Songs have been instrumental at different times in my life. When I was young, I remember hearing Billy Joel. He was the first pop artist I remember hearing that actually had songs that made sense and had a point. Some of his songs were fun, but a lot of them were profound, like “Honesty,” “She’s Always a Woman,” or “Goodnight Saigon,” to name just a few. For some reason, his songs connected with me and pointed me down a path of wanting to write songs that were well crafted, not abstract, and that would connect in a deeper way with the listener. That’s probably why I later connected well with country music in the 90’s.

In the late ’90’s I’ll never forget hearing Chris Rice’s song, “Deep Enough to Dream.” The song was like the best picture of heaven I’d ever heard. That song marked a turning point in my desire to become an artist for the church as opposed to a mainstream country artist. It also showed me that in the same way that Chris expressed his himself in a way that was unique to him, that I could genuinely be the unique artist that God created me to be. I was actively trying to become a country artist at that time, and pretty soon after hearing that song I began to seek to discover what type of artist I was naturally. Chris Rice helped me learn to be myself because of writing that song.

When I heard Switchfoot’s song “Meant to Live” I was able to begin to see that Christian influenced art didn’t have to target the church alone. As a Christian artist, I could reach out through my music in a way that could be received by others even if they disagreed with my worldview. Maybe more songs like these could start a person’s movement toward coming to know Christ when we as Christian writers take away some of our restrictions of what is and isn’t acceptable for us to write about.

The artists you will discover on this site have some powerful songs on their albums. Most of these artists aren’t even touring right now. For many they’ve chosen to live a life based around family, the local church, and service to God, as opposed to pursuing a major label contract. This doesn’t diminish to me the power behind the songs they’ve written, and fortunately they don’t have to tour or be signed to be heard with the advent of the internet age. We hope you find some inspiration here, maybe find songs that will impact your life in ways similar to the way they’ve impacted mine.

Matt Black