A Lifetime Achievement Award from the Alberta Music Awards won't slow down the most awarded male Canadian country artist in history.
Country superstar Paul Brandt said when he got the award Nov. 5 he made it clear he was not done yet.
And he's coming to CN Centre Sunday, March 4 to promote his latest release Give It Away, which has just been named Canadian Country Album of the Year on iTunes Rewind.
"We've been having a really great time on tour and the response from people has been incredible and it feels really good to be back," said Brandt, during a recent phone interview with The Citizen.
Give it away is his first album in four years, 10th album total.
"I think that my goal was always to be able to do a job that would help people in some way," said Brandt, who is a registered nurse. "Working at the Alberta Children's Hospital for two years was me following in my parents footsteps - my dad was a paramedic, my mom a registered nurse -- and I had hoped to eventually become a doctor. I got the record deal offer the same week I got the offer to work in ICU, which was something I'd always wanted to do and life took me on a little bit of a different trip."
Brandt said he still gets to take care of people but just in a different way.
"I love using this platform to point the spotlight at different things other than me," said Brandt. "I was in Kambodia about a year and a half ago. We were in an are where you could literally purchase a person for under $30. The stuff going on with human trafficking was just mind blowing. I didn't realize that children as young as five years old were being sold and it was heartbreaking.
"I have been afforded the luxury to see these kinds of things around the world because of what I do and I'd be lying if I didn't admit I wish I hadn't seen those things because life would be a lot easier. With knowledge comes responsibility and I think at that moment the seeds for our new foundation Priceless were planted and it is now up and running."
The Priceless Gift of Hope Foundation raises money and awareness and to support those organizations that recognize the limitless value of human life.
The organizations that Brandt has been involved in over the years have raised millions of dollars.
"It's really what gives what I do meaning," he added. "I love being on stage and I love to perform but the repetition of getting on stage every single night - I think performers would be lying to you if they told you that's enough because it's just not. When I get up on stage, not only are people having a good time but I know that the little five-year-old girl I sang to in Cambodia on that dusty street may be freed from slavery because of what we're doing that night - I could sing for the rest of my life because it really gives it meaning."
Brandt said that what he hears most from people having seen him on tour is that it looks like he's having some much fun up on stage.
"That's really what we aim for," he said. "We just go out there and have a blast and make sure the audience is too and we really feed off the audience's energy and what they are putting into it too and we've also added a feature to the show - I never would have dreamed that a part of my live shows when I started 15 years ago would include people giving their comments during the show on a screen behind me. People are tweeting during the show."
Brandt said he hopes to continue that feature during the next leg of the tour where they do give aways related to the Twitter messages that come in.
"I think social media has been a wonderful addition to what I do because it tears down the barriers between stars and fans and it just makes everybody friends and that's probably a lot more natural and cool so it's been good," said Brandt.
I Was There is Brandt's latest song and is the theme song for the 2012 World Junior Championships. The song encompasses the shared passion and pride Canadians have for hockey. People can download the tune at www.paulbrandt.com and www.hockeycanada.ca/2012juniors with net proceeds being received by the Hockey Canada Foundation for their nationwide support of hockey for underprivileged kids.
"Fans can watch me attempt to sing the National anthem in both official languages, which I have never done before on the Dec. 26 at the World Juniors," said Brandt. "And after that I can relax and watch the game, too."
Tickets are on sale now at all Ticketmaster outlets and Rogers Wireless Box Office.
