Teacher by day, country music star by night - Airdrie elementary school teacher Brandon Lorenzo performed 20 shows at the Calgary Stampede these past two weeks, averaging about three or four shows a day.
“Stampede is always fun because a lot of people come together for country music, they come together for the rodeo, just the western hospitality,” Lorenzo said. “I think it was just a great week overall.”
Born and raised in Calgary, Lorenzo has been an Airdrie resident for 13 years and has just finished his first year of teaching at a local elementary school, where he is excited to begin his second year of his teaching career this fall.
During the 10-day Calgary Stampede rodeo, Lorenzo said the biggest venue he played was opening for Tim and the Glory Boys at the Whiskey Rose Saloon on July 13, as well as opening for Gord Bamford.
He also entertained Stampede guests at the West Stage on the rodeo grounds and provided music for the Stampede kick-off breakfast.
Lorenzo's set list includes a mix of cover songs, and original songs written by the Airdrie resident. In fact, Lorenzo recently released a new single called Another Round of You.
“It was actually funny that we got to open for Gord Bamford because he actually pitched the [new] song,” Lorenzo added.
“It’s really cool that there’s some people that are coming out to shows and they know every word to every song that I’ve released.”
Incorporating steel guitar and fiddles, Lorenzo puts a modern twist on his music to cater to the style featured in country music today.
“I’m influenced a lot by 90s, early 2000s country so I still try to incorporate that genuine country sound that you hear,” Lorenzo explained.
The Airdrie teacher has been involved with music since a young age. He was trained as an opera singer at the Royal Conservatory of Music by a couple who sang in the Russian Opera House.
Picking up a guitar seven years ago, Lorenzo has been playing country music ever since because he was drawn to the way country music tells stories and he thought it was time to start telling his own stories through the genre.
“I kind of transitioned to country music and that’s kind of how we got our start and we’ve been growing since,” he said. “Now we’re doing country music at Stampede.”
Before performing a show, Lorenzo and his band arrive at the venue and complete a soundcheck, then they discuss the expected stage performance for the night.
“We just [dive] right in and we have a good time,” Lorenzo said. “As long as the crowd is feeding off the energy and they’re having a good time, then we’re having a good time.”
Lorenzo said his favourite part of performing is always being the person having fun on stage and seeing the crowd smiling and dancing.
“You literally are just the person that has fun no matter what the occasion, whatever group is there and that’s what means the most,” he added.
“It’s just an unreal feeling…it’s just one of those things where it’s kind of like something just takes over me and I kind of forget my personal life for the three hours that I’m on stage, something takes over and it’s just electric.”
According to Lorenzo, he has some pretty big things in the works but unfortunately, he couldn’t share the details.
In the long term, he hopes to go on tour at some point, even as an opening act.
“At least get to the point to where we can have some other big opportunities and I think that’s coming down the chute here for us,” he said.
Lorenzo’s next show is on July 29 at the Grey Eagle Resort and Casino, where he will be opening for Randy Houser. Tickets for the show can be purchased at bit.ly/3IML3fP.
Brandon Lorenzo can be found on Facebook and Instagram. He also has his own website, which can be found at bit.ly/3v2eLHX. Lorenzo’s music is available on any major streaming service, like Apple Music and Spotify.
