was a time when I was really quarantined, like
we are now, because I had mono and I was sick
in the summer when I was nine, so it was not
unlike this year. It’s interesting, what I thought
was the worst thing that ever happened to me
in life - was the beginning. And that’s when my
Dad started teaching me guitar because I had
nothing to do at the house for three months. He
loved country music, I grew up in East Texas in
a small town of about 2,000 people, and my
Dad loved Willie and Waylon and Merle, those
were his guys, and Johnny Cash. He loved
that music, he loved The Outlaws (Waylon
Jennings, Willie Nelson, Tompall Glasser and
Jessi Colter). So naturally that was the stuff he
started teaching me to play, and one of the first
songs I can remember is “Summer Wind” by
Merle Haggard, “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain”
by Willie Nelson, and “On the Road Again”.
Those were my fourth and fifth grade talent
show songs (laughs). That’s always what I knew,
I knew the hymns at my church that I went to
and I knew these songs. Looking back, I had
no idea how cool my Dad was, The Outlaws
are so cool today and everyone looks at them
as cool cats, and then they were the rebels,
and my Dad loved it. If I go home to Texas my
Dad will pick up a guitar and “Angels Flying too
Close to the Ground” by Willie will be the very
first thing that he plays every single time. It’s just
in the roots and in the blood growing up, it’s just
what was all around our house.
[WM] And so your earliest roots are all in
Country Music, not necessarily in Gospel
Music, correct? People often don’t realize that
in the United States, these two genres are
first cousins. Early country music, then called
“hillbilly” music, was largely gospel in nature,
and people sang gospel songs alongside
songs about life in general.
The genesis of this record and songwriting is
quite unique. It was not arranged by a record
label or publisher, as so many releases are.
Instead, it was an organic chain of events that
brought about this project. Orchestrated by
God, your “chance” meeting with a country
star, and your musical worship influence
upon his and other’s lives, must have been an
incredible surprise to you. What can you tell us
about this?
[Chris] You said it perfectly because there
was nothing in this, it was really a divine
appointment, it really wasn’t something I was
looking for or even something I was thinking
about. I had just finished my tour in May of
2019, and went down to the beach on vacation
with my family in Florida. I went into the gym to
do a little workout one morning and there was
one other guy there. I thought he looked familiar.
I thought, that’s Tyler from Florida Georgia Line.
I figured our paths would cross at some point
because we know a lot of the same people
in a lot of the same circles but we had never
met. So I just walked up and I said, “Hey Tyler,
Chris Tomlin”, and from that moment on this
whole journey started and everything started
September 2020
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