Songwriter Interviews

Dan MacIntosh (Songfacts): Let's start by talking about your song "Give Me Your Eyes," which was such an amazingly popular song and it won a Dove Award for Song of the Year. When you wrote that song, did you have any sense that it would be as popular as it's become?

Brandon Heath: No way, man. I remember the day that we wrote it, and I had a good feeling about it. Sometimes when you write, you think, yeah, I can see this working at radio, or I can see this really sticking in people's heads. But the fact that there were sermons written after it, people went on missions trips. And as far as I know, I think it's the first song in the history of my record label to go gold, as far as a single. That's way, way beyond my expectations for that song. But it's been great.

Songfacts: I was looking at the credits on your latest album, and it says that you co-wrote many of the songs. So are you most comfortable working with other writers?

Brandon: There's a few reasons why I co-write. I don't know that it's necessarily the most comfortable process for me, because when I'm writing alone, there's no boundaries. I feel a little more at ease, usually, just by myself. But I enjoy the co-writing experience for a few reasons. Number one, there's a lot more motivation to finish what you started. With me, I'm kind of ADD and I'll finish, like, a verse and a chorus and it may never get finished. But with a co-writer, there's an "I don't want to waste this guy's time, so let's try to finish it" attitude.

I also love what co-writers bring to the table. Especially as an artist, a lot of times I'll feel like they helped me evolve. When you're bringing in different co-writers from even different genres, like country, I think they can really bring something to the table that when I'm writing by myself I might overlook. That's one of the things that I love.

And the reason I became a songwriter is because of the Nashville songwriting scene. It's like a club, and I wanted to be a member of that club for as long as I remember. So I do enjoy co-writing. But there is something immensely rewarding when you write a song on your own.

Songfacts: When you won for New Artist of the Year in 2008, did that put any extra pressure on you?

Brandon: Maybe a little bit of pressure. I think maybe more fear of a jinx, because I've heard that there's a lot of New Artists of the Year who you never hear from again. But thankfully, when I won that award, I'd already finished my second record, so any bad mojo or anything... "Give Me Your Eyes" was going to be on that record, so I was looking forward to that song getting out on the radio. It was more that song on my second record that put me on the map than the first, so I feel like I'm still just getting started.

Songfacts: How do you feel about Leaving Eden as an album? Are you satisfied with the results from it?

Brandon: More than satisfied. I'm really, really proud of this record. It was by far the hardest for me to make. I think I wrote more for this one than I did for any other. But I was battling a little bit with the label. Not really battling - we didn't see eye to eye with some of the songs and there were some that didn't make the record and there were some that did. But more than ever I'm seeing the value of having A&R really challenge you as a writer and as an artist, because you're building something bigger. And sometimes as an artist it's hard to see that big picture like a label often does, with singing and with branding. During the process, creativity is so fickle and it's so sensitive and when you've got somebody poking and prodding at you, it's irritating. But stepping back from it, I'm thankful now for the input from my A&R team at Provident, and I'm very, very happy with the record. This is my third record with Dan Muckala. And I don't trust anybody more than I do Dan.

Songfacts: It's almost like having a good mechanic, having a producer that you can put your baby in the hands of and you feel like you can trust him.

Brandon: I've never thought about it that way, but that's a good point. And you know he's probably not going to overcharge you.

Songfacts: That's a good thing, too, huh? (laughs) The title cut to the album is a really interesting idea to me – the things that you see in life and experience make you feel like you're just that much further away from Eden. Where did the idea for that song come from?

Brandon: Well, the idea was borne out of a conversation with my counselor. There's a guy that meets with a bunch of us in Nashville, his name is Al. And I sat down with Al one day and he mentioned mourning the loss of Eden. And I'd never really thought about that. That's way in the past and it was somebody else's problem. But it really was my problem and your problem and everybody else that followed, because it was kind of the beginning of our separation, if you want to call it, from God. And later Jesus would arrive and everything would be set right.

But there was this birthplace of all things going awry. And so for me, I'd never really thought about it, but I needed to mourn the loss of Eden, because I feel the effects of it. I feel the effects of living in an imperfect world. And the easiest way to see that is to watch the news. But the reality is there are good things happening in the world that you don't often hear about and they don't always make great sensational news stories so you don't hear about them.

