The
Paul Baloche Interview







Is it possible that in nearly twenty-five issues of Shure Notes for Houses of Worship, we've never talked to arguably the most popular contemporary Christian songwriter on this mortal plane?

Shure envoy Doug Gould, who knows Paul Baloche from sessions they lead at worship events across the country, set up the call. What followed was a spirited and spiritual conversation.

Let's talk about your latest CD, "Our God Saves", which came out in mid-September.



What's your feeling on how this is different than your previous CD, "A Greater Song", a live recording at your church where you collaborated with a number of heavy-hitting songwriters?
It's almost like "A Greater Song, Part Two" since we had a lot of the same collaborators along with the process of recording in my home church, trying to capture the sound of Sunday mornings where about half of our church is under the age of 25 … I mean, there are five or six hundred people who really sing out loud.

Sonically, this feels more like a club recording. We're not a massive church with a 20,000-seat auditorium. So often, these kinds of recordings are made at mega-churches. We're out in the country here in Lindale, so the fact that we have a thousand people on a Sunday kind of makes us a mega-church. I feel like I want to stand up for the blue collar, medium-sized church out there.

That makes you the Bruce Springsteen of the contemporary Christian movement, then.
I am from Jersey, originally. When I was a kid, everyone wanted to be the next Bruce. It was like six degrees of separation. Everybody knew a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy who knew Bruce.

I'm from Maple Shade, right outside Philadelphia. It was the other side of the tracks, blue collar and a little tough. I played in a lot of garage bands and club bands around Camden and then had a total God experience.

At one of those motivational business events, right?
That's right. It was one of those multi-level marketing things where the emphasis was on getting rich. I was 18 years old, living the dream, I thought, playing clubs down the (Jersey) Shore, thinking I was a big deal, but in my heart of hearts, I thought – this is just wrong, man. The whole scene was not cool.

Anyhow, I heard these guys share their testimony and there was a band up there playing music I'd never heard before – sort of like rock music but it had God lyrics to it. I was there with my brother and these other friends and our lives just radically changed. It just turned me around.

Where do song ideas start?
I think of it as a lifestyle. You have your antennae up all the time. You have to make it part of your life. You pay attention to what people say or words that are coming out of your mouth … the melodic hook that you're humming or whistling. You process those.



But how do you remember them?
I capture it with a little tape recorder. I have a program on my laptop that makes it pretty easy and maybe two weeks alter, you go back to it and try to decide if there's anything there. The bottom line is keeping that switch on all the time.

Even reading the Bible, you're looking for little hooks you can use. Worship music is singing a prayer to God. I journal a lot and write out the stuff of life and how I am prayerfully working through it.

Do you find Christian songwriting limiting in any way?
That's a good question. I think that having some parameters helps you as a songwriter. The sky is the limit. As a Christian songwriter, you have to pay attention to everyday life and help people see God. When you look at it that way, it's no more limiting than pop music.

In some ways, it can be a form of therapy. It's speaking out your fears and longing and hopes with a guitar in your hand. That can be the beginning of a new song.

When you write, are you thinking more about the congregation and their worship experience than you are about whether it will fit into your next CD?
It's a little bit of both. Initially, before I started recording, I really concentrated on the congregation — and I still do today — because they are the audience for the songs I write. I tried to take a fresh idea, something that feels like an honest authentic prayer and set it to music that's inspiring enough to get people to join with me and sing along.

I want that non-musician guy who's got five kids, is driving a truck and coaching Little League to look up at the screen and by the second chorus, make it his prayer. That's really important to me. Over the years, there's a part that does is conscious of the CD and creating a sense of journey in the recording.

Besides God, who has influenced your songwriting?
I was the youngest of four, so growing up in the late ‘60s; The Beatles were a huge influence. Everyone from James Taylor to Bruce Springsteen — a lot of ‘70s rock. Post-Christian, Lenny LeBlanc, who I got to know and was very encouraging and really like a brother to me. A singer named Kelly Willard — and from there, just everyone.

Do you compose at the piano or with a guitar?
Both. I'm not a virtuoso, so if I'm sitting at the piano, it makes me simplify my writing a little bit, in a good way. Or like we said, sometimes a song is in my head. It can happen on a plane, for instance. I'm on planes a lot.
















How is the new CD doing?
I don't know. And I don't want to know because it's out of my hands. The bigger tell for me will be two years from now if these songs end up in CCLI's top 1000.

I'd love to sell a million CDs, but the greatest privilege is to hear these songs performed a year or two later in churches across the country or the world.

My daughter did a mission trip to Russia this year. One Sunday morning in church, she heard a melody in a language she didn't know. Then, she realized "That's my Dad's song!". We were in Korea a couple of weeks ago with the band and suddenly everyone started singing one of our songs in Korean. I stopped singing, turned the mic and let them sing.

How do these songs get around the world so fast?

We're living in the digital age. Thank your talent, Internet and iTunes. What's next for you?
I'm just trying to keep the train on the tracks. I'm going to try to be faithful with this season of my life, write songs that the church can sing and spend most of my time in events with other worship leaders that can equip and encourage them. I want to be available to the next generation. There's no greater joy that that.

Editor's note: Every song on Paul's last CD, "A Greater Song", has earned a place on CCLI's Top 1000 list and according to their records, more of Paul Baloche's songs are performed in churches than any other songwriter's.

We'd like to thank Paul Baloche for his generosity in granting us talk time in between coming back from Korea, preparing for weekly services at the church and getting ready for a songwriting webinar. He was probably working up a few song ideas at the time, too.

Look for "Our God Saves" on iTunes and wherever CDS are sold.
Keep up with Paul Baloche at his website.