Can We Go Home Now: Brandon Heath Finds Eternal Hope through Grief

Brandon Heath has never been afraid to sit in the ache. In his exclusive acoustic performance and interview with CCM Magazine, Heath opens up about his new single, the final release from his deeply personal album The Ache. The project which was shaped by the loss of both of his parents, a grief he describes with disarming honesty.

“The ache, really, it delved into the loss of my parents. My mom and dad had both passed away.”

Heath shares that losing them in his 40s felt especially early and uniquely isolating as an only child. “And I really miss having people that knew me when I was a kid.”  That absence led him back into memory. “If I don’t talk about it, if I don’t remember it, I lose it.”

The new single, “Can We Go Home Now,” captures what he calls “the longing for home.” Not just in this physical, but in the eternal. “I was reading in revelation a few years ago, and it said that when we get there, God will. He has written down a private name for us, a name that only he knows, and he will whisper it to us when we get to heaven.”

He smiles when he talks about it. “You know, I often joke that I hope my name isn’t like Tiffany or something, but I hope he’s got a great name for me.”  But the heart behind the humor is deeply personal. “Obviously, whatever comes off of his lips and that is just mine will be the most beautiful thing.”

“He has named me and he has saved a room for me in his house. I can’t wait to see it.” The title of the song was inspired by his young daughter, who after being away for a few days will inevitably ask, “Dad, can we go home now?”  In the stripped-down acoustic performance, that perspective lands even heavier.  When asked about his songwriting process, Heath is resolute.

“I have to always draw from the reality that my story is enough. It’s good enough. It is part of what God intended for me… I have to write what is most important to me at that time.”

That commitment to honesty has shaped a generation of listeners, even if it once made him feel older than he wanted. “I have been getting a lot of people in their 20s coming up to me… saying, I grew up on your music.” Now, he embraces it. “It doesn’t offend me anymore, it makes me feel so thankful that I got to be that guy that brought them into not only into Christian music, but maybe even into faith.”

With “Can We Go Home Now,” Brandon Heath gives language to the ache we all carry. The grief. The memory. The hope. The promise that this is not the end of the story.