Steven Curtis Chapman's 'Signs of Life'

‘You can run with the big dogs

You can fly with the eagles

You can jump through all the hoops

And climb the ladder to the top

But when it all comes down

You know it all comes down to the walk.’

"The Walk," Steven Curtis Chapman

Winter 1997

By Frank "Buzz" Trexler
for The (Maryville, TN) Daily Times

It was in the midst of baseball season and Steven Curtis Chapman found himself two strikes down in his walk.

"This one was one of the first times that I realized in the process of creating a labor of love that I’m also a little bit of a creative addict," Chapman recalls about his work on "Signs of Life," his latest CD. "That whole creative process is very addicting and it’s not unlike other drugs, it can sort of numb you or anesthetize you to everything else going on in your life.

"Being a father, a husband, one who even writes very honestly in my music about my concerns for not losing focus of that commitment in my life, I think this record project was one of the first times where I really realized my potential for just saying the words," Chapman said in a recent interview from Spokane, Wash., while on his "Signs of Life" tour.

The 34-year-old singer-songwriter said that in the midst of writing a song about being a good husband and father, he found himself "consumed with being a perfectionist," checking over and over to ensure there were no "unturned stones."

"And in the meantime, my kid’s standing on third base, saying, ‘When’s Dad gonna get here,’" Chapman said.

For him, it apparently drove home the truth of "The Walk."

"We took a lot of breaks for baseball games; it was right at baseball season," he recalled. "Somewhere you gotta say, ‘Enough is enough. This is gonna have to do.’"

Chapman credits his wife "who loves me enough to say, ‘You know this song’s really nice, but here’s what we need from you … and I feel like you’re kind of disconnected from what’s going on right now in the family."

A winning ‘season’

Having an understanding and loving family is certainly key to Chapman in this "season" of his life: He’s in the midst of a tour with Carolyn Arends and Audio Adrenaline that will bring them to Thompson-Boling Arena on Feb. 28.

It’s obvious that the adjustment in his "Walk" did nothing to hinder his newest creation, and may have even strengthened his work.

Chapman, who has won 28 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards and three Grammy Awards, received seven Dove nominations Tuesday night. He recently netted his seventh Grammy nomination for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album of the Year with "Signs of Life."

‘McCracken County sound’

The Paducah, Ky., native began work on his latest project with the idea of writing the music he always wanted to write. It was a process that took him down the musical McCracken County roads of his past, but revisited few themes of his earlier recordings.

He did this by changing the manner in which he writes. "I kept the guitar in my hands a whole lot more during the writing of this record," he said, rather than writing in his head and going to the tape recorder.

Chapman said he tried different chord changes, noting that "some of them I didn’t even know what they were called; you know, they just sounded cool."

The result could be called a taste of "the McCracken County sound."

"That’s a phrase that my dad, who is a man of many phrases’ coined at one point when I was I was first really beginning to do well with my career," Chapman recalled. "Dad said, ‘Oh, you know what it is, it’s that McCracken County sound that they’re responding to.’

Chapman confides that "nobody knows for sure what it is, but it’s definitely sort of a folk, bluegrass, rock kinda infusion all put together."

One of Chapman’s earliest memories is of a dobro guitar "moaning in the kitchen" where his father and friends would write their music. In fact, he said, his musical life is awash in acoustical sounds – sounds that permeate "Signs of Life" in songs such as "Lord of the Dance," "The Walk" and "Rubber Meets the Road."

"All of that kind of goes in together to create the mysterious McCracken County sound," Chapman said.

A return to prison

There is one song that is similar in content to a past Chapman work: "Free," like "Remember Your Chains" on "Heaven in the Real World," was influenced by Chapman’s work with Chuck Colson’s Prison Fellowship Ministries.

Chapman says it is in the performance of "Free" in concert that the song’s impact is felt.

"‘Free’ is probably the song that is the point in the concert where all of us sense … that something beyond music and entertainment is going on," he says, his voice dropping a bit. "You see a lot of tears; you see a lot of people really prayerfully considering the impact of that song and the lyric of that song."

The most poignant memory Chapman has of the song occurred even before the piece was recorded.

"I played this song ‘Free’ in a maximum-security prison in South Carolina," he recalls. "I was in the last chorus of this song and then the inmates all stood on their feet and began to applaud.

"You could just see the tears flowing," he said. "There were very few dry eyes in the room, including all the volunteers that were there as well.

"It was a very profound experience of the presence of God and the reality of this song."

It all comes down to the walk ...

Steven Curtis Chapman's 'Signs of Life'

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