spirit . I think we did capture that .
And being that she does do country music there were a couple things that we did that really felt like they put a smile on my face , “ Victory in Jesus ” being one of them . We didn ’ t want to feel any pressure to have this feel like we were trying to do anything commercial , but we wanted to do things that felt right , and good , and cohesive , and on some of these songs that was a big challenge , they ’ re not standard songs . You ’ re trying to make it so you can listen down all the way through and still make it feel like the song . On a couple of them we took a couple liberties , but I don ’ t think any of them feel like we tried to reinvent the wheel and take away the heart of what made them great . Even listening to them now , it really does feel like a great collection of songs . Its classic but it doesn ’ t feel overdone .
[ WM ] I really loved the inclusion of “ Just as I Am ”. That particular hymn has been sung by everyone from Mahalia Jackson to Alan Jackson , with Willie Nelson in between ! It was Billy Graham ’ s altar call song for over 50 years . Is there something that you would like to say about this track . Carrie ’ s performance of it recently on The Today Show was superb , as was her note bending on “ Victory in Jesus ”!
[ David ] Ha ! I ’ ll tell you , “ Just as I Am ” is what started the whole thing . That was one of the first work tapes we did , and when we finished it , it was , like , “ Wow , this is what this could be !” That was the road map to seeing that this is what could make our heart happy but still make us feel a little different . We were definitely aware of Alan and some of the stuff he ’ s done , and so we were trying to find a place that felt like just something for her . So that was one of the
first things we did where we felt like we had something we could chase .
“ Victory in Jesus ”. It ’ s funny that you bring that one up because we were in the studio and that was kind of a thing where , we were about to be done for the day and we just tried it . We went to everybody and said , what if we just kind of try for this slinky vibe and just go for it ? So , she got on the mic , and she started singing and everything you hear , even some of that was from that original day . I was blown away with the way she was singing , I had not heard that sort of personality in her voice before . It was very fun , and that was another day where we just left going , “ Wow ”, and your heart is so happy because you found something you didn ’ t plan on .
[ WM ] I must say that your production throughout is so sensitive , with just the right instrumental colors peeking out from the solid and simple arrangements . “ Softly and Tenderly ” is only one of the great musical palettes laid out for us . Tell us about this track .
[ David ] I ’ ve got to say , we had an incredible array of musicians that contributed to this record . Alongside that we had an incredible cast of engineers . Serban Ghenea who ’ s just a good friend of mine mixed several songs on the record , “ Softly and Tenderly ” being one of them . The way Serban captures the nuances of Carrie ’ s vocals is just absolutely incredible .
We had Manny Marroquin who is an incredible mixing engineer , and he mixes everybody . Some of the stuff he ’ s done that I love the most is John Mayer . I felt a lot of that goes down to the way we wanted to try and make everything intentional . We wanted each part
to be intentional , we wanted each song to be intentional , because you ’ ve heard these songs before and that was a little bit of a challenge . So , if there was a challenge it was to go , “ There ’ s got to be a reason for everything that ’ s playing , and if there ’ s not , we have to have the confidence to say we don ’ t need it or to add something more substantial ”. The great thing with Carrie is that I felt very adamant that if there is anything … we ’ ve got Carrie and we ’ ve got the songs , and that is ten out of ten right there ! So as long as we don ’ t get in the way of those things and we support that then we ’ re doing the right thing . That is the challenge with music is that sometimes there is too much , and it starts to overshadow . So , we just try to keep it reigned in and keep our perspective on it .
[ WM ] And “ Jesus Loves Me ” as a harmonica instrumental . It sounded like a Hohner Marine Band . That ’ s an amazing inspiration ! What can you tell us about this recording ?
[ David ] I can tell you that was Buddy Greene , who is an incredible harmonica player that I had worked with him on a record in the past . He came in and I just remember that we were not doing a really straightforward harmonica thing , and he just came in and crushed it and really did incredible . As we were going into this record , I had the thought that there were a couple of these songs that we could maybe use the harmonica . Carrie and I very early on had talked about some sort of instrumental version of “ Jesus Loves Me ”. We didn ’ t necessarily want it to be a piano thing because everyone had heard that before . We tried doing it with acoustic guitar but that didn ’ t really give us the sound we wanted . So , we were kind of at the end , and it was so much of an open conversation we didn ’ t even know if we we ’ re
Just as I Am Victory in Jesus Softly and Tenderly