The new, "Edgier" blues-tinged album by American CCM phenomenon Steven Curtis Chapman is being tipped to be his biggest yet. Phil Crawley reports.
Admiral Cummings has a nerve -'phoning on Tuesday night asking if I'll do an interview with one of Christendom's finest in less than 48 hours. Still, he probably expects others to work as hard as he does!
My first port of call was the Internet - using "Curtis Chapman" as my search data I uncovered slightly more than 53,000 documents. So, suitably equipped with information and Walkman I set off for Methodist Central Hall in London for a tea-time press conference preceding Steven's first England performance pre-Greenbelt. There I found a TV crew, two radio interviewers and the anxious guy from Alliance Music. The following is based on the question and answer session we had with Steven Curtis Chapman.
Phil: You've said that CS Lewis has been a great inspiration
in the writing of your new album.
Steven: "Mere
Christianity was a book that had a real impact on my life as I was
writing the album and thinking about ideas that I would talk about. I
find that a lot of my music is inspired by authors that I'm reading at
the time. I'm ashamed to say that it's taken me so long to discover
the book. I'd heard about it all of my life, I think I'd read a few
pages over the years, but I finally took the time and was just amazed
by the insight and humility of a man with such wisdom and insight. It
really had a profound effect on me and I hope to communicate through
this album what I believe CS Lewis had such a handle on, that is
living out our faith as Christians in a way that's relevant to our
culture and really having an impact on the world that we're living in,
not escaping to a sub-culture where we're just comfortable with people
who speak the same language as us, but really saying that this should
have such an impact on our lives that it will affect everything. We
shouldn't draw these distinctions between the sacred and the secular;
rather our relationship with God should be having an effect in every
area. These were the ideas that went towards writing this album,
'Signs Of Life', trying to live in such a way that my faith is evident
to my wife, my kids, the guy I'm buying groceries from, the people I
come into contact with when my kids are playing little league
baseball. I'm asking the question, 'Are these signs of life evident in
my life?'. The writings of CS Lewis had such an impact on me asking
some of those questions of myself."
Phil: You took quite some time off while recording the album
to spend time with your family.
Steven: "Most of my
ideas, if they don't come from other people's books and writing come
from my family and my experience with them. I can recount numerous
stories of song ideas I've got while playing with my kids in the yard,
living a normal life, being a dad, being a husband, the things I
regard as being my greatest callings. These things are the ways I
honour God, loving and caring for my family and as I find I make time
and make this commitment over the many wonderful opportunities that my
professional life affords. I've heard it said that it isn't the
quantity of time, rather the quality of time that counts. I've found
that the only way to capture those unexpected quality moments is to
make a whole lot of quantity available to my family. Those moments
happen and you don't know when it will be, and so I'm really trying to
learn how to make those times count. There's a line in the track
'Signs Of Life' that talks about crayons rolling around on the floor
of the car, bicycles all over the driveway and balls in my yard, but
these are signs of life."
Phil: In previous albums you've spoken about discipleship and
your involvement in the real world, but with your jet set, hotel room
lifestyle, do you really relate to the common man?
Steven: "I try and involve myself in a lot of real life things. My
kids have been one of the greatest connecting points for me and the
real world. It's been through things like coaching my little guy's
soccer team. I know nothing about soccer, I just tell them to kick it
in the direction of the opposition's goal! It puts me in contact and
gets me into relationship with people who otherwise I'd never have
contact with. My family and I make it a point to go to Wednesday night
church supper and just eating with the other folks from my church,
people who are not at all involved in the music business. It takes a
very definite effort on our part because when you're in a career or
vocation that has a tendency to single you out you find it a lot
easier to hang around with people you identify with what you go
through and you don't have to deal with a load of questions. However,
one of the greatest contact points for me is with what is
unfortunately becoming the real world that we live in has been my work
with Prison Fellowship. Two years ago I began going into prisons and
having services there with the inmates and Charles Colson who founded
the organisation and that has been the most tremendous way for me to
recognise what the real world is like, and every time I walk out of
the doors of a prison my life is changed again."
Phil: What things drag you down?
Steven: "I've
been reading a book by Brennan Manning that talks a lot about the
impostors that try and convince us of the importance of things that
aren't very important. Things like, 'What do people think of me?', and
as a performer I certainly struggle with wanting people to like me and
what I'm doing. While I'm waiting for the album to be released it is
taking everything I have not to go and read every review. I can take
40 great reviews, but that bad one destroys me. That's one of the
things I'm wrestling with and I recognise that by God's grace I'll
overcome. Mother Theresa recounts how Francis of Assisi said that God
has not called us to success, but to faithfulness. I need to get to
that place to say, 'I've been faithful with this,' regardless of
whether this equates to what the music industry or even what the
Christian culture wants. I know I've been faithful to God in loving my
family and taking care of the things he's put before me. Those are the
real struggles and challenges I find myself facing."
Phil: What do you think you would have been if you hadn't
become a Christian music performer?
