Hannah Hobbs is one of Hillsong Church ’ s key songwriters and worship leaders , having cowritten the songs “ Wake ,” “ Love Goes On ” and “ Thank You Jesus .” She is the Creative Pastor of Hillsong ’ s City Campus in Sydney . With over 300M global streams already to her songwriting credits , her “ Broken Into Beautiful ” devotional anthem of restoration is elevated to new heights with the addition of Darlene ’ s voice . Her Broken Into Beautiful EP has recently been released .
[ Alex ] I ’ m so happy to see you today . Thank you for joining me . Let ’ s begin with talking about a song . I ’ m going to start right off with your song medley , “ Give Thanks ” and “ Thank You , Jesus .” It is just wonderful , and extremely moving to me . Was the section that bridges the two songs and proclaims the goodness of God , unscripted and spontaneous ? Tell us about this composition .
[ Hannah Hobbs ] Alex , it ’ s nice to see you and yes , it was absolutely unscripted and spontaneous . That recording came from just a night of worship . We had about 120 people packed into a studio room , and we had really prayed and prepared for that night . We knew everyone who was coming by name . I invited everyone individually , and we were just believing a miracle on the night . There were some people who were sick , who were facing really dire situations , and even needs just as simple as a young married couple who ’ d been trying to buy a house for 12 years and just couldn ’ t crack into the real estate market . And they were believing for a home for their family . And so we were just really prayerful over the whole night . But to answer your question , that moment , “ Give Thanks ” was a newer song for me . And then “ Thank You Jesus ” was a song
that I had written and sung with Hillsong almost 15 years ago . And so it felt really beautiful to connect two songs together , obviously both focused on this sense of gratitude towards God . We just worshiped and it felt fitting just to sing at that moment from my heart . Thank you . Thank you for this specific attributes of God , for His power and His mercy . And yeah , I ’ ve only listened to it once or twice since , but it was absolutely a spur of the moment thing that was just beautiful .
[ WM ] And the song “ Let It Be Lovely ” comes from that same deep lyrical well . Tell us about the song and how you came to use a Gretsch White Falcon guitar ?
[ Hannah ] Okay . Two wonderful questions . First of all , the guitar . I would love to talk about the guitar . So I guess growing up , one of my heroes was this guy called Michael Guy ( Chislett ). He produces a lot of music and has done a lot of the Hillsong United records and Hillsong worship records over the years . He ’ s also been in this band called The Academy Is for a long time , but that was kind of separate to the church and worship stuff . He toured for a long time with them , and a guy called Butch Walker . And anyway , his ( Gretsch ) Signature guitar that he plays is this beautiful White Falcon . We were workshopping songs for the recording , and he was the producer on the record . He also played guitar on the record too . I said to him , “ What if I use that ?” I was pointing at his guitar . And he was like , “ Yeah .” I ’ ve played guitar for 20 years and have always loved playing . It ’ s kind of my first love and so it was just a thrill to play that guitar and his guitar that I ’ d watched from a distance for so many years . So that was really special .
[ WM ] Oh yeah . That ’ s awesome . And then the song ?
[ Hannah ] The song , yeah . I wrote with a friend of mine , a Nashville gal called Leslie Jordan . She ’ s probably known for writing on that song called “ Great Are You Lord ,” which a lot of people sing in church these days and have done for a long time . It was a short Zoom session , maybe just 60 minutes , Sydney to Nashville , and just at the very last minute just before we recorded the record . And then she said , “ I ’ ve got this idea . Let every song , let it be lovely .” And I loved it , and we wrote it super quick . I walked out , I played it for my husband . He was like , “ Wow , you really like that ? That ’ s a great song .” So , it just feels like a pure , simple prayer to God , help me keep my heart pure and sweet .
[ WM ] Wonderful . Well , back to the guitar . Do you have any additional guitars of choice ?
[ Hannah ] Yeah , so for about 15 years I ’ ve played a Martin , the John Mayer Signature Martin . I bought that guitar on a whim . I bought it over the phone . I ’ d seen another guy play it at church and I picked it up once and I just loved it . So at the time , there was this Martin distributor in Australia based in Perth . I ’ m on the other side of the country in Sydney , and I just called him up and I said , “ This is the guitar I want .” He said , “ I ’ ve got four of them . Do you want me to just play all four ? You ’ re just going to have to trust me that the one I pick really is great .” I liked his vibe over the phone , and I said , “ Okay , great !” So they shipped it off and I picked it up . I remember the moment I played it for the first time and I just loved it . So since then I ’ ve purchased other instruments . I ’ ve got another similar looking , same shape , dark wood . And I actually had a friend of mine , a well-known artist in Sydney . She painted this beautiful floral design on it . Yeah , it ’ s beautiful . So I ’ ve got other instruments . I ’ ve got this , I just purchased this in Nashville , the Gretsch Jim Dandy . Give Thanks / Thank You Jesus Let It Be Lovely
[ WM ] I have one of those . I have that exact
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