EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Brett Kissel Discusses ‘South Album’ Project

Country music artist Brett Kissel has set himself up for an incredibly busy and rewarding 2023 with ‘The Compass Project’ spanning four separate albums which will be released throughout the year kickstarting with the standout ‘South Album’ which is available now on all platforms.

Here we chat exclusively with Brett Kissel to discuss ‘South Album’ and ‘The Compass Project’ in more detail:

Congratulations on launching The Compass Project. How have you found the process so far?

The process has been crazy. That’s the best word to use. It’s been a crazy ride, writing, recording and producing 4 distinctly different albums — but it has also been crazy to see the response from everyone so far. I think it’s safe to say that there are a lot of people that are excited about this musical journey and that there are a lot of people ready for the adventure I’m about to take them on! The ‘South Album’ already has so much love… I’m eager to hear and see what fans will say about the ‘East Album’ (all-acoustic), the ‘West Album’ (all western-rural-traditional), and the ‘North Album’ (greatest hits LIVE!)

What made you decide to start this kind of project and record?

This idea has been rolling around in my mind for, honestly, about 10 years. To celebrate a decade on the national and international scene, I wanted to do something unique like this. I’ve always wanted to do an all-acoustic, singer/songwriter album. But I didn’t know how to really accomplish that goal. I always wanted to take a trip down memory lane and go back to my roots with an all-western album, but I didn’t know how to accomplish that. And I always wanted to do a LIVE album but wasn’t sure how best to record it or accomplish that goal. So, on a long flight last year when I wrote pages and pages of ideas in my notebook, I thought to myself: “why not record them all and put them in one amazing collection?

The first LP ‘South Album’ delivers a real taste of what’s to come. How excited are you to be releasing this collection?

Words can’t express how pumped I am to show the world these other sides of me. When you see me perform live, at any given time I can bust out a traditional country song from the 60s, or I can strip it down to just me and my guitar for a few meaningful and sentimental songs. These albums now reflect those sides of me, and they’re not just little tastes, they’re full-length albums honouring the directions my internal compass can point to at any given time.

Is there one song in particular that you’re most excited for fans to hear?

On each album, there are focus tracks that really stand out to me. On the East Album I have a bunch of love songs that up ‘til now, Cecilia (my wife) is the only one that has ever heard them. A song I wrote called “Drive” is really special to me, as well as some other sentimental tracks like “When I Get On A Memory,” “Nowhere,” and even a cover of “Coastline” by The Hollow Coves. On the East Album, I also recorded a song I wrote called “Ten Years From Now,” which I wrote ten years ago. That song in particular really makes me stop and reflect on what an amazing ride I’ve had – personally and professionally over the last decade. On the West Album, my uncle Derrick and I wrote a song called “Legacy,” which is more of a spoken-word tale that explains the battles of succession planning and estate planning on a family ranch. In our case, we almost lost our centennial farm that was homesteaded in 1910, because many parties involved in my Grandpa’s estate were extremely greedy, and essentially wanted to cash in on tens of millions of dollars worth of land. This song is something I could see featured in Yellowstone as John Dutton tries endlessly to save his family legacy and family ranch — the same way I’ve tried to save the ranch back home in Alberta, myself.

What’s the writing and recording process been like for this album?

It’s been all over the map, to be perfectly honest. There are songs on this project I wrote years ago, that have finally found a home. There are songs on this project that I wrote specifically to fill a space that was really needed – in terms of storytelling. It has been the most rewarding yet most nerve-wracking experience of my life. Recording however has been an incredible joy. The producers I put in place to captain each ship (aka each album) have been amazing to work with. Bart McKay, who is my long-trusted ally and friend, produced the majority of the South Album, and all of the West Album. Whereas Justin Kudding and Spencer Cheyne (who are also my band members), took the reins on my East Album and North Album. They approached each album in a vastly different way, and I’m in love with the outcome.

You have another three albums dropping this year. What can listeners expect from those?

There are so many surprises… I don’t think my fans would expect me to “go there,” but “I went there.” What I mean is, I took a lot of risks, recorded in a much different way than I’ve ever done before, and decided to write and record material that I don’t think I would’ve been courageous enough to record before.

Looking ahead, do you plan on touring with this new music?

Absolutely! I’m in the midst of tour preparations right now! It’ll be an amazing tour — that will feature each album prominently. Stay tuned for more details!

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