[ Crowder ] They ’ re all over this album , man . ( laughing )
[ WM ] But then you go dig deeper in that same vein with “ I Heard About You ”. And that ’ s an outright mainstream country radio hit for Christmas . Plus it has an evangelism kind of edge to it , which I love . It ’ s brilliant . So tell us about those two songs .
[ Crowder ] Well , “ Thanks Giver ” as I said , feeling all those holiday vibes . So much of the album is trying to balance what it means to be a kid growing up in a home . My parents were really devout in faith , but you also had Santa Claus and we had toys under the tree and stockings full of knick-knacks and whatnot . So , my parents made it so much fun . But every year we ’ re sitting , Christmas Eve , around as a family reading Luke chapter 2 together as a family . And to put Jesus and Santa Claus in next to each other is confusing as a kid . And so , what I was trying to do through a lot of this album is point to things that are beautiful about the holidays and stuff that ’ s really tough about the holidays . Not everybody ’ s got family to go home to . But there ’ s that feeling that there is truth in that longing . That there was intention in God ’ s heart and creation for people to live in relationship with one another .
And to point to those things is just pointing to truisms that we get to , every year , come back to , and feel the pain of it or feel the joy of it . And to be able to point to those things and then also connect that to the truth that , man , in the season of giving , there ’ s not a better gift that we ’ ve ever seen but for God to put on flesh . I felt like putting the humanity that we know and experience every year , up next to this grand idea that ’ s the miracle of the birth of God . It felt like maybe we can put some skin and some understanding and some things that we know … and can feel , and sense , and understand about the season and then relate to these big ideas about what it means to be the created in relation to the Creator … and how He came near .
So I wanted to start with that earthy part of that idea . And so I think “ Thanks Giver ” is talking about mama ’ s calling , I mean , “ Where are you at ?” That ’ s every year . “ When are y ’ all getting here ? We ’ re right here , where are y ’ all ?” That ’ s one of my favorite things , coming home and being with the family and catching up with them . And so , it just felt like , let ’ s put the earthy up at the front .
Thanks Giver
And then , man , track three …
[ WM ] “ I Heard About You ”.
[ Crowder ] Yes . That is straight up ... I