photo by Filip Vukina
how do you help teach that community how to love and support and carry the burdens of the other ’ s in the community ?
So there was a lot going on ! And when I left the DC Band and stepped down from being on staff , I felt like , “ This is going to be a breath of air . I ’ ve been working so hard for 16 years .” I was excited about that , and I really didn ’ t even know if I would do music . But I quickly discovered that I was going to keep doing music , because the songs kept coming , and I thought , “ Okay , I guess this doesn ’ t go away .” So I decided to keep doing music . I felt like this is what I get to do , and what I ’ m called to do .
I struggle with the word “ calling ”. My dad is “ called ”. He ’ s an insurance agent , but he ’ s called to carry the story of God . His job is actually more complicated because he has to navigate commerce and culture and also insert the story of Jesus in the middle of the relationships that he ’ s developing . And . . . nobody likes their insurance agent ! ( laughter ) But his calling is no less than mine ; his platform just looks different . And he ’ s actually in people ’ s lives in some of their worst moments . He has an ability to do things in people ’ s lives that I only had a chance to do when I was on staff at the church .
From the platform , I just throw stuff out there that God has put on my chest and hope that the Holy Spirit can do something through it .
[ WM ] You have a knack for blending Americana folk music with an old ‘ Holy Ghost Tent Revival ’ feel , but somehow in the process you make it appealing to the modern worship music listener . What ’ s really going on here ?
[ DC ] I don ’ t know ! ( laughs ) With Neon Steeple I wanted it to be Bluegrass Appalachian Porch music meets EDM . I was able to get some cognitive threads that wove that together in my head . I asked myself , “ What is Bluegrass / Porch music all about ?” It ’ s all about community . You go have a good meal together , sit on the porch and make music together , and there ’ s community that ’ s formed . The music is played live , and then it ’ s gone . EDM is totally different . It ’ s totally future oriented . And most of the time it ’ s created by a dude , sitting by himself in some basement , and there ’ s no community built . Most of the time it never even gets out of the box . But it ’ s cool , really cool .
His intention though , and the genius of the DJ ’ s that are amazing and great , is to be in a setting where they put their finger on the pulse of a group of people and lead them on a journey , and all of a sudden this thing that is disconnected becomes community . The intention is the same . On a porch , community happens . At an EDM festival , community happens . And it won ’ t ever happen that same way again .
So on a rational level , I thought , “ This should work . There shouldn ’ t be any dissonance .” In reality , it was much more difficult to pull off the Neon Steeple album to where it felt organic and not contrived . I had to figure out where it needed to breathe to create enough space to grab onto the porch , and support it with the future , EDM music . So I put the ‘ Neon ’ word ,
22 Jan � Feb 2017 WorshipMusician . com