Matthew West: No Longer Silent
01-22-2008
by Kevan Breitinger
An interview spot opened up with Matthew West kind of off the cuff, and a pounding rainstorm hitting the roof of the car as he drove only heightened the spontaneous atmosphere, but he still managed to share some great insights about new album Something to Say and its back-story.
CMCentral (Kevan Breitinger): Hey, Matthew, thanks for making the time to talk. Especially since I read on your blog that you’ve done about three thousand interviews recently (laughing).
Matthew West: Well, that’s a bit of a stretch (laughing).
I bet it feels like it.
Somebody asked me if I’m getting tired of it, but it’s been so exciting to be able to share the music and the story of what’s been going on in my life that I’m not weary. Well, I’m weary, but I’m not tired of it yet, you know what I mean?
Yeah, I guess you do get to that point, but hey, you have a really great story to tell.
It is an exciting story to tell, about all that God’s been doing in my life. It’s hard for me to get tired of sharing that.
It seems to me that your heart is the heart of a communicator anyway, right?
Oh, without a doubt, which is what makes my story that much more ironic, with all that I’ve been through recently. Basically, having the heart of a communicator and having the ability to communicate taken away from me has been a challenge, to say the least.
You had a virus attach itself to your vocal cords? Is that what happened to you, Matthew?
Well, it wasn’t a virus, it was a condition caused by excessive use of my voice. Some blood vessels that were part of my vocal cords began to leak and actually hemorrhage. In layman’s terms it was basically a case of “you can’t sing, and something hurts.” (Laughing).
I found out in April of 2007 that I was going to need surgery to repair this damage if I ever wanted to sing again. That was devastating news to me. As a singer, songwriter, and communicator, it was the last thing I wanted to hear and certainly was the last thing I had planned for going into 2007. That year had been shaping up to be one of the best years of my career. I had a new record label, one of the best in the business (Sparrow), a new album that I had written all the songs for, and I was just heading into the studio to make it, and it just felt like everything was going to the next level. I already had the title for the album, and it wound up being pretty ironic: Something to Say. But here I was instead finding out that I was going to have nothing to say for several months.
Were they hopeful immediately that you’d be back in business after the recovery period or were the doctors unsure about that?
Doctors are very realistic, always considering the worst case scenario. I needed to have the surgery; it was the only way I’d ever be able to sing again. But even with the surgery, they reminded me, it was a very delicate procedure, and there were no guarantees that my voice would be restored or even sound like it had before. So needless to say, it was a time of experiencing new fears.
I had taken for granted my ability to sing, the opportunity to do what I love to do: create music. And even communicate with my family. Those things were all suddenly up in the air, and I was no longer sure that my dreams were gonna come true after all. It was a very difficult year for me.
Well, in listening to the new album, which I enjoyed, by the way, I noted its emphasis on real life stuff: unplanned pregnancies, the death of loved ones. I wondered how much of that came out of your recent challenge?
That’s been the amazing thing: the recurring motivation now to write songs from a very real place. After going through some of the weakest moments of my life, it confirmed for me that this is where I need to live as well. I’m no longer trying to run away from the brokenness in my life or in the lives of people around me, or even from the brokenness of this world. Christian music needs to have artists writing from that real place.
The amazing thing about the Christian message is that I can write about real life problems and real life stories, and some of these songs will bring to listeners a sense of the very real hope that I find in Christ. That’s the difference in Christian music. I think a lot of people associate Christian music with songs about faith. I’ve always felt called to write songs about life, but from my faith perspective. It may not sound like a very big difference, but at least in my head, it is a big difference.
That’s why there’s a song about a girl contemplating abortion, obviously a very common occurrence all around the world. What I’ve learned is that God wants to speak to us about the things that go on in our everyday lives, and often we’re surprised to find how much God wants to speak to us in our brokenness. That’s something that I’ve really come to understand more through this trial.
I always found your music to be very emotionally driven anyway. Is that because songwriting provides that kind of release for you, or are you just a very open person?
Well, I think both, to be honest with you. Songwriting is a tremendous emotional release for me and a way for me to 
communicate my heart. I think God provides us all with a voice. It’s amazing how everybody’s voice is unique to the personality and character God provided them, and part of my voice comes through my writing. Sometimes I think I can communicate more in a three-minute song than through an hour long conversation. I don’t know why that is, but it just is.
I think the temptation as an artist is to always put your best foot forward and allow people to think that you’ve got it all together, that your life is pretty much without struggle. But that wouldn’t be real, and I can’t be a writer without communicating what I’m experiencing. So I feel more than ever that God has called me to be transparent and share my story about how He brought me through my surgery and restored my voice. I’m hoping and praying that this story of brokenness and redemption can encourage somebody going through their own equivalent of a vocal surgery.
I realize that my vocal surgery is like the loss of a job for somebody else, or a broken home, or maybe a mistake that they’re having a hard time moving past. Whatever that brokenness is, if people can see how God met me in my weakest moments and changed my heart, I’m hoping and praying that it will remind them that He can do the same with them.
I’m sure that probably has everything to do with why God has brought you the success that He has. We need to keep it real, that’s the best way that we can minister to each other.
I’ve got a little friend who I wrote a song about on my last album. Her name is Taylor. She’s a little girl I met in my travels, and she has Downs syndrome. One of her favorite sayings is ‘keep it real.’ Anytime she says goodbye or whatever she sings out ‘keep it real.’ That’s gone from more than a saying to something of real significance in my life, especially coming from a little girl who doesn’t know any better but to keep it real. She wears her heart on her sleeve, always reaching out to the world.
It must have really sunk into your heart, because it’s what I enjoyed most about the new album.
Well, thank you, I appreciate hearing that that is coming through in the songs.
It definitely is, and I appreciate you taking the time for this interview unexpectedly and apparently in the midst of a massive rainstorm (laughing).
Yeah, we’re driving back to Nashville from Atlanta and it’s crazy all of a sudden.
Yeah, I can hear it. Thanks again for your time, Matthew. I really enjoyed talking with you.
Yeah, me too, I hope we can do it again soon.
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