Songwriter's Tales with Brian Elder

The next artist to be featured on Songwriter’s Tales series is Brian Elder. This article has been the most fun article for me to do because Brian is a wonderful storyteller full of many adventures. We met on a cold, winter night singing at a roof top bar on Broadway, and as you can imagine there were few audience members sitting in the cold with the songwriters. It’s like that sometimes, but there is also something really magically about getting to sing to other songwriters. For me, there was something to the confidence of Brian singing of his love for Jesus that made me immediately want to meet him. 

When I asked Brian about his musical journey so far, he had a lot to say since he started playing at the ripe age of 9. “I started playing music when I was probably around 9 years old. I wasn't any good at it but I kept playing around because I enjoyed it. I started playing in bands when I was in high school and started really playing shows right out of high school. Before that I sang in talent shows and things like that. I played music for a long time after that and even signed with a small independent label that was trying to get off the ground. I released many CD's throughout the years. And I feel like I was always writing music. Even if it was pieces of songs. I would just always be in writer mode and have lyric ideas, or guitar riffs, or things like that. I wrote my first complete song when I was around 14 or 15 I believe. I was in ninth grade. And I wrote a few songs for my girlfriend at the time and even put together a recording in a friend's home studio. After that, I really kept writing songs. I played live and wrote songs till I was in my 30's and then I got burned out and lost the desire to pursue it anymore so I gave it up. I didn't play for a long time. Or at least, I wasn't interested in playing. I may have picked it up a little here and there but not like it was before. I went into the film business and started making films and acting. I started doing that in 2011. I enjoyed making films and still do. At the end of 2019, I started battling depression and anxiety. I may have dealt with it longer than I knew. But it was really bad at this point in my life. I started asking God to give me purpose and show me what He wanted me to do. I felt like he led me back to my guitar through that. And I started writing music again. I started writing about the things I was going through. And through that process, I started to enjoy writing again and playing. It was about 2 years of writing and just seeking the Lord before I played anywhere again. But then opportunities started opening up. From playing at an amusement park as an entertainer for a few contracts to doing prison ministry tours, playing churches, fairs, and wherever the doors opened. Got married, we had a baby and a little over a year later we moved to the Nashville area...this past June (2025). Now I have been playing writer rounds, festivals, and other events around Nashville and in other states. That's the short summed up story.” 

Usually I save my favorite question for the end but as it has a role in other questions it needed to come earlier in the article. If you are new to the blog, my favorite question as a fellow songwriter is to ask other songwriters what their special song is. Here is what Brian had to say about his special song, “Passenger Side”, “I think one of the most special songs that I have written is called, "Passenger Side." The reason it is so special to me is that I wrote it during a time that I needed to be reminded that God is in control and that I needed to let Him drive while I hop over into the passenger side. But it's also because the song and story behind the song have impacted other people and I love knowing when it has helped someone else. So it just is one of those songs I never get tired of playing and still means a lot to me. 

The story behind the song Passenger Side: I was in a new coffee shop in Texas and I was talking with the owner. She was telling me that she tried to open a coffee shop multiple times and each time she was unsuccessful. She finally gave up on that dream and moved on. In late 2020 her and her family moved from San Antonio, Texas to Spring Branch. Although she had no intentions of opening up a coffee shop, she came across this building to rent and decided to try again. She was supposed to open in January of 2021, but we had this ice storm that came through and we lost power and everything was shut down for about a week or so. So, she had to postpone the opening for later. She said that between all of that and getting ready to open, she had no time to promote the place. So, she said that she prayed to God to be her promoter. And on the day, she opened, she sold out of everything. I asked her, what was the lesson that you took away from this? Because in life, there's always a lesson that we can take from everything that happens. She told me that the lesson she learned was to give God control and that it's in His timing, not hers. I got in my car and these words popped in my mind, "I'm in a rat race, drag race, trying to reach the finish line. I'm in a hurry, worried that I won't make it in time." I got home and pulled out my guitar and started writing the song. It eventually turned out to be what it is today. It's about giving God control, letting Him drive, and hopping over into the passenger side.”

A highlight from Brian’s Career also involve the song, "Passenger Side.” Here is what Brian had to say about that special moment. “At one point, the highlight was opening for Bret Michaels (from Poison) and Papa Roach. That was years ago before I quit playing for a while. Since I started playing again in 2019, I would say the highlight besides moving to Nashville, would be my time playing at Busch Gardens, the amusement park in Virginia. There were so many things about that. It was what led me out to VA and from there I got to meet my wife and got to do some prison ministry tours, which would also be a highlight of music for me. I really enjoyed doing that. I spent my childhood going to Busch Gardens and enjoying the shows and the rides. And then I got to experience playing the shows which was really nostalgic for me. I remember last year playing in a prison in Florida and it was my birthday. The group that takes us to play, Life on the Verge, had told everyone it was my birthday from the stage so they all sang happy birthday to me and when I got up to play my set, the whole crowd was singing my song “Passenger Side” with me and we repeated the chorus again cause they were all singing. So I think that was an amazing moment that I won't forget. Some of the other highlight moments for me is when I hear that my songs or testimonies have touched someone's life in a positive way. There's nothing like that.”

 That’s the real dream for songwriters. Hearing a crowd sing your song with you. This was a fun part in the interview because for me I had the goal of singing on the stage by the Wabash Cannon Ball in Opry Land, but it closed before I was old enough to work. As a true Nashville Native, we find any reason to bring up Opry Land in remembrance. For Brian a story that he never tires of telling from his musical journey is, “I still like telling the story of how I played music most of my life and it was all I wanted to do, but then gave it up and went into the film business. And in 2019, I battled depression and anxiety and felt like God was leading me back into music. And really the rest of that journey and how I ended up being led back to Virginia from Texas with the Bible verse Joshua 1:9. I was led back there to play music through an encounter at my job at that time. There's a lot to that story. Being obedient and going out to Virginia also led me to my wife and other opportunities. But I always enjoy sharing that story. And it's always good for me to be reminded of that story and what God has done in my life. Especially during the times, I need that reminder.” 

Brian is on a roll with releasing music. This month's release is “Love Looks Like,” and last month he released the single “Bring Me Back.” Here is the story behind that single.  “The story behind "Bring Me Back," is that I used to walk down my dirt road at some point most days when I was in Texas and I would talk to the Lord and just share my day with Him. It was a time in my life when I was battling depression and anxiety and it was before I was married and now have a child. That was what I wrote the song about. So fast forward, I was driving home one day with coffee for my wife and I. And on my drive home, I started remembering those times and I said out loud, "I remember walking down my road, talking with You." And asking the Lord to bring me back to that place where I put Him first in my life and I just started talking with Him. When I got home, I started writing the song and it kind of poured out of me that one day. Almost like a memory and a prayer to Him. We can get so busy in life and forget all that the Lord has done in our life or even forget to put Him first at times. I can for sure. So my prayer wasn't to go back to that time when I was alone or feeling depressed or anything. It was just to remind me to keep Him first in all I do and to stay surrendered to Him. And not forget where I came from or what He has brought me through.”

Some upcoming dates for Brian include, July 4th at the Amplify Faith Fest in NC, August 14 at the Illinois State Fair, and September 26 at PraiseFest in KS.