It’s been more than three years since the death of his little girl, Marie, 5, in a tragic accident at their home, but Steve Curtis Chapman and his family are finally climbing out of the abyss of depression with “new music in a new season.”
“That’s what this tour is about,” Chapman said, “to let our fans know that we’re OK. I have to use my wife’s words: It’s like we are taking the first steps out of a deep, dense forest since the accident at home. (Maria was run over in the family’s driveway by a SUV driven by one of their sons.) We are in a new season with new songs, new life. We have a new grandbaby on the way. We are making some major changes at the house that have been a long time coming. In a sense we have pep in our steps. There’s more laughter at the house and that reflects in this tour.”
Chapman’s tour, Song & Stories Tour, is in support of his new album “re*creation* and features Chapman playing smaller venues while taking his music back to his Kentucky roots.
“There’s not an electric guitar on stage. It’s stripped down,” Chapman said. “I’m far more comfortable in this setting. In my biggest moment — the big arena days, the four busses and three or four semis — I was still just this kid from Puducah, Kentucky, sitting in my bedroom writing songs. I’m a singer-songwriter.
“In the arena days I had to make myself comfortable by sitting on a stool telling my stories. Now we are taking it in that direction with this tour. I’m taking these songs back to their original state — They were all written on an acoustic guitar.”
Chapman also said this tour is a way of thanking fans for all of their support during the family’s time of trial.
”I would say –not to sound overly dramatic– but we felt we were the most loved and prayed for family in the year of the accident,” Chapman said. “Our community – I don’t like to say fans because that sounds so distant and they are more like friends – there was such a sense of being lifted up and carried directly to God.
“We talk on stage about all the prayers from our fans. I’m not sure we could have survived without that. God is faithful, and I’m here to tell you that you can move forward. We will always have a huge hole in our hearts, but we have new wind in our sails and joy in our hearts.”
It was a little instrument – the ukulele – that also helped Chapman and his family rediscover the laughter in their lives.
“My dad owned a music store when I was growing up, and I would pluck around on the one that was in my grandmother’s closest. But it was only in the last year that I began seriously learning the chords,” Chapman said about the ukulele. “It’s an instrument that when you play it you can’t help but laugh and smile. And it was like God was saying it’s OK to laugh and smile — and laughing and smiling were not part of our routine. My songs got heavy. I was writing in the depths of the valley of death. I’m convinced that the reason the people in Hawaii are always smiling is because they play the ukulele — and they live in Hawaii. It’s a happy little instrument.”
An instrument Chapman used on “re*creation” to help recreate his life and family.
Along with an intimate night with Chapman, concert-goers will get a first-hand look at newcomers Andrew Peterson and Josh Wilson.
“This is unique because I am presenting two new singer-songwriters to a new audience, Chapman said. “It’s been a fun thing to watch, being on stage I can see people nudging one another saying, ‘Wow this guy is great.’ ‘I love this song.’ It’s been really rewarding for me. It’s a cool place to be, to be able to mentor these guys.”
As he approaches the 25th anniversary of his first CD release, Chapman has observed Christian music’s major transformation to a genre that encompasses everything from traditional gospel to rap and hip-hop and heavy metal.
“I came along about the toddler stage of Christian music,” Chapman said. “It was after Keith Green and Larry Norman, they were the first rockers that came out of the Jesus movement. … It was such a small community in what you could and could not do – you were limited to this little box. Right at that point Christian music started taking off. People were discovering it and finding out about it. Here were these crazy rock and rollers who were not being embraced by the Christian community – It (the music) might be from the devil. Then came DCtalk with rap music, Jars of Clay, who had a mainstream hit with “Flood.” Kirk Franklin is now expanding on gospel music…. It’s for the better.”
The growing Christian music industry caught the eye of big record labels, which began buying up the smaller labels, Chapman explained.
“So then you had more money to make better records, more money for marketing … and it just exploded. And now we use the same producers, same musicians and same studios at the mainstream artists.
“Many more artist feel freer. Before it was difficult to fit into this perfect sound, this little box…. Now you have some great artist coming to the party with their art and music.”
And of course, there is the technology aspect of the music industry. Chapman points to his sons, Caleb and Will, as beneficiaries of the Internet age.
“My sons represent the new breed of artists that have an opportunity to have their music heard where they may never have had a chance before,” Chapman said. “And I think it has made the industry more honest. You have people who are making music because they love what they are doing. Not big business making these choices for people.”
Chapman’s music is so influential and dearly loved by his fans that NASA even helped him launch his new CD “re*creation,” by inviting the singer-songwriter to the Houston Space Center. While at command central, Chapman, talked with American astronauts Ronnie Garan and Mike Fossum, who were aboard the International Space Station.
Not a bad way to launch a new season of new music and new joy in your life.
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