Interview: Bebo Norman
LTTM artist of the month Bebo Norman returns this month with his latest album, 'Lights of Distant Cities'. The singer/songwriter talked to us about the new album, songwriting and why he nearly walked away from music all together.
Tell us a little bit about your new album 'Lights of Distant Cities' and what the inspiration behind it was?
I’m not sure that I’ve sorted out quite yet what the overall inspiration was behind this record. That’s actually one of my favorite things about the writing and recording process... you sort of put your head down and pour out until it’s done, and then sit back and try to reconcile what it all means... how it all represents and speaks to what life has been the past few years. The title itself, 'Lights of Distant Cities', is a nod to all that draws us forward in life, all that stirs our hearts and peaks our imaginations in a way that reminds us that there is still so much to be hopeful for, even in a dark and confusing world.
I think maybe that’s the thing I keep coming back to in almost all of these songs... the goodness of God in the middle of everything, as the foundation for everything. I often find myself asking God why things are the way they are, why this world can seem so terrible some days and so beautiful on others; but there is a basic and simple truth that the German mystic Meister Eckhart wrote in 1300 that I kept coming back to, "if the soul could have known God without the world, God would never have created the world." Simple. Like the mystery that lays out before us in lights of distant cities that we’ve dreamed of and never seen. It pulls us forward into that mystery and reminds us that there is indeed so much to hope for.
What's your song writing process?
The songwriting process on this record might be one of the most unique things about this record for me. Most all songs for me are first inspired somewhat randomly... reading a book, watching a movie, driving down the road... mostly in solitude. And then it’s a long, slow process from inspiration to completion. This record was no different on that front except that most of the inspiration for the songs happened in one particular season in my life, and the culmination of the songs in another, quite different season. I started writing most all of these songs very much in the middle of a desert season, for lack of a better description... sort of a long, slow, mostly heady and internal digression into a spiritual wasteland that felt very fruitless.
So most of these songs were started in that season, and begged to be written about things like despair, and hopelessness, heartache, loneliness - particularly from a spiritual vantage point. I’ve always promised that I would write from an honest place, so that’s what I set out to do in the early stages of these songs. In a beautiful twist of irony, the few months leading up to the actual recording process - the months where songs are fine-tuned and finished, mostly lyrically for me - became an extremely intense season of recovery and renewal. So I have all these songs that started out (musically and lyrically) from a pretty dark place, now needing to find their final voice in places like hope and recovery.
And that was just it for me on this record... the recognition that God is indeed in the middle of both of these vastly different seasons. So the reality of the goodness of God became the adhesive that drew together ideas like despair and peace, hopelessness and hope. So this record became a group of songs that seem to deal with “grown up” issues I suppose... how to maintain hope in a world that feels so dark so much of the time, how to love my wife well, how to ache and hurt and suffer 'well', in a spiritual sense, so that my faith doesn’t spiral down towards despair. In the end I think what I ended up with were songs that speak whole heartedly to the desperation that comes with a broken desert season, but also speak to the hope that comes out of those seasons when we persevere and God shows up. So you have these individual songs where that whole process of desperation and recovery, of darkness and light, is represented within the same song. It's as if two years of this spiritual journey are contained in 3 or 4 minutes of most every song. Rarely have I ever had songs that really represent a process in motion like that, songs written in real time, rather than reflection...
Which is your favorite track on the album and why?
Rarely have I ever had songs that really represent a process in motion like that, songs written in real time, rather than reflection... where the whole story can be represented in one song.
Probably a song called 'Sing of Your Glory' because it seems to best represent for me the push and pull that is this record. The gut-level heartache that is so rampant in a world that truly seems to have 'gone dark' so much of the time are expressed in the verses of this song, but those verses run headlong into a Chorus that sings what I believe to be the absolute truth of the complete and utter goodness of God. So what I'm left with is a song where the verses are perhaps the darkest lyrics on the record (and most personal to my own struggle) and a Chorus that is perhaps the most worshipful:
When all I thought was sacred
Was shattered in the fallout
And my feet of clay the weight can no longer carry
When love is not a feeling
And hope feels like copout
The ground beneath my feet
A sudden shift and I’m buried
All my heart, and all my soul, and all my faith to pieces fall as we go...
But I’ll sing of your glory now
I’ll sing of your glory now
I’ll sing of your glory now and forever
Who are your musical influences?
Kind of all over the map... a lot of legendary (albeit probably less well known) singer/songwriters from the contemporary folk world like David Wilcox, John Gorka, Shawn Colvin, Nancy Griffith, Marc Cohn, and of course folks like James Taylor and Jackson Brown - those are all the folks whose music inspired me to be a songwriter in the first place and continue to do so. But musically the gambit is wide - from singer/songwriters like Sufjan Stevens, David Gray, and Patty Griffin to bands like The Killers, Travis, and Coldplay. As far as my contemporaries go, Gungor, Matthew Perryman Jones, Jars of Clay, Switchfoot.
How would you define success in your career as a singer?
Coincidentally or not, the years of the most commercial success were the least enjoyable for me. I lost a lot of myself in those for a lot of different reasons both personal and professional, but I think primarily because I was on the road literally all the time - 200+ shows a year keeping me gone from home nearly 300 days a year at times. I quite literally almost walked away from music during that time... all joy was gone from it. But the last 10 years have been a conscious and concerted progression toward being home more than I’m gone, not for the sake of being in my house, but for the sake of being in relationships that ground me and even help define who I am as a husband, father, believer and musician. All that said, I play no more than 50 shows a year now, sell a whole lot less records, and have found a balance in my life that isn’t just healthy... it’s fruitful and joyful. That, to me, is success on and off the stage.
In your opinion, what makes the perfect worship song?
Darkness mixed with light - the WHOLE story being told - the struggle of our existence played out on a stage of grand design and beauty.
What advice would you give to any aspiring singers or songwriters out there?
Make music that really is an honest expression of your full story. Don’t hold back the things that make you look bad... those are the things that ultimately glorify a grace-full God. And play your songs wherever you have the chance, but don’t be afraid to uproot and travel when you’re young, if you have that luxury.
You're stuck on an island, it's hot, you only have enough battery life left to listen to one song on your mp3 player. What track is it?
Rich Mullins' 'Hold Me Jesus'
What does the next year hold for Bebo Norman?
Fall is the busy season, always, but particularly this year with the new record releasing. Even still, when I’m gone on weekends, the weekdays are a similar struggle to everyone else’s. How best to balance the demands of profession and family and community. My wife has a successful career and I self-manage my music stuff, so I’m a busy stay-at-home Dad most weekdays while still trying to write, record, and keep up with artist and management demands. It’s a crazy life these days, but the time at home with my wife and two boys (Ages 5 & 3) has been far more rich than I could have imagined.
Find out more at BeboNorman.com
