When an artist spends a great deal of time writing and recording songs there
are inevitably some that get left behind for one reason or another and never
make it on to a project. Usually a song is thrown out for very good reasons,
but sometimes a song gets lost and then found again. One day Matt Brouwer
started going through some college recordings, live tracks, and demos and
found some songs he had forgotten about that served as a reminder of the
innocence and love that was shared while making music in college. In the
hopes of providing them with a home the idea for a “B-sides” record
was born.
Spanning the 5 years that Matt has been a recording artist, these songs
represent a spiritual focus that grew out of his experiences making music
in college and the years since. Some of these recordings date back as far
as 1999 before his maiden voyage to Nashville while he was in a college
band in Canada.
Matthew Brouwer grew up in Truro, Nova Scotia, the sixth of seven kids born
and raised on a dairy farm. When he was three, tragedy struck as his father
was killed in a car accident, leaving the family to run the farm. “My
family has been a huge spiritual influence in my life,” says Brouwer.
“I’ve seen firsthand how suffering and brokenness can unite people
to lean on God for strength.”
Says Brouwer, “To me a true artist is someone, who at the very least,
has spent time in the trenches. Making an effort to serve and get their
hands dirty. The process is a lot more real and painful than the illusion
of being a celebrity, but in the end it’s what separates great artistry
from the disposableness of where music is right now. That is a journey that
I feel drawn to. I think that who a person is speaks so much more than anything
that they do or don’t do. To become a person of substance we all need
to be honest and face our demons while living life. Somewhere in that process
I hope to find something worthwhile to say in my music.”
With constant attention being put on record sales and bankability as a “performer”
the lines of art, ministry, and commerce started to get very blurry in Brouwer’s
own mind. In an effort to regain clarity he took an unusual path that led
him to a church ministry in Houston, TX. Soon Houston became a place for
Brouwer to dig in and start asking the deeper questions facing our world
today.
Buy Matt
CDs