Steven: "Well, I
started a pre-med major in college and I was thinking that I'd become
a dentist or something. I had aspirations to become something in the
medical world. Not that I had any real love or desire for that, rather
it was the kind of thing that my family were into. It sounded like a
good plan so I headed for it. I'm very thankful, as I think any of my
prospective patients should be, that I ended up in music! I'm not very
good at maths or science, and you kind of need to be if you're going
to be in that profession. I really believe now, looking back, that the
things that make me tick make me think that I'd be involved in
ministry. That little voice tells me that I've got that desire to get
involved in mission work. There will be a season in my life where my
family and I will get more involved with that. So, I'm sure I'd have
been involved somewhere in the ministry."
Phil: Tell us something about other songs on the
album.
Steven: "For six or eight months I was really
struggling with the record as to whether it was the right time to be
doing it. However, the turning point came with a song called 'Lord Of
The Dance' which I co-wrote with my pastor Scotty Smith (we're also
working on a book together, which should be out in a few months). He
is a wonderful, Godly man and he and I had time to talk about all the
things that were churning in my heart, but one of the things that came
out of it was that of all of the time consuming activities we all get
up to - the dance of life - have a deeper purpose. There is a reason
for every step we take, God orders those steps and we will find the
meaning and purpose of this dance we call life if we experience a
relationship with the Lord of the dance."
Phil: Your music reaches a lot of the Christian community; do
you have any inclination to reach out to non-Christians?
Steven: "Yeah, probably with the last two albums there has been more
of a push to get my music into the mainstream. I've received numerous
stories about how people have been touched. One of the best is of a
gentleman who was going through a divorce and when going to buy some
CDs he bought a Garth Brooks disc. By some mistake probably due to the
fact that the same parent company owns both labels, he took home a CD
with my music on it, but labelled as Garth Brooks! He'd never been
interested in Christian music, and certainly would never have gone out
to buy a Steven Curtis
Chapman recording. He wrote into a country and western music
magazine and said that although he was grateful that the record
company had sent him a replacement Garth Brooks CD he was still
listening to my stuff because at a low point in his life it spoke to
him and he felt it had given him some direction. Now I have many other
stories about people who've heard the music and really said that they
really connect with it."
Phil: You've said that in making the new album you had a great
deal of liberty in what you did. Is there ever a conflict between what
the record company wants and your vision of your ministry?
Steven: "I have been very fortunate, and this isn't a pat answer
with me being the company man for the record company. I have been
fortunate, and the more I hear other artists talk about their
relationship with their record labels I know that this isn't always
the case, but at no time have I ever felt that they've pushed me in a
direction other than that which I feel I've been called to. I think
what the comment originally related to was the style, musically, of
this album. The liberty really was to be able to experiment, to go
into the studio and try out things. I've played a lot more of the
guitar part on this record; I sang all of the background vocals. In
the past there has always been a 'checking in' process with the record
company concerning the songs, their arrangements and recordings.
Invariably it has been more of a weeding out process with them
reducing the 40 or so ideas to 12 songs. But this time it was like
they were saying stylistically I could do whatever I wanted. Make the
record in New York with musicians you've never worked with before,
make it here in Nashville, whatever, we support you. It was a very
freeing, exciting way to make a record."
Phil: How do you handle the fame (28 Dove awards!) how do you
stay humble?
Steven: "My response to that is changing. I
don't want to sound overly spiritual or just bring religious words in.
I was raised in a very musical family, but my brother was the singer,
I just accompanied him on the guitar. Even when I started recording I
wasn't sure I had what it took, and even when the awards started
coming I can remember driving home from award ceremonies with my wife
and being really worried that they were going to find me out! I
thought perhaps they'd come and take them away and say, 'Okay, we've
heard you live and now we know that you're not really what we thought
you were." I had an impending sense of being found out. It is a gift
that God has given me, something I've worked diligently at with time
and energy, and so, for somebody to come and give you an award for a
gift you've been given is something of a paradox. It's something to
wrestle with. Don't start thinking that you're any better than anyone
else! Before a performance once I heard someone pray, 'God, keep us
mindful that the voice is no more important than the ears that hear
it.' In God's economy the people hearing the music are just as
important. We may be the ones who are applauded at the end of the
night, but you just have to make sure that the glory goes to the one
who deserves it. But, I say that my response to this question is
changing. The Brennan Manning book I mentioned earlier has highlighted
areas of my heart that are hidden that get revealed, maybe by a bad
review or something. It rises up and I'm sure I don't always deal with
it in the way God would want me to. However, I have a lot of people
around me, friends and family who tell me to check myself, how big is
your head, how big is your heart?"
Phil: What are you listening to at the moment?
Steven: "I've been listening to DC Talk's current album ('Jesus
Freak') - it probably had something to do with the fact that my kids
are hooked on it! My five and six year old boys listen to that and
Audio Adrenaline. I really appreciate some of these new artists -1
feel like that old man here - who are so blatant and clear with the
message, they are so clear with what they're doing. It is really
world-class innovative music. I'm really excited about Jars Of Clay -
what those guys are doing and I love West King and I pull that one out
every now and then and check in with him. I've also just discovered
Mark Knofler's new album, boy, it's phenomenal and so I've been
wearing that out recently."
At that point the guy from Alliance wound it up, but Steven stayed around for a while signing the freebie copies of the new album and chatting. I was struck by what a really nice guy he is and so I left this, my first Cross Rhythms assignment, clutching said freebie CD (it is excellent!) and feeling encouraged for the state of Christian music.
And that evening.