The B-Sides Recording Vol. 1

#		Title	Length
1		All I Want	4:13
2		Here I Am Again (Acoustic)	4:46
3		'Tis So Sweet	5:21
4		Freedom Song	3:43
5		Father I Adore You	3:18
6		Surrender (Radio Remix)	4:18
7		(Peace) It Is Well	3:39
8		Your Name	5:26
9		Nails (Forever)	4:57
10		The Source	5:49
			45:30

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Description

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 specific spiritual focus that grew out of his experiences while 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 (Paul) Brouwer grew up in the eastern Canadian town of Truro, Nova Scotia, he is the sixth of seven kids born and raised on a dairy farm. When he was three years old, 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. Ive seen firsthand how suffering and brokenness can unite people to lean on God for strength.

In college Matt began to perform his songs with a few friends. We were not skilled musicians, just excited to have people around to play music with. What started out as a meeting on Monday nights with just 20 people soon grew to hundreds of students showing up every week, a musical and spiritual awakening ensued.

Eventually, what came as a result of that experience was the CD "Imagerical", which garnered national attention and quickly became a gospel favorite in churches across North America. The album received two Vibe Awards (Canadian Peoples Choice Award), was nominated for a Juno Award for best gospel album and produced two top 10 singles. But as soon as Brouwer left college and began to travel the life of a musician in support of the CD, the less relevant it all seemed to be apart from a local community.
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 its 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 dont 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 Brouwers own mind. In an effort to regain clarity he took an unusual path that led him to Houston, TX. Soon Houston became a place for Brouwer to dig in and start asking the deeper questions facing our world today.

During this time songs began to pour out of the frustration and resolve Brouwer felt while searching for a new vision. The lyrics revealed a raw honesty and themes ranging from loneliness, the loss of a Father, the search for home, consumerism, confession, and the hope and power of surrender, These songs would become his second CD, aptly titled "Unlearning", released in 2005 to critical acclaim and an obvious new direction.

"Unlearning" has been opening a lot of doors especially in the mainstream world as Brouwer recently scored his first top 40 pop hit with his song, Surrender. Given the depth of content that appears in this new phase of his career, lets hope Matt Brouwer and many more recording artists like him will continue to search for truth and meaning above climbing the ladder of fame.

Celebrating this shift in focus, The B-Sides Recording Vol. 1 serves as a book-end of sorts- remembering where he came from and looking forward to the next chapter. Says Brouwer, There have been a lot of miles traveled since the beginning, and theres a long way yet to go.