New Frontiers: The Charlie Hall Interview You’ve got to love a guy who describes his musical genre as “rock/electri/coust/ica”. Charlie Hall was first known for his association with Passion and the five wildly popular Passion CDs on which he performs. But with his sophomore release, “Road to Beautiful” and a divine mission to explore new musical frontiers, this Oklahoma City artist is determined to take us higher. And inspire the next generation of musicians.

We recently hooked up with Charlie to talk about music, misconceptions and his take on living in the moment. Your career really began at Bridgeway Church. How did that happen? I was a part of a very small group of college-age worshippers who met in a living room ten or eleven years ago. That group eventually became the foundation for Bridgeway Church. All of us were into communicating to God through rock music. Back then, I’m not sure we called it worship leading or worship music — we were just talking to God through music. We were working through confusion and hurts and that’s how we talked to God. In the beginning, I was documenting our journey as a church. Without knowing it, some of those recordings traveled beyond our church and gained an audience. Eventually one of the leaders of Passion called me in 1996. I was never trying to do anything big. It just connected. You started to reach that broader audience as part of the Passion Tour. “Heart of Worship: is a song you’re closely associated with. Passion has a very big voice right now. I’m just one piece of a big

puzzle. People are looking to Passion because they’re birthing new things. A number of artists that are involved in it – Matt Redmon, Chris Tomlin, Dave Crowder and me – are introducing new things, new songs and good heart ideas for the church that are helping to shape it. It’s a neat collection of people who are thinking outside of the box and are still in pursuit of God. I think that’s why people have responded to Passion and have drawn a line to this little guy in Oklahoma City named Charlie Hall.

Some have discovered me that way. “Heart of Worship” is a song that Matt Redmon wrote and I led that in 1999. It hadn’t really popped out into the mainstream of the contemporary Christian world at that point – but when the CD came out, it really hit the church. The album sold really well and it is such a great song for the moment and still is. People think I wrote it, which is great … but Matt wrote it. Still, you are often viewed as the ‘Voice of Passion’… I think there’s something about my life that speaks to many of the things that Passion represents. I’m a huge supporter of Passion and I love what it says. Let’s talk about “On the Road to Beautiful” which came out last year, four years after “Porch & Altar”. It’s a completely different sound. Is that what took you so long? “On the Road to Beautiful” was inspired by a lot of difficult experiences. I definitely am a guy who leads worship music, but I am also a guy who communicates with God and helps other people communicate with God. Some of that involves songs that everyone can sing and some of them are songs you want to say to God without singing them. “On the Road to Beautiful” has a lot of songs that are difficult to say to God because they’re about weakness, but they come from the heart of someone who is still hanging on to God. We have things to say to God in our best of times and our worst of times.

“Porch & Altar” was an independent album that had been sold for about a year and a half and then re-released several years later to the major market. It was different because it was a different time in my life. There were a lot of prayers for God’s power of movement in the world. As I began to experience new things in life, I wrote about them. Over time, that became “On the Road to Beautiful”. I definitely want to write to influence the Church, but I’m really documenting my life’s journey and our little Oklahoma City church’s journey. Some of them are songs that everyone wants to sing and some of them are not. I’ve come to the place where I feel fine about that. As a very young man, you considered becoming a minister right?

When I first encountered Christ, I thought, “I’m supposed to be a pastor”. The picture I had in my head was a guy in a suit and tie who went to church every day and knew a lot about the Bible. After a few months, it was clear to me that God wanted me to be a pastor with my music. I’ve been singing since elementary school, then started writing poetry in junior high and really bad songs (laughs) in high school. One of the ways I guide people, I love people and share myself is in my music and in that way, becomes very pastoral.

Who influences you? In terms of sacred music, I am a follower of Rich Mullins and Keith Green, as many people were. Of course, ten years ago, I tapped into the new worship music that was coming out - Matt Redmon, Delirious, a guy named Kevin Prousch. I listen to everything from techno and folk to rock music. Singer songwriters are hugely influential, mostly independents. How do you describe your sound? I’m very exploratory and as I explore, I pull back. I’m still trying to communicate so I don’t want to get too insane. But right now, we’re using acoustic mixed with a lot of techno stuff like loops and sounds. It’s very vibe-y, folky, electronic rock music. (laughs) We call it rock-electri-coustica. “On The Road to Beautiful” doesn’t include any loops at all. It’s very folk rock. I like a lot of indie music from singer-songwriters like Peter Yorn so that definitely influences the way I write. What about your band? It’s a great group of people – five guys, including me. Some of us have journeyed together for the last seven or eight years in music. We think of ourselves as a collection of musicians. I try to honor them, personally and professionally and avoid just sucking them dry as members of my band. We’re all together for this moment in time and when they feel its time to move, I’ll be there to support whatever they’re doing next. In looking at the landscape of Christian music, it’s hard to imagine that fifteen years ago, we could have anticipated what is happening right now. Any predictions? This movement of music in the church has completely revolutionized the church as we know it. I like to create and experiment and that’s where a lot of my music came from. I think what’s happening with this group (my generation) is that its going to pave the way for the next artists. The music will change again and people will balk – then in twenty years—it will become the norm. I’m trying to dig in to a whole new group of younger people and tell them to go for it, experiment, do what I do but do it better and keep it centered around God. The future is the next wave of experimental music that will celebrate God in a new way. What advice do you have for our readers? My advice to them is to keep doing what they do. It’s great to start out emulating someone – that’s the way you learn – but if you’re not expressing what’s inside of you, you’re not reaching your potential. There’s also a frustration in looking too far ahead. The great thing about being where you are is … that’s where you are. That’s kind of a Zen statement from a Christian. Well, you’ve got to be there to get to the next step. Find the kind of music that thrills you and moves your soul. The biggest thing is to be living out God’s dreams but loving where you are right now. That’s huge lesson for all of us. And sometimes a hard lesson. Finally – how can our readers keep up with you, Charlie? They can get information on the band, our tour schedule and purchase CDs on our website: www.charliehall.com. Our music is available at most Christian bookstores, too. We sincerely appreciate Charlie’s commitment, during an insanely busy schedule, to making this interview happen. We invite our readers to check out Charlie’s cool website at www.charliehall.com. You can learn more about Charlie, check out the band’s tour schedule, get lyrics and chord charts, hear his music and sign the guestbook.

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