{"id":433,"date":"2011-08-17T08:00:08","date_gmt":"2011-08-17T12:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/wholenotes\/?p=433"},"modified":"2011-08-16T12:32:30","modified_gmt":"2011-08-16T16:32:30","slug":"a-conversation-with-steven-curtis-chapman-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/08\/a-conversation-with-steven-curtis-chapman-part-1.html","title":{"rendered":"A conversation with Steven Curtis Chapman (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was nearly three years ago when Steven Curtis Chapman and his family suffered the most unimaginable tragedy. Daughter Maria, adopted from China, was killed after a driveway accident that involved one of his sons. In the aftermath, the multiple Dove and Grammy Award winner mustered up the courage to write a collection of songs (Beauty Will Rise<\/em>) expressing his grief, his confusion and ultimately his trust that God still had a plan.<\/p>\n

But now, it\u2019s time for something new. While still dealing with the sadness of loss, Chapman has been inspired to tell people how God\u2019s faithfulness pulled him and his family through the darkness and into a deeper revelation of their Creator\u2019s character. The result is the recently released album re:creation<\/em>, which features several new songs along with remakes of some of Chapman\u2019s biggest hits to date.<\/p>\n

In part one of this two-part conversation with Chapman, he talks about the concept behind his latest record and which new recording of an old song brought him to tears:<\/p>\n

Chad Bonham: Was your desire to redo some of your classic hits a case of creative restlessness or was it directly related to the journey you\u2019ve been on the past three years?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Steven Curtis Chapman (Photo by Dale Manning)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Steven Curtis Chapman: You nailed it with the second description. The whole record started out for me as a pretty intense desire to do something musically that I was discovering was already happening with my songs in concert. Three years ago, with our little girl Maria going to Heaven, and the depth of walking through all of that, that has really redefined so much, I would say, even our faith or certainly refined it and in some ways redefined it. Because my songs are all about my journey of faith, I found myself singing so many of these songs from a deeper place and in many ways a whole new place. I\u2019m singing lyrics I wrote 15, 20 years ago, you know singing \u201cMore To This Life,\u201d and all of the sudden feeling, \u201cWhoa! This means so much more to me now.\u201d I\u2019m so much more desperate for this to be true now, even than when I wrote it before. Or to sing \u201cHeaven in the Real World\u201d and sing a lyric like, \u201cStand in the pouring rain and know that the sun is going to shine again and to know the grave is not the end,\u201d it\u2019s like \u201cWhoa!\u201d I\u2019m desperate for that now and I believe it at a deeper place than I ever imagined I would. People would come up even after concerts and would say, \u201cMan, there\u2019s like a whole new passion and purpose in your songs when you sing them live. I\u2019ve heard you sing it 15 times but it was a very different experience tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so I thought, \u201cYou know what? I want to try to capture that in a recording.\u201d Because I feel like it\u2019s important for me in this part of the journey to try and recapture how these things have been redefined for me and kind of recreate the songs in that light. So that\u2019s where the idea for the album really began. In the process, I wanted to put these songs in a skin that shows what they mean to me now musically even\u2014acoustically, raw and organic and with a sense of understanding that this is the heart of these songs as they are for me on this point in the journey.<\/p>\n

And there are so many people that have journeyed with me too. We\u2019ve all been on a journey and there are so many people who have listened to those songs from the beginning and they\u2019ve said things like, \u201cThat song was a summer camp song for me and now I\u2019ve lived a lot of journey. I\u2019ve had my heart broken and I\u2019ve had joy and pain and my journey looks different. Now I listen to it and it\u2019s like I never heard that lyric before. It never even took me to that place before.\u201d That\u2019s what I was hopeful for in doing this.<\/p>\n

And obviously there\u2019s new music and new things that are happening in my life and in my family and in my faith. I felt like my last recording, Beauty Will Rise<\/em>, was so deep and heavy with the grief and the loss and the wrestling through that. It was really my personal Psalms of just crying out to God in that deepest valley. I felt like, with beginning to take those first steps sort of out of that intense, deep forest with my family and learning to laugh again in many ways and still heartbroken and until we get to Heaven, we\u2019re not going to be out of this or over this.<\/p>\n

