“Branded” “Laying It Down” by Chip Bricker
As a musician /producer, you run across musician/artists that have a pretty picture but not much else to go with it. In knowing Branded for some 17 years now, I can tell you that they are the real deal. They have been ministering full time in this genre for over 18 years now and I don’t think there are any other groups out there that can compare to their longevity or their ministry. Since 1999, Branded has set the standard for excellence in Inspirational Country Music. Their unique style and tight harmonies have defined the genre of Christian Country earning them the title of Duo of The Year for 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2012 along with 2008 Song of the Year. Paul Staggs and Robert Welch have taken their music beyond the boundaries of Gospel music to take their entertaining style to the world! Branded continues their style of excellence in their field with ten studio CD's and numerous charting singles. While I have been blessed to have played on and/or produced several of their albums and award winning songs, none have challenged me as much musically and spiritually as their latest, “Back To Basics”. The initial phone call from the guys was not a usual “Hey we need to come in the studio and start a new project”. It was more of, “We have what we think is a great idea and we need it to be different”. Which made my mind begin to really wonder. I asked the guys what made them want to embark on this type of project and they stated that so much of the music and production in our genre today is a bit overdone and watered down that they wanted a more clear and defined message from the project. After hearing a live version of their first single from this album “Lay it Down” I agreed that the message needed to be at the forefront and not covered with tons of instrumentation and an acre of background vocals. “Keep the main thing the main thing”. The guys had selected some 60s and 70s Christian contemporary songs from that time period and wanted to take them from the pop realm and make them more acoustic/folk. They had also written some songs including “Lay it Down” which they believed would be better done in the acoustic style. After a couple of days of listening and selecting songs the production began. Needless to say, keeping it all acoustic and without using keyboards and drums was new to this cowboy. Never the less a few weeks later the project came through with flying colors with all acoustical instrumentation, including a Cajon for the drums. “Lay It Down” had a special meaning of its own and as a song, it took on its own persona. The message was so profound and after finding out that it was a true story, I knew we could not mess this up. Paul and Robert thought this was the signature song of the project, and it was. It speaks of addiction battles that we all face in some way in our lives and gives us the answers as to how and deal with them. After utilizing our entire staff and my main engineer, Frank Pryor, for a day, the guys were happy and agreed we had achieved our goal. Continued on next page…
Christian Servant Magazine - Edition III, 2017 - Page 41