Interview With Gary Chapman

MJ: Gary Chapman, thanks for joining us.

GC: Thank you.

MJ: How was the show? You just got off the stage?

GC: You know, it's great! It's a good crowd. We had a lot of fun.

MJ: Tell us how you got started in music?

GC: You know, I started singing in church when I was three. I was a preacher's kid, so it's just something I've always done.

MJ: Three years old.

GC: Yeah.

MJ: And then you started writing songs.

GC: I moved to Nashville when I was nineteen and I started writing songs then. I had written a few things before you know, in high school, but they were awful so I never played them for anybody.

MJ: You and Amy were working together before you got married. How did that come about?

GC: You know, I had written a song called Father's Eyes for her second record. It was the title for her second record. It was the title of her second record, and we met through that and toured that next summer together, and we fell in love. What can I say? And it developed into a friendship that developed into a romance that developed into a marriage almost thirteen years ago.

MJ: And how many kids later?

GC: Three. We have a seven-year-old boy, and five and two-year-old girls.

MJ: You joked from the stage about opening for your wife. Is it really humbling? Is is a tough experience for you?

GC: You know, I think life is humbling. Wow! And it's in some ways, yes, but , at the same time, it's a real honor. I mean it's a great tour and any fool would jump at the chance to be the opening act on a tour of this size and I'm the any fool.

MJ: Is it difficult to keep a marriage together with two independent artists who are on the road a lot?

GC: The track record is dismal for that. It usually doesn't work but, you know, we're thirteen years into it and we respect each other a lot. That goes a long way, and we honor each other. I mean, that's the only way any marriage will work. We might have to do it a little more aggressively that some people. They run a regular 9:00 to 5:00 but it's the same principle.

MJ: How is yours and your wife's music different?

GC: I think we probably write songs a lot the same way. Normally we wait for inspiration rather than try to squeeze it out because those songs turn out being horrible and I think hers is really more a pure pop song and mine has a little more edge to it. That's really the only big difference.

MJ: What's life on the road like? You have your family with you?

GC: They're with us, and it's nuts. It's kind of a state of ordered chaos. You know, we've got three small children on one bus, We have one bus that's for the family and, you know, there are toys and kid's movies going on all the time, so it's romper room.

Music an Honest Reflection

MJ: What's your music like? How would you describe your music?

GC: I think it's very direct lyrically, it's very simple and pretty unadorned musically. I like it to be reasonably aggressive.

MJ: Do you have any major themes that you like to write about in your music?

GC: I write about a lot of things. The things that go on my record, it's basically commitment, you know, I'm committed to my wife and my children. My God, my friends, and I don't put God third. Obviously he should go first, in my opinion. I try not to be judgmental at all because I realize that everybody is kind of on their own spiritual spot and, you know, you can't force someone into a spiritual place. But I'm trying to be honest. I wanted to be an honest reflection of where I am in life, and that's what it is.

Songwriter for Almost 20 Years

MJ: How many albums have you released?

GC: Four. I did two in the early 80's, I did a country record in '86 for RCA, and then this record.

MJ: And you've written songs for other artists as well?

GC: Yeah, yeah, I've been a songwriter for, wow, almost 20 years so I've written a lot of songs.

MJ: More country artists or rock artists?

GC: A lot of country artists, some pop, you know, Vanessa Williams, I've had Kenny Rogers cuts, Alabama.

MJ Do you want your kids to grow up as musicians?

GC: No, but I think they might. They seem to love it. I kind of was going to steer them away from it and now I'm getting back. You know, I just want them to be happy with whatever they do.

Loves Whole Process

MJ: What's the best part of your job? What do you like the most - writing, recording, playing?

GC: Whatever I'm doing at the time. I really have not been able to answer that question except for that because I love the recording process, I love playing live, I love to just hole up and write a song. I like every bit of it.

MJ: You like the road?

GC: I do love the road, yeah. Yeah, it's hard physically but, you know, you figure out how to get past that. I work out a lot. I run every day, try not to eat late at night and all the stuff that you really you should do all the time anyway, but the road brings its own discipline because there are such limitations as to what you can do because of the schedule.

MJ: What were your early years like? Did you want to do what you're doing now?

GC: You know, I think so. I think that's the only think I ever seriously entertained. Because my father was a minister there probably was the thought that that might be what I winded up doing and, to some degree, maybe I am, but music is definitely my vocation.

MJ: Did you rebel against your father's beliefs and occupation?
GC: No, not al all. He's a great guy. I did my own rebellion but it certainly wasn't against him.

Writes Quickly

MJ: You have plans for a new album coming out soon. Tell us about that and any touring plans.

GC: Yeah, it's almost finished, actually. I had about ten days before the tour began and I was going to just get it started, you know, just under say, and we got on the road, and I'm actually almost done.

MJ: Take us through a song. You get the idea, you write it. Take us through the process of it.

GC: I normally write it very quickly. I used to work really hard at songs and then I found out that the ones, like I said earlier, that you work at the hardest nobody likes them. So I wait for a great idea and then I write it pretty quickly. Sometimes I will demo it, sometimes it'll just be a guitar and vocal. I've got a studio on the farm where we live, so that's good to have access to that.

My producer works there everyday. Whether he's working on my project or not, he works at my studio, Michael Lamardio, so he's always there. We work a lot together. We normally will begin to put the idea down the tape and by the time we're finished with the demo we go. "I guess that's actually the record, isn't it?" That's the way it has happened so far.

Nutty Nashville

MJ: The Nashville music scene, you've been there for long time now. What's happening lately? What's changing?

GC: It's incredible! IT is so much fun! It's still a pretty sleepy town in some regrads. It's not like a bustling metropolis, but musically it has been really awakened in the past five or ten years. Tons of people from L.A. have moved out I think because the loud music scene has really come a long way and because of what's happened to country music partially. But tons of pop people, folk singers, black gospel, everything which you can imaging, of course, bluegrass. You can't walk without kicking a songwriter. It's just nuts! It's really fun right now.

MJ: Gary, thanks for joining us.

GC: Thanks you. Appreciate it.