in the gritty, New York City-inspired big chords on “Stolen,” the horn-driven strumminess of “It’s No Good To Be Alone,” and the beat-laden challenge of “The One,” which asks the listener to consider what if they’re the one that can help change the world.
Thematically, when Heath approached titling his new 11-song collection, he leaned into the project’s opener. The concept of “Leaving Eden” speaks to a new awareness in Heath’s life, as well as a continuation of his career-long focus on reconciliation.
“The album opens with the title track stating the obvious pain in the world, by just reading the headlines. With the state of things around us, it’s clear we’ve left Eden,” he says. “And what did Adam and Eve want? What was the temptation in eating that apple?”
“They already knew good, but now they had knowledge of both good and evil.”
“I must first mourn the loss of Eden’s innocence in my own life, acknowledge sin and move forward in repentance,” he continues. “I think rediscovering and preserving innocence is part of the umbilical cord that attaches me to God. The life support is still there.”
At the same time, even amidst innocence being slowly chipped away, Brandon Heath knows the world can be changed, even if it’s just one decision at a time.
“I feel like I have a choice not to eat the apple anymore, and to protect what little innocence is still left in my life. Once reconciled with the fall of Eden, I’d love to celebrate the goodness in the world, and that’s what the rest of the songs on the album talk about,” Brandon says.
Leaving Eden represents that important step forward for Heath, as artist, as singer, as chronicler of the world around him. Through this remarkable collection of songs, he reminds us — moment by moment, decision by decision – of the hope given to us. Although we often may feel the weight of the world pushing in, by looking back and leaning on the One who created us, can we truly experience that burden lifted.
What If We (2008)
Brandon Heath likes the little moments.
Those opportunities to observe, process and act upon what he witnesses in the world surrounding him are the primary traits of a great songwriter, something Heath continues to showcase on his second Reunion Records release, What If We.
Even the album’s title grew up out of one of those little moments, a conversation Heath was having with a mentor that sent the Nashville native, now Houston resident, spinning off into thought.
“Every part of that phrase, ‘what if we,’ is important,” Heath says. “I don’t even look at it as incomplete – dot, dot, dot – because the ‘what if’ part is about possibilities, obviously. But the ‘we’ part is saying, ‘let’s do this together, let’s not do this alone.’”
“One of the things that bothers me about this world is that we’re all in this for ourselves. We’re looking out for number one. I don’t want to be alone, I want to live life with other people. God even says it’s better to join together in service to Him.”
Community is at the very core of who Brandon Heath is both as a private person and public figure. He shares this idea with friends and followers alike, both of which have grown considerably since the release of his 2006 debut project Don’t Get Comfortable which produced national touring and multiple radio hits, including the No. 1 blockbuster song “I’m Not Who I Was.”
Heath has garnered professional accolades, to be sure, with the success of songs like “I’m Not Who I Was” also generating the steam that earned him multiple Dove Award nominations in 2008, including taking the trophy home for New Artist of the Year. He was also nominated for Songwriter of the Year and Song of the Year for “I’m Not Who I Was.”
Heath has also been able to take that public platform and merge it with his heart for community, working with Young Life, Blood:Water Mission, Restore International and unofficially many other human rights agencies on the larger global scale, even turning his attention to trials near his hometown of Nashville. After parts of the city and surrounding areas were ravaged by a string of tornadoes in April 2008, Brandon quickly organized a highly-effective benefit concert for the storm victims, evidence of living big in the little moments.
But even as success as an artist started to come his way, Heath knew that his personal, creative satisfaction was always going to come in the form of his songwriting. And where many new artists get caught up, for good or ill, in the swirl of activity surrounding that first record, Heath buckled down and maintained his focus on the talent and skill that brought him to the table in the first place.
“One of the things I think was good about the season around the first record is that I didn’t stop writing,” Heath says. “Going out and singing songs every night was kinda something I initially dreaded, but I loved it way more than I thought I would, which is why it took me so long to become an artist because I wasn’t sure I wanted to perform for a live audience.”
