Jim Brickman has had a dedicated and devoted fan base for decades. His Christmas tours are a standard every year for more than 25 years.
He’s one of those artists whose work you know from being played at basically every wedding you’ve been to, but you might not know by name. Jim sat down to answer a few rapid-fire questions with us on his upcoming Christmas tour.
Of course learn about him more here: Jim Brickman.
MS) For 25 years you have a big Christmas tour. Do you really love Christmas this much? 🙂
JB) I do love Christmas, I’ve always loved playing Christmas music but also performing it. There’s nothing like the spirit of the holiday season when people have gathered together all of these years to celebrate the holidays. It’s such a wonderful time to put this spirit in the air. This particular year it is, of course, a little bit more difficult, but we are doing concerts every single day when we are doing our virtual comfort and joy tour. We are going to 40 different cities, every night we’re playing to a different community. On the website, it lists all of the cities that we are going to. And every night a portion of the proceeds for every show are going to that local venue to support the reopening of the arts in that city, so I’m pretty excited about it.
MS) Your music is considered to be quite calming (hence the album title Soothe). What kind of music do you listen to to get pumped in the morning? Do you listen to fast driving music ?
JB) I don’t really listen to music in the morning. I always prefer something like a news show or talk radio or something. I sometimes sing in the shower, but that’s sometimes the only music that’s in my life in the mornings.
MS) This is your first time signing your own songs. How nervous were you to take that leap?
JB) I was pretty apprehensive, I wouldn’t say I was nervous. I’ve never thought of myself as a singer, but when the songwriter of the songs, sings their own material, there’s something very unique and authentic about it. Of course, as the songwriter of those songs, what comes out of me naturally is the way they were written and I think fans love to hear that.
MS) Some songs are classic favorites, like “Valentine” and “The Gift”. They’ve been played at countless weddings. Have you ever been to a wedding and heard your song used and them not known you were there?
JB) That’s a really good question. I haven’t. I have gotten friends, who send me videos, “I’m sitting at the wedding and you’re never going to believe what they’re playing!” of course I do believe what they’re playing but it is amazing. And still the way that it spreads and the word of mouth in using my songs for a wedding, I don’t know how that happens, it’s so interesting.
MS) I’ve listened to your meditation music before on YouTube. I actually loved the 2 hours plus. Is this something you wish more fans got into? It feels like a different way for an artist to express themselves then a traditional “song” format
JB) It is! It’s the long form. I think a lot of people who listen to Pandora, or Spotify have it on for a couple of chorus, sometimes three hours straight. Yeah. it’s a good way to listen these days. To try to calm, and to heal and to soothe. I love the idea of sharing my music with people in a way that gets them to calm a little bit, to relax a bit, especially these days.