it ' s about community . And it ' s funny , when you talk about The Carter Family or you talk about gospel groups and stuff like that , that ' s one of the things that I think that we don ' t think enough about in their music . Their music is not performative for the sake of being performative . It ' s performative for the sake of generating humanity , of helping people feel like they have a place to belong .
[ WM ] Well , you can even go back to the turn of the 20th century . During the early 1900s , there were over 100 piano manufacturers in New York City alone . And the number one way to sell songs was via sheet music , which were called parlor songs . And so , communities and neighborhood homes would have pianos and neighbors would come over and they would all gather around the piano and sing together . We certainly don ' t have that anymore .
[ Matt ] Yeah , and it ' s sad . I still hope . My hope in the day and age in which we live is that Christians can still be people who are as equally thoughtful as they are passionate . In the face of modernism , what if we not only celebrate our gains , but also mourn our losses and point people back to certain elements of living that are important ?
And I do think that music is something that is meant to be shared . And it ' s gotten hyperindividualistic and hyper driven by personal preferences . And I think there is something that I miss . In the process of making this song , but really the whole project that this song is part of , I rediscovered my passion and my love for making music with friends , that I think the pandemic kind of challenged , naturally , because of the isolation .
[ WM ] What you ’ ve done is simply marvelous . I must admit to being immediately transported into another world upon hearing “ Leaning ”. And by that , I mean a lot of times I ' ve seen songs in the public domain where it appeared that a songwriter would think , " Oh , I ' ll take that and I ' ll add a couple lyrics , and then it ' s my song ." I call that a cheap copyright . But I must admit to being immediately transported into another world upon hearing “ Leaning ”. The sentiment and truths of integrity , and surrendering ourselves into the arms of Jesus , are so comforting and encourage listeners to be truthful and “ all in ” for Christ . What are your thoughts on this ?
[ Matt ] Yes . Definitely ! I think in an age where everyone wants to take a stand for something , it ' s something profound to fall into the arms of Jesus and let him hold you up . I ' d say one of my first good songs I wrote was “ Your Grace is Enough ”. And so that ' s been a life verse for me . Songs , for me , big songs like this , people are like , " Where do they come from ?" And I ' m