and the ‘ Steeple ’ word together , both pointing to the same place . Neon lights are meant to catch your attention , and is oftentimes pointing to something that is a poor substitute for what you are truly wanting inside . And the Steeple is pointing to something that transcends . I wanted to make the things that we currently have available to us point to something that transcends .
So I was already in that train of thought , and as I headed into the concept of American Prodigal it occurred to me that banjo is actually an African instrument . I had now been in Atlanta , Georgia for about 4 years , and I was blown away by what a global city it is . It ’ s not just black and white . It ’ s incredibly multi-ethnic . Atlanta has the busiest airport in the world , and there is this global influence of people coming in and out all of the time .
So when all the conversation started happening again about race in America , I thought I would take the same train of thought from Neon Steeple , and just turn the dial a little bit . I wanted the beats to be more similar to how hip-hop samples things . It would be less produced from electronic wave forms , but would be more just lifted from a rhythm that was organic and then sampled , the same way that people make urban music . The language on Neon Steeple was Southern Gospel . I ’ m just riffing off of Gaither music . I felt like that was a common language .
Anyone who lives in America can relate to and appreciate Americana music . Now , on American Prodigal , it would be just a little shift of the dial . Black Gospel church language is so close to Southern Gospel language .
[ WM ] And isn ’ t Martin Luther King Jr . from Atlanta ?
[ DC ] Yes ! And the loft apartments that we ended up living in is an old renovated cotton mill that is part of a section of the city called Cabbagetown . The cotton mill owner would go up into the Appalachian mountains and bring down these Scotch-Irish families and employ them at the mill and house them in Cabbagetown . And , of course , they brought their music with them . What we know today Country and Bluegrass music got it ’ s start right there , even before it all got moved up to Nashville .
And Ebenezer Baptist Church , Martin Luther King ’ s church , is right there too ! And I had no idea , when we were thinking of moving to Atlanta , where we were going to end up . Right in the middle of all of this cultural and ethnic and musical history . And it completely informed my record . People started telling me all the stories of the neighborhood , and all about the music .
So , back to talking about making a record . When your making music , you never know if what you ’ re making will be timely or not , because you ’ re making it ahead of when it will actually find it ’ s legs . But who could have imagined an election cycle like we ’ ve had ? Who could have imagined the racial tensions that are coming up again , or the discussions about immigration ? So I hope my music is subversive in a healthy way . I ’ m not angry , or trying to point to anything wrong . I don ’ t think you can talk someone out of their point of view by just being a great articulator of ideas . But you sure can model and show something that ’ s different and compelling . And that ’ s what I was trying to do with the music and the record . I didn ’ t want to appear to be appropriating any particular culture . I wanted it to not be a ‘ you and me ,’ but to turn it into a ‘ we .’ I wanted people to not know exactly what it was necessarily . My hope was that they wouldn ’ t get upset that I was making beats , and that I ’ m just a hillbilly talking fast in time , because KB came along and put his stamp of approval on it , and Tedashii . They ’ re my friends here in Atlanta , over at Reach Records . And I let them say what is in their chest and I put it in a container to try and bring healing . It was a ‘ we ’ effort .
You make things with your friends , and that ’ s when it ’ s the best . And when I came to town , I wanted to take the whole ‘ love your neighbor ’ thing seriously , so I went over to Reach Records and talked with LeCrae and the guys . And they continued on 26 photo by Filip Vukina
Jan � Feb 2017 WorshipMusician . com
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