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Kissel joined by mom on stage at CCMA's

Although he now has another handful of impressive awards to add to his growing collection, it wasn’t just the awards that people were talking about following Brett Kissel’s appearance at the Canadian Country Music Awards, Sept. 11.
Brett Kissel from Flat Lake accepted the Male Artist of the Year Award, along with the Fans Choice Award on September 11 at the Canadian Country Music Awards.
Brett Kissel from Flat Lake accepted the Male Artist of the Year Award, along with the Fans Choice Award on September 11 at the Canadian Country Music Awards.

Although he now has another handful of impressive awards to add to his growing collection, it wasn’t just the awards that people were talking about following Brett Kissel’s appearance at the Canadian Country Music Awards, Sept. 11.

Brett received the Male Artist of the Year award, along with the Fans’ Choice Award, and earlier in the week he was named the Interactive Artist of the Year.

“It was an incredible feeling, walking up on stage, and holding those two awards. The first, male arts of the year, was so special because it is voted on by the industry, my peers, and my heroes,” said Kissel, via email with the Journal.

“Then, the Fans’ Choice Award, well, to be given that award, voted on by the fans, is so special.”

But, Brett also took the stage at the CCMAs, performing his heartfelt and emotionally charged single, ‘I didn’t fall in love with your hair.’

As Brett and fellow country music start Carolyn Dawn Johnson performed the song, pictures of cancer survivors flashed on large screens behind the duo. Near the end of the song, those same people, dressed in white shirts, joined Brett on stage. Most notably was his mom, Brenda Kissel, a cancer survivor herself, standing next to her son.

“It was hard to keep it together on stage during that song, because so many people in the audience were tearing up or crying,” said Kissel. “Thinking about the lyrics, and what this song means to Canadian families, was very special. It was extremely emotional.”

A few days after the performance in London, Ont., Brenda was back at her home near Flat Lake. She admits that she wasn’t actually aware of the plan for the performance until about a week before the awards ceremony.

“They really didn’t want to give away anything for the show,” she says, adding, although she was nervous at first, having never been on a stage that big herself, her nerves calmed down once she met the other ladies and took part in a closed rehearsal.

And it wasn’t just the performance that left a lasting impression on Brenda, but meeting the other ladies, who ranged in age from 19 to 65, was also something she will remember.

“We shared our stories and experiences,” and the group spent a day and a half together, getting to know each other. She added that spending time with her son backstage, and seeing how the producer and other organizers treated the group of ladies, was also impressive.

“It was the royal treatment.”

Seeing all the “smiles and kind words,” as she spent time with the ladies, and being part of a “great, happy moment, after really so many dark ones,” was no doubt a highlight.

The song itself is something special for Brenda, and she specifically recalls when she heard Brett play it for the first time at a show in Franklin, Tennessee.

“That was overwhelming for me, to hear it sung for the first time.”

The song, which speaks of a man’s love for a woman, regardless of how she looks, and leads into the woman being diagnosed with cancer, is now acting as a fundraiser also. Proceeds from the song being downloaded off iTunes will be going to the Canadian Cancer Society.

“No one’s been untouched by the subject of cancer,” says Brenda. She adds that she felt the performance was especially powerful because the ladies only stepped out near the end, and it took a moment for people to realize it was the same faces they had seen on the big screen behind the musicians.

Overall, the experience and release of the single has been “overwhelming,” says Brenda. “There have been a lot of great things come from the song itself.”

The Brett Kissel: Home Movie, which was shot in and around St. Paul when Brett was home in June for the Hometown Homecoming concert will premiere on CMT on Sept. 29 at 9 p.m.


Janice Huser

About the Author: Janice Huser

Janice Huser has been with the St. Paul Journal since 2006. She is a graduate of the SAIT print media journalism program, is originally from St. Paul and has a passion for photography.
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