Brett Kissel jots down all of his ideas for songs in a little notebook. It could be an idea for a lyric or a melody and often times it's a simple catch phrase. Kissel had the phrase "Started With A Song" written down in his notebook for a long time, before the song and album of the same name came to life in 2013. It was a simple phrase that Kissel knew would lead to something big. He was right. That album gave rise to five Billboard Canada top 10 singles, eight CCMA award nominations (of which he won two) and a JUNO award for breakthrough artist. By the summer of 2015, Kissel had made his debut at the Grand Ole Opry.

At the young age of 26, the pride of Flat Lake, Alberta has already reached milestones that few Canadian country music artists have achieved. He's also had the opportunity to tour with Brad Paisley and has opened for his idol, Garth Brooks. And those experiences, along with his other ideas, keep going into the little notebook.

That notebook has recently produced material for his latest album Pick Me Up and it's first hit, "Airwaves."  As long as Kissel kepts jotting down various facets of his life, the little notebook looks like it will continue to inspire hits to come.

On this episode of Big Country with Rudy Blair, Kissel shares his favourite music and the stories behind his choices.

Local programming times for Big Country with Rudy Blair:

Radio One

Sundays: 9 p.m. (Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta); 10 p.m. (N.S., P.E.I., N.B.); 10:30 p.m. (N.L)

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Wednesdays: 7:06 p.m. (ET)

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Fridays at 2 p.m.; Sundays at 9 p.m.; Wednesdays at 7 a.m.