Q & A about Caleb Collins — “Classic”

1. Tell me a little bit about your background. What drew you to music? I grew up in a very musical church, and I always wanted to sing and play on the platform at church. I started taking lessons when I was about 5 years old, and started playing in church when I was 12. I knew from a very early age that I had a calling on my life, and I knew that I wanted to pursue music.

2. Who are some of your influences? Andraé Crouch, Ray Boltz, Keith Green, Michael W. Smith, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra

3. How has your work as a worship leader impacted the music you write? Being a worship leader has allowed me to workshop my songs in a church, and see how they go over. Sometimes songs sound great in a writing room, but people don’t get them in a church setting. By being with the people every Wednesday and Sunday, it helps me write from their level, and I can see a perspective other than my own.

4. How did you choose the hymns for your new project, Caleb Collins — Classic? I chose the hymns that meant something to me. They were either songs I used in my prayer time, or songs I played in my room, dreaming of creating an album. These songs spoke to me during times of growth, through my failures, and at so many different stages in my life. They really played a major role in my spiritual and musical development.

5. The style of your CD is in a style similar to crooners like Michael Buble’ and Harry Connick, Jr. What made you go in that direction? I’ve always loved the old classic love songs, and played them at countless weddings. I wanted to make a CD of classic hymns done in this same timeless style. These hymns are still relevant today, and will be sung long after I’m gone. I hope to contribute to their longevity and timeless message.

6. What do you hope people who purchase your CD take away from listening to it? This project will bring back precious memories to those who grew up with hymns, but have not heard them lately with so much emphasis on new praise and worship. I wanted to create arrangements that would appeal to all generations, and help bridge the gap between all genres. I hope it’s something they play over and over, and then pull out 10 years later, and fall in love with it over again.

7. How has God used music to minister to you personally? Music is my way of experiencing the presence of God. It takes me directly to the throne room, and it’s a vehicle to depths of the spirit. And I love that I can use that tool to help lead others into that sacred place. When you are experiencing any emotion, anointed music can help solidify the mood even more. It brings comfort, rest and renewal.

8. What are some things God is teaching you now? God has really been teaching me the power of surrendering to his will, and being obedient. I’m at a very simplistic time in my life, where I can focus on what’s truly important to me. I’m developing discipline and striving to be a good steward of my gifts. I’ve been placed in the town of Adamsville for this season of growth, and I’ve been investing in the lives of numerous people there. It has been my cocoon of creativity, and allowed me to really develop my ministry and gifts. I’m learning that we have the ability to change our environments. I we aren’t satisfied with who or what we are, God has given us the keys to our own destiny, and we have the power to change it.

Stories behind the songs

“I Will Still Trust In You”

This song has had an interesting evolution. It was birthed in the basement office of my church in Twin Falls, Idaho, where I would spend hours on the keyboard there; writing and preparing the music for services each week. The song was originally entitled “You’ll Be There” and I had recorded it on a CD that I only gave to my close friends.

When I got to Nashville a few years later, and I played the song for a publisher, he suggested that I rewrite the song to strengthen the lyrics. So, he arranged for me to co-write with Marty Funderburk, an established writer with a long string of hits.

It was my first Nashville co-writing session. Over several cups of coffee, Marty masterfully reworded several of my original ideas, mixing them up and adding his own voice to the song. The final product ended up far stronger lyrically than I had imagined. It’s a song of testimony and belief; an anthem of faith amid struggle.

The song was demoed and pitched to several artists over the last few years, but never found a home until Reggie and Ladye Love Smith recorded it this year. I knew that it was a song that I needed to record personally. The words are simple to say, but take on a whole new dynamic when paired with experience.

As I orchestrated the song, I tried to keep the string parts as simple as possible. I didn’t want them to take away from the message of the song. You almost don’t realize that the strings are there. They sneak in and give a sense of tender depth to the song. The strings soar through the choruses and surrender to the vulnerability of the last few phrases.

“My Love”

One winter morning as I rolled out of my fluffy down comforter, I picked up a devotional written by a dear friend of mine, Kim Foust. I opened to where I had left off the day before, and began reading about God’s acceptance for His children. It was so refreshing to be reminded of all the scriptures that reassure us of the vastness of God’s love. How nothing can separate us from that love. Nothing. Did you read that correctly? Did it sink in? Nothing.

God’s love is so pursuing that it follows us through the darkest, most self-destructive times of our lives. As far as we may try to run from God’s purpose for us, He never gives up in this divine love pursuit. It is the goodness of God that leads us to make right choices. God chose one attribute to define himself: love. And as imitators of Christ, we are to take on that same attribute, and fill our world with the love that we have been given. Nothing pierces the darkness of selfishness and pride like love. God exudes love, it pours out from every crevice of His being.

But why is it so hard to simply accept God’s love for us? We see all the reasons why we don’t deserve his love. We see our past, a map of wrong roads taken. We see the shame that our choices have brought upon us, and we wonder how an all-powerful creator could find any fragment of worth in the rubble and dust of our collapsed existence.

But we were created fragile and fallible. The all-knowing God who knew our names before our conception, placed in us the ability to fail and make mistakes. He knew we would fail before he created us, and yet still chose to breathe life into us. He’s not scared of our humanity.

I wanted to take this very tough-to-accept truth, and make it upbeat and sing-able. The song is full of scripture that serves to remind us of God’s intimate love for us. Just as you are, you are loved. God’s not waiting for you to become perfect before he loves you completely. When he looks at you, he sees only the cross and the blood of Christ. He is righteousness for us.

So, stop allowing the enemy to tear you down day after day. You are not less than a child of God. You are loved immensely, completely, incomparably, vastly, and so intimately. So, go out and extend that same love and acceptance to everyone you come in contact with. Let His love become yours.