Brett Kissel

Brett Kissel is an award-winning country artist based out of northeastern Alberta. He wasted little time in kick-starting his music career, releasing his debut album at the age of 12. Since then, he has gone on to issue a handful of acclaimed records like Started with a Song (2013) and Pick Me Up (2015), both of which went gold in Canada. His next two efforts, 2020's Now or Never and 2021's What Is Life?, saw Kissel introduce elements of pop into his winning blend of traditional and Canadian country. In 2023, he released The Compass Project, an ambitious set of four stylistically different albums issued over the course of the year, and revealed a more grown-up perspective on 2025's Let Your Horses Run.

Drawing on a tireless work ethic derived from years of working on his family's ranch in Flat Lake, Kissel received his first guitar at the age of six, and made his first public performance just a few years later. He released Keepin' It Country in 2003, followed by a trio of additional independent LPs -- By Request (2004), Tried and True: A Canadian Tribute (2006), and My Roots Run Deep (2008) -- before inking a deal with Warner Music Canada in 2013. His major-label debut, Started with a Song, arrived that same year and earned the up-and-coming star his first Juno nomination. Kissel's sixth studio long-player, 2015's Pick Me Up, debuted at number seven on the Canadian Albums chart, and he brought home a Canadian Country Music Association award, multiple Association of Country Music in Alberta Awards, and landed another Juno nomination. 2017's We Were That Song produced four Top Ten singles, including the gold-certified title cut, and took home a Juno Award for Country Album of the Year. Now or Never, Kissel's fourth studio full-length, arrived in 2020 and included his first American single, "Drink About Me." After racking up an impressive four Canadian Country Music Awards, he kicked of 2021 with "Make a Life, Not a Living," the first single from his fifth album, What Is Life?

Kissel had several ideas for his next album, and rather than just using one, he surprised fans by delivering not one but four LPs in 2023, each with its own sound and theme. The Compass Project: South Album, issued in January 2023, was a set of ten songs in the manner of contemporary Nashville country. April 2023 brought The Compass Project: East Album, a set of acoustic material. The Compass Project: West Album, released in November 2023, was influenced by the new traditionalist sounds of the 1980s and '90s. And he closed out the year with December 2023's The Compass Project: North Album, a live album with Kissel playing 13 fan favorites in front of a cheering crowd. His next full-length collection was significantly more concise; 2025's Let Your Horses Run featured ten songs dominated by his usual blend of rock and country, with the lyrics reflecting a growing maturity in Kissel's view of the world. He supported the release with an acoustic tour of Canadian venues. ~ James Christopher Monger & Mark Deming