“But my first love is songwriting,” he continues, “so I wrote and wrote and wrote. I wrote with my favorite songwriters, and I wrote with some people I had always wanted to write with but was too afraid to ask. I put myself out there a little bit more this time.”
Heath, both working solo and together with co-writers, wrote more than 40 songs in preparation for What If We, and of the 11 that finally made the cut, it’s fascinating to take a look at how many deal with those little moments — moments of loneliness, of triumph, of questioning, and of longing.
Heath admits the process of collaboration with people like Jars of Clay’s Dan Haseltine, Charlie Lowell, Stephen Mason, and Matt Odmark, plus award-winning writers Jason Ingram and Chad Cates, helped draw out and sharpen those individual moments. “I think the great thing about collaborative songwriting is that you can take some of their life experiences and meld them with your own, and come up with some truly original thoughts.”
And so songs like “Give Me Your Eyes,” about God letting us see the world as He sees it (which was born out of yet another little moment opportunity; people-watching at an airport) and “Sunrise,” about holding out hope through what seems to be one’s darkest period, and “Fight Another Day,” about identifying those situations where seeing trouble through to the other side is the best option, grew up out of those collaborations, taking Heath’s ideas and observations and sharpening them for maximum impact.
“There are things I wanted to say on this record that I wouldn’t have been able to without the help of another writer. In turn, you’re getting to help support them in what they do, but you’re also bettering your own art in allowing other people to help mold what you do,” Heath continues. “The other part of songwriting is relationships, and I think that’s what the human experience is all about. So what better place to draw from than relating to someone in a room? You inevitably get into a conversation about the song that you’re writing, and you get these great moments.”
On the sonic side, Heath and producer Dan Muckala set the course for What If We with a purposeful groove, letting Heath’s voice convey both story and emotion as primary instrument, but also paving the way for a certain kind of sound. That intentional sound came out of what Heath was feeding himself, from a pop culture perspective, as the songs were coming to life.
“We had some songs that had a real Brit-rock feel to them, but I had been watching all these movies that were set in the West, dark movies like There Will Be Blood and 3:10 to Yuma. These films showed a period in our country where society was still figuring out wealth – oil, gold, land – and what order was going to look like, because we were still civilizing ourselves,” Heath says. “Dan and I both started thinking, let’s put something that sounded a little more American on there, let’s put more growly guitar on it, more Stratocaster than Rickenbacker.”
Tracks like the autobiographical “Wait and See” with it’s updated country shuffle, the power pop of “Sore Eyes” and the crunchy anthem “Trust You” line up right alongside What If We’s quieter material, like the abject love songs “London” and “Listen Up” and the album’s emotional core “No Not One,” co-written with Christy Nockels, formerly of Watermark and current Passion worship-leader.
“I love Christy’s voice,” Heath says. “It has always compelled me and I’ve always wanted to write with her. When it comes to Christian music, I think any conversation about vocalist-of-the-century has to have her in it.”
Its relationship experiences like these that have led up to this moment in Heath’s career. “All great ideas start with the phrase ‘what if we’,” Heath notes. “If anything, I love a title that’s a good conversation starter, but can catch people off guard. It is a little bit left of center.”
But it’s those times of being left of center, of being just a bit off kilter, or outside the comfort zone of the everyday, that make us stop, think, and take stock in the little moments all around us.
It makes us wonder…what if we…
Don’t Get Comfortable (2006)
Brandon Heath is a songwriter’s songwriter. Although his debut album, Don’t Get Comfortable, hosts an arsenal of pop-rock tunes that are as smart as they are catchy, Heath wants more than mere pop-stardom.
“Music, for me, has always been about the songwriting,” Heath says. For him, songwriting is a lifestyle, not merely a necessity of building a pop career. Therefore, he’s destined to be a power player in the music scene for years to come.
“When I listen to a song, I really want the lyrics to actually mean something,” he says. “There are a lot of songs out today that aren’t very positive—alluding to sex and rebellion. It takes more skill to write a song with a message or story, and I appreciate the skill of good songwriting.”
Unlike most musicians living in “Music City,” Heath was born and raised in Nashville, Tenn., using the city’s rich musical history to influence him in a variety of ways.
