Lincoln Brewster

God's Own Guitar Player

Just talking to Vertical Music artist and Bayside Church Worship Leader Lincoln Brewster, it's impossible not to succumb to the powers of his boundless joy and enthusiasm. He's a (positive) force to be reckoned with.

With a message and a mission focused on connecting worshippers to a higher power and guitar-playing chops second to very few, it's no wonder he rocks the house at Bayside Church 35 Sundays a year and has found himself on tour with everyone from Steve Perry to Third Day and Michael W. Smith.

One the cusp of the release of Vertical's "Best of Lincoln Brewster" CD, Lincoln talked about his true identity, balance and being a guitar player.

You grew up in Alaska. Is there an Alaska sound? Why is it that the only artist most of us can name from our 49th state is Jewel?
I actually went to school with Jewel's brother Shane. The Kilchers lived just a couple of miles up the road from our house. Jewel's aunt was kind of a well-known acoustic folk singer in the area named Mossy Davidson. My mom also did a real similar thing. Jewel's sound was kind of a common Alaska sound for women. I've got recordings of my mom when she was nineteen or twenty years old that sounded very much like that.

How would you describe it?
It's an earthy, organic, honest sound that has kind of a light, fun, pure flavor to it. Jewel's father, Atz, used to come to our elementary school and yodel. They had this whole family thing going, yodeling.

Most people probably don't know that the first band you were in was Linc & The Missing Links, where your mother, Cheryl, was the bass player. Do you think having that parental support helped you develop confidence as a musician?
Absolutely - and that went far beyond the music. My mom is a really encouraging person in general. I'm sure that it helped to shape my enthusiasm and my willingness to get in front of people and do what I was doing.

Were her musical influences yours back then?
I was into Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers, Loggins & Messina, Hall & Oates; artists my mom liked, along with Joni Mitchell and Nicolette Larson. She introduced me to Bonnie Raitt, way back then. We shared a lot of influences and were both into the 80s pop scene, so I was a big Journey fan. But I had five stepbrothers who would come down every summer from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and I remember being introduced to Kiss.

When did you start performing?
I started playing mandolin when I was five and guitar when I was nine. Back then, it was okay to bring your kids into bars.

I was on the phone with the A&R guy and we were talking and he said something, I don't remember what it was, and I said, "You know, I may want to wait." And he said, "This is a once in a lifetime chance." And I said, "I understand that. But I'm counting on the fact that this is going to be a twice-in-a-lifetime chance."

Right after that, I had a demo tape that I was working on. A friend of mine loved it and told me that he had a buddy who wanted to hear it. So he gave me an address in Santa Monica and when I dropped it off, it turned out to be the Sony Music building. So, there, on one of the upper floors, was Columbia – a unit of Sony. I gave the tape to Randy Jackson. This was long before his American Idol days. We talked for just a couple of minutes. I left and didn't hear anything for two months.

I got home one day from my mall job working at Wilson's Leather. The phone rang and my mom said it was for me. I asked her who it was and she said, "Steve Perry". I got on the phone and since I'd heard him on television interviews, I recognized his voice immediately. We ended up talking on the phone for a couple of hours and we hit it off right away.

That was in '92 and I worked with him for the next three years.

 

Rock star. On the road. And everything that goes with it. Did you have a hard time reconciling that life with your personal beliefs?
I didn't feel conflicted. The part that was conflicted was really more a matter of calling. I'm a Christ follower. Making a record, that was fine. We went through all the standard traumas of any musician making a record, but when we hit the road, that was when a bigger conflict in me arose. And like I said, it had way more to do with calling that anything that happened.

I didn't know that at the time, but I just knew that something didn't feel right. It hit me right out of the gate. That struck me because this is what I always wanted to do – even more than making a record or having a song on the radio. I wanted to tour and play in front of thousands of people and have a big production and a light show. And here I was, doing it. And not only that, I'm the only guitar player in the band. I'm only twenty-three and I'm filling some pretty big shoes. I kept thinking – 'something's missing. This is the emptiest thing I've ever done in my life.'

I think Paul McCartney once said he struggled to get to the top of the mountain only to find out that there was nothing there. Everyone has his or her own pinnacle – whether you're Paul McCartney or me. Different peaks.

In your corner of the world, maybe you are Paul McCartney.
(Laughs) No, but thanks. You know I call myself the Forrest Gump of Christian music. I just try to make good decisions and follow where God wants me to go.

You write most of what you perform. But you covered "What a Friend I've Found", a Delirious tune. How does that happen?
I've covered a lot of different songs – that's just one of them. If something moves me, I may hear it in a different way and think that the song might be served well by a different treatment. It also has a lot to do with whatever life situation I'm in at the moment. I covered "Shout to The Lord" on the record before that and I really felt like God had told me that I needed to play that song.

Let's talk about Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" which you adapted as "Another Hallelujah". This would seem an odd choice.
I've always thought that this song is absolutely genius. It struck me one day that the 'hallelujah' in it is a little mournful. It's sad but the melody is so beautiful. In the Bible, the word means "praise the Lord" – and the intent, not just the definition, is unrestrained praise to God. So the song has a strange dichotomy.

One day, I started figuring the song out when we were doing rehearsals for the live record. I was singing the chorus during the sound check. Then, I started singing my own verses, thinking about my own life. I had this vision as I was doing that, of churches singing this chorus, but in a whole different way. The mournful cry became a song of praise to God.

I was quoted in an interview as saying the "hallelujah" in his song was mocking God. I don't remember feeling that or saying that. That is not where I was going at all.

All right then, we'll set the record straight once and for all. Lincoln Brewster does not feel that Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" mocks God.
Please. I have huge respect for him as a songwriter.

What about Vertical Music? You were the third artist signed by them.
They're Godly folks. They love what they do. They have really embraced life as it looks for me today. I'm not a conventional artist. I do tour, but I'm a worship pastor at a local church 365 days a year.

Who are your listening to these days?
I love John Mayer. The first music I heard of his was on his independent CD. I saw him at the Greek Theater in Berkeley doing his first tour and I was blown away by what a great musician he is. When you really unpack his songs, what a great lyricist he is and what a great guitar player he is, which he really didn't show on his first album. He's got all of it. The other thing I really appreciated about him as a guitar player is that he really made it all right to be a guitar player again.

Has there ever been a time when it wasn't all right to be a guitar player?
When I started in Christian music, nobody wanted to know about guitar. Guys that played guitar solos? People thought that was an '80s thing.

You've really paved the way with that. Where are you headed next?
I hope I'm headed where God wants me to go. Where that is, is just about being true to who I am and to Christ. I'm a guitar player. I'm crazy about the guitar and I love the instrument. There's so much, guitar-wise, that I haven't tapped into for myself yet. And I'm looking forward to doing it.

When I came out with the live album, a lot of people really loved the guitar that was in it. (Laughs.) So next time, we'll have more. On the album, I didn't do any improv guitar stuff with a lot of space. So we'll see if we can fit that into the context of a song. I'd love to do kind of a 6/8 blues type thing.

I'm a firm believer that we praise God not only with our voices, but with our instruments.

We thank Lincoln Brewster for his taking time from his incredibly busy schedule. You can keep up to date with him at www.lincolnbrewster.com and at baysideonline.com.