I didn't want to depress anybody, but I think it's good to look at the state of the world and say, Well, this is the world that we live in. But then also to look at Eden like Ground Zero; it's where everything changed. But we can't stay there; we should mourn what we lost there, but we have to move on. And we make our own decisions and our own choices, that's another great gift that God gave us. But that's kind of what I was thinking. And I wrote it with Lee Thomas Miller, who's a huge country writer. Lee Thomas Miller co-wrote "In Color," and "You're Gonna Miss This," the CMA Song of the Year last year. He's a killer songwriter. But he and I have been collaborating quite a bit. He wrote two songs on the new record with me.

Songfacts: Does it lead you to want to do more country kind of stuff, or do you just respect him as a songwriter?

Brandon: No, it does. I've actually been a big country fan for a long time. And that is a little known fact about me, but that's kind of why I got into songwriting. I wanted to be a country writer. I grew up in Nashville and saw the songwriting community early on. And I just thought, Man, what a cool job. And so that's why I pursued it early on and then went to school and got a little bit more serious about songwriting. So for me, I'm just getting started in the country world. I just signed a publishing deal with a country publisher. So it's kind of fun. I'm just getting my feet wet.

Songfacts: So we may well hear some country music from you in the future?

Brandon: Hopefully. That'd be really cool.

Songfacts: It's interesting, because you grew up in Nashville, but I imagine most of the people that you know in Nashville are from someplace else. Is it easier or harder to make it when you're a native?

Brandon: I think it might be easier (laughs) embarrassingly enough. I mean, if you grow up there, you've kind of been given a leg up, because you're already in the community. My producer I went to church with. My management company I went to church with. My booking agent I went to church with. These are people that I know as my church family and it's worked out. I know that doesn't always work for people, but church is like a community, like anything else. And for me, I just felt a lot of comfort in doing that. But also I signed up with really talented people, so I think the simple fact that when I was not making any money at music, and I had my parents' refrigerator down the street, that helped, too. That's another advantage of growing up in Nashville.

Songfacts: Especially out here in California, the song "Wait and See" gets played on the radio an awful lot. It's a great song, but it talks a little bit about how you may have been a bit of a troublemaker growing up. Is that creative license or were you a bad little kid at times?

Brandon: (laughs) I wasn't the worst kid. I'm an only child, so I got all the attention from my parents. I was a little bit of a people pleaser and hated to get into trouble. But I was pretty bad at school. I didn't make good grades and I talked a lot. It wasn't like anything major, but it was just not very conducive to learning and all that stuff. And I remember bringing home really horrific report cards and my parents wondering, Man, what's gonna give? And what are you going to be able to do in college? And a lot of it was that I was going through a hard time: my parents were divorcing. When the dust settled, like any other kid, there comes a time when it just clicks and you just do it, because you want to do it.

So college was better for me and I actually did pretty well in college and graduated with an English degree. But for me there came a point when I had to realize that I was in a longer story and my life was only just beginning in those times. When I wrote that song, I literally was thinking about middle school kids. What an awkward time.

Songfacts: Oh, the worst time. Middle school was the worst.

Brandon: You're growing into your teeth… (laughs) Remember when your teeth were bigger than everything else in your body? But you're starting to date a little bit and all that stuff.

Songfacts: Everything sort of hits at once and you're just not ready for it.

Brandon: Exactly. So if you can tell kids, "Hey, this is just a phase and it's gonna get a lot easier from here," I think they'd maybe take themselves a lot less serious and it'd be easier for them.

Songfacts: And maybe your story is an example to parents that there may be those rough spots, but hang in there, it gets better, right?

Brandon: Yes. What you're hearing more and more these days with, like, bullying, and man, I think if I could help a kid out by just saying, "It does get better," I think that's probably the best advice that any of us could give them.

Songfacts: Tell me a little bit about what you have planned for 2011.

Brandon: Well, I'm on tour now with TobyMac and I'll finish this tour the end of February, and I'll do my first headline tour starting in March. It's called The Leaving Eden Tour. Gonna be joined by my old friend Dave Barnes, and a guy named Kristian Stanfill. And then MercyMe late spring, early summer. So it's just touring, man. You know, you make the record and then you gotta get it out there, so that's what we're doing.

Songfacts: Do you like to tour?

Brandon: There are days when I like it and then there are days when I just want to go home. But this is what I've always wanted to do and I feel fortunate to be able to do it. So it's a fun season in life and I am enjoying it for the most part.

We spoke with Brandon on February 22, 2011.