“This is a songwriter’s town,” he says. “There’s something about this town that really creeps into your creativity—whether it’s being influenced by other people or by being influenced by Southern culture.”
Heath is set on contributing to the Southern hospitality. A few years ago, he and his roommates moved to a lower income neighborhood in Nashville, and they’ve made it a point to join a community very much unlike the one in which they were raised. Although Heath’s heart for missions and those living in poverty has recently taken him around the world to places like India and Ecuador, he has realized that there is a mission field right outside his front door. “For most of my life, I’ve never had the perspective of a poor person,” he says. “A couple of years ago, I noticed how often Jesus talked about the poor and being among the poor. It’s forced me to lower my expectations of what I think I need.”
Heath’s music is also influenced by his hometown. Most of the music that inspires him today is made by Nashvillians like Ryan Adams, Josh Rouse and Matt Wertz (who is actually Heath’s roommate). When Heath began playing guitar and writing songs as a 13-year old, it was thoughtful songwriters like Sting, Shawn Colvin and David Wilcox who inspired him the most. That and the Bluebird Café. Heath had his first experience at the famed Bluebird Café, a legendary Nashville hotspot for songwriters, as a teenager. More than the great music, the camaraderie between the songwriters grabbed hold of Heath. In a community of songwriters, he noticed, the songs became bigger than mere songs. They were about shared experiences and lives that are bound together in true friendship.
“It was the way they created together, hung out together, went on vacation together,” he says. “When they were talking about their songs, they were talking about their stories. That was something that I noticed and I wanted immediately.”
Also during his teenage years, Heath was invited to attend a Young Life camp. Although he didn’t grow up in the Christian faith, he agreed to go, simply because he’d always wanted to go to summer camp. “I heard about Jesus for the first time,” he says. “It was Young Life that showed me Christ and got me plugged in to a church.” After high school, Heath became a leader at Young Life camps and is still involved in Young Life throughout the US.
After years of longing for the same musical community that he witnessed at the Bluebird Café, he began to find it in college. Over the next few years, Heath became close friends and songwriting partners with the likes of Bebo Norman, Matt Wertz, Dave Barnes, Chad Cates, Philip LaRue and Ben Glover. He finally found the songwriting camaraderie for which he’d longed.
“We all create with each other,” he says. We’re able to work together toward the same goal.”
He began to write songs for other artists, including Norman, Joy Williams and Christopher Williams. One summer while leading worship at a Young Life camp, Heath began to develop a passion to be more than a songwriter. “I saw how people reacted to not only the songs but also to how I sang them,” he says. “I wanted to be the one to share the songs myself.”
Don’t Get Comfortable is Heath’s major label debut, and it is the culmination of all of his years studying the songwriting greats. Super-producer Dan Muckala (Backstreet Boys, Nick Lachey, The Afters) uses his pop music dexterity to mold earthy songwriting into the stellar sound that rises above the clutter of mindless radio pop without losing its larger than life hooks.
The first single off of Don’t Get Comfortable is “Our God Reigns,” which Heath has been playing in churches for several years already. He wrote it shortly after the United States went to war in Iraq in 2003. During a time of anxiety about war and national security, Heath had a revelation about the Lord’s sovereignty. “I decided that I can’t put my faith in man,” he says. “I have to put it in God.”
The most personal song on the album for Heath is “I’m Not Who I Was.” “It’s about forgiving someone in my past,” he says. “I don’t know where they are now, but I need to forgive them whether they want it or not.”
He says that this is the song that connects the most with his fans. “People have said that it gives them permission to forgive someone that they have been unable to forgive. For me, moving someone to think about their life is the biggest reward as a songwriter.”
Heath’s heart for youth and Young Life becomes most clearly evident on “You Decide,” a song written as an encouragement and challenge for his Young Life kids. “It’s about all the decisions they have to make in their life. There are tough choices to make at 15-years old.”
With its intelligent pop pre-eminence, Don’t Get Comfortable is an album sure to be only the first chapter for Brandon Heath, the truest of songwriters who has finally taken his rightful place behind the mic.
I should send him “Wendy Don’t Go to Mexico”
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