Bryan Duncan: The veteran soloist and Sweet Comfort Band singer returns

Wednesday 3rd July 2013

Mike Rimmer spoke to BRYAN DUNCAN about his return to the CD racks



Continued from page 1

Bryan: As long as I have the potential to be hurt, angry, lonely or tired, I will need to practice the principles of recovery. They're almost second nature to me now. It's a great way to take one day at a time: to start with acknowledging your own fallibility, to offer amends to those you've hurt, to spend time meditating on God's word - improving your conscious awareness of him - and then to give back to others as a result of the insights you've found. It's pretty methodical; and it works - one day at a time. I practice the principles of recovery in all my affairs: it's second nature to me to pick up the phone and call someone when I'm not in a good place, and be honest to them. James 5:16 says, 'Confess your faults, one to another, that you might be healed'. I think that healing is a lifetime experience. It certainly keeps you healthy too.

Mike: What drives you to sing Christian music?

Bryan: One of the main reasons that I put God first and foremost in my songs is because of the fact that I see the broken lives around me. One of the things that I said in a book that I'm writing now - it's called I Follow Jesus Because - and one of them is, 'I can't fix me, and I wish somebody would'. I see what we can't fix in ourselves, and the fact that we can't be perfect drives me crazy. This is why I turn to God in the first place - it's for peace and sanity in the midst of a future that I don't know, and a past that I wish I could forget. I don't know how you get through life without acknowledging God every day, asking him for direction and forgiveness and provision. There's just a thousand ways you need him.

Mike: How would you say you've changed down the years?

Bryan: I believe I'm more compassionate with others. I'm not always more patient with them - especially the closer they are to me. We have our expectations of everybody else: the problem is we seldom know the whole story behind someone's behaviour, why they act the way they do. It's what makes it so hard to get along with people, I suppose. I have a certain amount of compassion, and what I don't have I trust God Almighty with.

Mike: What are your feelings about the whole CCM industry?

Bryan: One of the main reasons I got into recovery was I felt the passive-aggression of being forced to adopt religious stereotypes. I've been typecast on both sides of the fence for proclaiming a faith in God. It will drive you nuts, because you start to feel like, 'I'm being someone that is not completely true'. I don't know what to tell you about that. You can be angry and resentful at religious stereotypes, but you can avoid it by being honest with yourself, and accepting who you are and who Christ is on your behalf. That keeps you from being resentful about being stereotyped; I think that's more important.

Mike: No doubt you've had your fair share of people letting you down in the Christian music world. How do you respond to such things?

Bryan Duncan: The veteran soloist and Sweet Comfort Band singer returns

Bryan: I know from personal experience that you can drive yourself crazy imagining what other people might have done to inhibit your success. The truth is, I certainly got my own way too many times. What I plan to do with my life is do the best I can, and show a quality of work that stands on its own. What happens to it after that is not in my control. Of course, the future just moves on: I don't think any of us gets to stay at the forefront of any industry. It's the nature of the rise and fall of mankind. I'm just grateful to do what I do now, and I think the songs can speak for themselves if you listen to them.

Mike: Do you think you still have something to say to a younger generation?

Bryan: I can recall years ago watching my three year old son playing on the living room floor, and a commercial came on television with a child's voice in the opening. He stopped everything he was doing to watch this commercial. It wasn't because of what they were saying: it was because the voice sounded like his own. It started to dawn on me that, first and foremost, we listen to people we feel like are like us in some way. In the long run, if you've been on radio for years as a Christian artist, you develop a recognisable sound to a recognisable audience, and it doesn't always translate to the next generation. I don't think it's a mean-spirited thing that old artists disappear from the radio. It's the nature of new people wanting to hear a new sound. I still have great things to say, but they might be just for me; I can't control who stops playing with their toys long enough to check out what I'm saying. But I hope I stay current, and don't sound dated in my presentation. I don't think I do, but I'm not the final judge.

Mike: You seemed to be off the scene for a long time. Was that so?

Bryan: It's true that it's been 12 years since I had a solo album out, but that was with a major record label. I never stopped, I never slowed down really. I did three records on my own as an independent artist. A lot of the lack of visibility goes down to having to re-tool and re-think the way we do music, and sometimes that takes longer than you're expecting. Who knew there wouldn't be a record store on the corner? It's taken a long time to understand social media, how to reach your audience. It's different. Do you slow down? I think you have to pace yourself as you get older. But what I've learned at this point is anything you stop doing, stops working.

Mike: Tell me something about the 'Conversations' album.

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