" That ' s what ' s different about a night like tonight , it ' s because the Holy Spirit is active and present . And , man , Jesus loves you , and he ' s been in pursuit of you your whole life ." It was amazing . That whole day was amazing . And in San Francisco we ' ve had three other evenings in different rooms . That town holds a really special place in my heart . Every time we ' ve been there something amazing has happened .
One my favorite authors ever , Dave Eggers , is from there , and has an incredible 826 Valencia non-profit project as his educational endeavor that ' s downtown San Francisco . It is amazing . So , I ' ve got a lot of love for San Francisco .
[ WM ] Yeah . I haven ' t been there in years , but it ' s a wonderful town , it really is . You know that story you just told about playing at The Fillmore and Dirty Dave , you just never know , do you ? I mean , you kind of know when you play churches , and the crowd , and you expect certain things , and certain churches are different than others , as , you know , you ' ve got the guys waving the worship flags and dancing , and then you ' ve got other churches that are very conservative . But when you ' re out in a mainstream venue , yeah , all bets are off .
[ Crowder ] Right on !
[ WM ] That ’ s a wonderful story ! And speaking of the road , you ’ re on tour right now with Toby Mac and others . In fact , you ’ re playing Independence , Missouri tonight , home of Harry Truman ! It must be great to be out there visiting folks and playing again after the constrictions of the past two years .
The Milk and Honey thing we did in the Fall , it just felt like , man , we ' re making it work , we ' re going to get out here where we can , when we can .
Last night , Omaha , Nebraska , was a sold out , packed arena . Then we ' re in Kansas City , Missouri , two nights in a row , sold out . You could feel us getting back together , which is super wonderful , you know ? I just think if we learned anything , to know truly is that we ' re not meant to be alone .
I mean , there ' s something about the way we were composed and put together as humans , we ' re a communal species . We ' re supposed to be together , and when we ' re not , it gets very difficult , and ugly , and hard .
And when we ' re together it ' s a really beautiful thing to see . So , we ' re getting to see a lot of beauty every night , which is enough for me .
[ WM ] Yeah . I ’ ve got one more question . Your white Fender Strat is beautiful . What is that white fretboard like to play ? Are you still using it on this leg of the tour ? And what about that cigar-box looking guitar ? Is that still in use ?
[ Crowder ] The Strat is completely confusing . It is ... You think you know guitar until you don ' t have the dots on the neck , and then you ' re like , " I have no idea what fret this is ." It ' s taken a bit of time , but I think it ' s made me a better player .
At first , I was like , " I am the worst guitar player ever ." Then at this point I ' ve kind of got my legs under me , and I can spot it without spotting it .
[ WM ] Like a fretless bass player guy , you know ?
[ Crowder ] Yeah .
[ WM ] Are you still using it on this leg of the tour ?
[ Crowder ] Yes , I am . And it sounds amazing , it really does .
[ WM ] What about the cigar box guitar ? Are you still using that on this tour ?
[ Crowder ] Yes , I am . It ' s the “ Higher Power ” guitar .
The thing with that build is ... I mean , you had all this drop D , drop C tunings in late ' 90s metal , the cigar box hits .
I mean , if you plug this into any amp ever , you will feel like , " I don ' t even know what to do ." If you ' re just looking for power chords , and that bottom line . ( singing ) All that kind of stuff , oh , there ' s nothing to compete with it . It ' s incredible . So , it ' s on the album a lot as well . It ' s a go-to . It ' s like kind of the silver bullet of sorts .
[ WM ] Once again , it ’ s great to visit with you , my friend . So much fun and so interesting . Thanks for this time ! Stay safe and God Bless You .
[ Crowder ] Good to see you again . Thank you .
[ Crowder ] Harry Truman ! That ' s the first thing I thought of when I woke up this morning . ( laughs ). No , it ' s different though . Even the start of this tour versus where we are now , like the front of the tour , you ' re still feeling it . We were still feeling lockdown fears , like , “ Is this okay ”, you know ?
Higher Power - ( live )
Alex MacDougall Alex MacDougall is a former member of Daniel Amos ( DA ), the Larry Norman Band , and the Richie Furay Band . He has toured and recorded with all the above , as well as Andrae Crouch , Bob Bennett , Phil Keaggy , and hundreds of additional artists and projects . He has served and serves as an Adjunct Professor , teaching in Music Business at Dallas Baptist University and Trevecca Nazarene University ’ s National Praise and Worship Institute , in Nashville , TN . Alex is available for lecture , teaching , and conference workshops via . professormacbna @ gmail . com