Even as recently as this morning, I had to hold on to my wife as she had a meltdown just saying how much she missed her little girl and wished we could turn the time back. But to be able to say there\u2019s some really new beginnings in our life and some new recreating going on personally, I want some music that really says that to my friends and to people who have prayed for us and loved on us so much through these past three years that we really are in a new place and God really is faithful and we\u2019re really coming to understand that. In a really new way, here\u2019s some music that represents that.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Of the old songs that you recreated, which one surprised you in the way it came out and the way it impacted you the second time around?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Steven Curtis Chapman's latest album re:creation features new songs and remakes of his biggest hits<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chapman: I\u2019d say probably one of those is for sure \u201cDive.\u201d In fact, I called it \u201cDive Deeper\u201d on this record because it was so different. At certain points, I almost decided to not put that one on the record because I was afraid\u2026I know how I am about songs that have meant something to me through the years. I\u2019ll hear an artist redo a song and I\u2019ll think, \u201cThat doesn\u2019t do anything for me,\u201d because if I hear that song, I want to go hear the original. And I was really afraid of that actually when I was doing this record. As I got into it, I thought, \u201cIs this a good idea? I thought it was at the time but now I\u2019m wondering.\u201d And \u201cDive\u201d is such a staple for so many people. That is the definitive Steven Curtis Chapman song and part of that is because it\u2019s so much fun. It\u2019s rockin\u2019 and you\u2019re jumping up and down and you\u2019re diving in and you\u2019re going deep and all that. I thought, \u201cHave I really messed this song up?\u201d by slowing it down a little bit.<\/p>\n

But if I think about that lyric and what that song represents, while it is, \u201cC\u2019mon let\u2019s jump off this ledge!\u201d into this exciting place, it\u2019s also, if you ponder the lyrics, there\u2019s a depth in there. \u201cThere\u2019s a supernatural power in this mighty river\u2019s flow. It can bring the dead to life. It can fill an empty soul.\u201d There\u2019s some real depth to it. I wanted to try and capture that and I thought, \u201cMan, I don\u2019t know if this is going to work or not but I\u2019m going to try to go there where I think the song wants to take me now.\u201d When I play it live, I still play it sort of like the original version but kind of a hybrid of the two. That one really surprised me.<\/p>\n

We ended up putting in strings and horns and an orchestra on that song. I listened to it, finally, when it was all finished. I was driving home in the car and I was listening to the mix and I started to cry. I had tears in my eyes listening to \u201cDive.\u201d And I thought, \u201cOkay, I didn\u2019t expect that.\u201d Because of all the things \u201cDive\u201d has done for me, it\u2019s never made me cry. It\u2019s never moved me in that way. Hopefully that\u2019s a good thing and people will still be able to love the original but go, \u201cOkay, this is a different experience and I\u2019m going to embrace that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Click HERE<\/a> to read part two of the Whole Notes interview with Steven Curtis Chapman.<\/p>\n

To follow his music and touring schedule, go to his official website HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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Chad\u2019s professional journey began at the University of Tulsa where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (1993) while working extensively in athletic media relations and serving as a sports editor for The Collegian. Since then, he has written extensively for such publications as Relevant, CCM, Christian Retailing, New Man, Charisma, Today\u2019s Christian, Ministries Today, Breakaway, Brio, Sports Spectrum, Christian Single, Faith & Friends, Sharing the Victory and Gospel Today. He has authored, co-authored or ghost written and edited 13 books including Life in the Fairway (New Leaf Press), Glory of the Games (Cross Training), Wrestling with God (River Oak), Spiritual Journeys (Relevant) and the four-part Fellowship of Christian Athletes Core Value Series; Excellence, Teamwork, Serving and Integrity (Regal Books). Chad is currently working on five new books including Sooner Legacy, Husker Legacy and Lessons From Sooner Football (Cross Training) as well as The Faith of Stock Car Racing (Judson Press). When he's not writing, Chad lends his efforts to various independent television and film projects. He was the coordinating producer for Choosing Life (2010) and Life Happens (2011). Chad is currently serving as producer on a forthcoming documentary about Super Bowl champion Brian Kinchen. Chad and his wife Amy live in Broken Arrow, Okla., with sons Lance (September 2003), Cole (February 2008) and Quinn (February 2011).","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/author\/cbonham"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":466,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433\/revisions\/466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}