Drumheller is in for a hell of a show come December when country singer Brett Kissel wraps up his massive tour with a performance at the Badlands Community Facility on December 6.
Kissel, calling from Ottawa as he starts another leg of his We Were That Song tour, may be one of Canada’s biggest names in country, with thirteen Canadian Country Music Awards, but you wouldn’t guess it by talking to him. The northeastern Alberta boy comes from humble roots on the family farm and it shows – our conversation moved from his tour, touted as the biggest in Canadian history, to talking about his family, life growing up on the farm, and what it means to balance family life with all the craziness that comes with being a country-star.
“We’ve played everywhere on this tour so far, every province, every territory, and in order to do that we had to make sure we didn’t care about the size of the room, we didn’t care about the size of the town – if they love country music then we wanted to go there,” Kissel says, adding he’s excited to return to the BCF for the first time since 2012 and “party really hard,” as it will be the second to last show on his tour. In the past year he and his bandmates have performed over 300 shows in a tour which has brought him zigzagging back and forth across Canada.
To keep balance on such a large tour, he and his bandmates of course focus on staying healthy – eating well, exercising, and having fun when they can – but for this tour the Kissel family has joined him on the tour. He and his wife Cecilia have two daughters under three, with another on the way, and in talking to him and looking through his Twitter feed one can tell he is a family man through and through. Cecilia and Brett made a pact when they got married that music life would be integrated with family life and vice versa.
“Both my little girls learned to walk on the tour bus, so that’s very special to me, that my daughters have been a part of this crazy ride and this crazy music business. They’ve travelled to every province and territory before they are three years old,” he says. His daughters have made their way into his music videos, and his upcoming single ‘Cecilia’ is named after his wife. When they get to Drumheller the family plans on visiting the Royal Tyrrell Museum and having some fun with the kids while they’re here.
Kissel grew up on the family farm in the Flatlake area of northeastern Alberta and he “loved every minute of it.” Even though his live performances are certainly rowdy, high-energy affairs, his upbringing gave him the grounded, disciplined, and family-oriented foundation which comes through strongly when talking to him.
“There’s a story I love to share. When I was 16 I played the Big Valley Jamboree. It was such an amazing night where we had a great turnout and it was just so much fun. I remember driving home that night and I didn’t get home til four in the morning. And my grandpa knocks on the door and says ‘It’s 10 after 6 in the morning, time to wake up and do some chores.’ I’m like, ‘grandpa, don’t you realize I just played the Big Valley Jamboree? I’ve got two hours sleep, there’s no way I can do chores.’ He says, ‘wake your ass up, you ain’t no country star on the farm.’ And so I always remember that when I get home and I get back to Alberta, I’m just a regular guy.”
Brett Kissell will perform on December 6 at the Badlands Community Facility. Tickets went on sale earlier this month and are available at www.tour.brettkissel.com. Special VIP table seating is available by emailing drumheller@brettkissel.com