Canadian country music star Dean Brody will be performing this year at Ottawa’s CityFolk Festival. The Charlatan got in touch with the nine-time Canadian Country Music Award winner to talk about his future plans and his music.
The Charlatan (TC): So have you ever played at CityFolk before?
Dean Brody (DB): No, no this will be my first time. Me and the guys are really excited. We have a show in Turo [Nova Scotia] the night before and then we’re straight to Ottawa to take the stage there, so yeah we’re looking forward to it.
TC: You’re performing at the Canadian Country Music Awards . . . where you’re nominated [in] five categories, some of which you’ve won before. How are you feeling about that coming up this weekend?
DB: Yeah, I mean being nominated by the people that are in the business and they kind of understand the ins and outs of how the industry works—it’s good, it always means a lot to us who get the nominations. You can’t help but have respect for the people that are out there and hitting the road like you are and making it in this business . . . it’s amazing, especially I guess [because of] the fans choice [award which is] the one that I think everybody looks forward to the most.
TC: Aside from [CityFolk], you’ve played a lot of festivals this year. Is there one in particular that was your favourite?
DB: I think Boots and Hearts was a special night just because we had Alan Doyle come on stage, and of course Alan is on the song “Friday” with Great Big Sea, and so when we got to do “Friday” Alan came out and people just went crazy, so that was probably the highlight of my summer.
TC: This October you have an album coming out. Is there anything we can expect from this album that we haven’t heard from you before?
DB: I think more of the same as far as me doing traditional. One foot in traditional and one foot in maybe a little bit more of a progressive type of a sound. I love experimenting with stuff in the studio, and Matt, my producer, does as well. I like to push the boundaries . . . we’ve got a reggae song on there, you know, inspired by Bob Marley, of course—I am a huge Bob Marley fan. We’ve got a song called “Beautiful Freak Show”—I think [it’s] going to turn some heads, and for good or bad I don’t know, but it was a blast to record and even more so to sing. It’s really a blast.
TC: Speaking of new music coming out, you released a new single this week titled “Time,” . . . about holding on to the good times in life. What do you do to hold on and make the good times in your life last?
DB: I think the thing I’ve learned the most over the last year or two—I’ve kind of reflected a lot on life and I’ve moved so many times that I feel like I have to almost live a rootless existence, where nowhere really feels like home . . . I just really try and live in the moment and take each day in and stop looking around the corner . . . chasing a dream you’re always looking around the corner, and you’re looking to the future all the time, you know, hoping that something works out. I am fortunate enough to be in a place in life where I can just concentrate on the moment and the day and the people I’m with right now, instead of looking down the road like I used to.
TC: What is your favourite song to play in front of a live crowd?
DB: I think it’s “Bring Down the House.” I mean, people just still are so passionate about that song. I’d have to say that or “Canadian Girls.” The passion out there is just so strong for those two tunes.
TC: In the song “Canadian Girls,” you talk about Canadian boys loving Moosehead beer. Is that your beer of choice?
DB: Yeah well, it probably isn’t. [Moosehead] just sounded really Canadian, so I put it in there. I’ve got to say [my favourite is] probably Kokanee, even though some people think Kokanee beer is awful, but for me it evokes memories of growing up because that was the beer . . . If I have a Kokanee can in my hand, I’m probably doing alright.
TC: So sticking with the Canadian theme, here is the big Canadian question, what does being Canadian mean to you?
DB: Having lived in the [United States] for six years, I think one of the biggest things about being Canadian is that we are diversified and we celebrate that and we embrace it, whereas I think other places are not as open to that kind of outlook. I always love going to Toronto, it’s one of my favourite cities . . . I feel like Toronto is just a great example of Canada. You’ve got all these different people from different parts of the world, different cultures, different religions, all living together in this one place and I think Canada in general is like that as well, but in Toronto you definitely see it. I think we live in an amazing country.
TC: One more Canadian themed question. Beaver Tails or Poutine?
DB: I would definitely go with a Beaver Tail.
TC: Who is your favourite artist—someone that inspired you to be the artist you are?
DB: It was Dwight Yoakam actually. I was into rock for a lot of years when I was young. We had a little rock band, and I saw [Dwight Yoakam] play and I thought, man this guy is cool. He wasn’t the typical cookie-cutter Nashville country artist, he had the kind of Bakersfield/West Coast kind of sound to his stuff, and Pete Anderson, his guitar player . . . was just sick. He kind of opened the door for me to realize that country could be cool.
TC: How do you think country music has changed since you entered the scene in 2009?
DB: I think it has definitely changed. I think the biggest change has been production . . . I still feel like the lyrics are there, people are still singing about the country way of life, but yeah the production element of country music has changed a lot. For me, it’s exciting. I love it. I love being able to introduce instruments that you wouldn’t typically go to in traditional country.
TC: Other than your new album coming in October, what else can we expect to see from you in the future?
DB: The new album is coming October 21st and then we’ll be touring with that record next year at the end of the spring around April [and] May. We’re going across Canada. I think it’s going to be like 40 dates, so we’ll be working on that and production for that in the new year.
Dean Brody will be playing the City Stage at CityFolk Festival on Sept. 18.
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