‘Don’t Stop Believin’’ – The faith journey of Jonathan Cain

CCM: The results of this remarkable re-dedication can be found all throughout What God Wants To Hear. What do you hope this album is going to do for folks who share your faith and also for those who have different beliefs?
JC: Here’s my thing. [I hope] I can make their walk with God a little bit closer and maybe attract somebody back to the Lord or who hasn’t thought about God in a while. I had some people come over every now and then when I was recording the album and some were saying, “Man, that moved me, I haven’t actually had a song make me think of God that way.” Ah-ha! If I have one person that happens to, then I’ve done my job. That’s my hope that it can minister to people and bring them closer to God, to the Word, and to the Kingdom.

CCM: How familiar have you been with contemporary Christian music? Are there any artists that you’ve especially come to like over the years, or is this sort-of a new entrance for you?
JC: It’s kind-of a new entrance. People always would compare me to Michael W. Smith over the years, and when I put out my [mainstream solo albums], they said I sounded like him. So I looked him up and said, “Wait a minute, he sounds like me!” The piano sounded like Journey and there are a lot of similarities in our style. Also, I was always a huge fan of Andraé Crouch. I thought he had an amazing career, but other than that, not a lot. I also realized that a lot of the ‘60s soul music and rock n’ roll came out of church. A lot of the great singers of the soul era were trained in church and you can hear it.

CCM: What were your musical and lyrical goals with this new project?
JC: I wanted to just have an intimate encounter with God musically and not get a bunch of co-writers and ideas and bang them around and do all of that because this is just my walk with God. I wanted to keep it on an intimate level, pure with only the words that He gave me. And it was a different kind of album for me because it came with the lyrics first. I’m used to writing the music and finding a lyric that fits. In this case, it was all dictation that I was just taking down, and it was coming weekly [faster than ever]. Soon, I had enough to start doing a praise and worship album, so Paula gave me a Sunday or two to perform them. I called [former Journey drummer] Deen Castronovo, who’s out of rehab and finding the Lord again, and we started singing in church.

Cain (upper-left) with Journey in the early 80s

I wanted to keep my style in it, but I also wanted to be true to the Word and not water it down with any fluffy stuff like, “Let’s be vague and write a love song, but we don’t know who it’s to—the word ‘God’ is no where to be found, but it’s about God, trust us!” Okay, what is that? I’m old school, so I don’t quite get that. I understand it’s probably a millennial thing, maybe that’s what they’re going for, but that’s not what I’m about. The Bible’s just full of such great stuff. There’s even a song called “Sanctify,” and most Christians won’t even say the word “sanctification.” That’s like, almost taboo—why? It shouldn’t be. Through justification, we are sanctified. I like the word, I thought it sounded cool, and I made a rock song for Jesus out of it. There it is, sue me (laughter)! If people want to come out and judge me because of my love for the Lord and my sowing into the Kingdom, then they’ve only got one Person to answer to. I ain’t going away, and this is the first of many. I hope to maybe have some of these songs get sung in church by other bands and I hope to leave this music to be a lasting legacy as my love for God.

CCM: What do the rest of the Journey guys think of your current musical and personal direction?
JC: Um, I don’t know. I think they pretty much stay in their lane with that. They know I had a profound shift in my life. I needed to change. I wasn’t happy. They see me smile and they see me a different guy out there on stage. They know that much and they respect it. They respect what I’m doing.

CCM: Would you ever incorporate spirituality into your songwriting with the band?
JC: No, no. Journey’s Journey. It will always be. It always has an identity. This music also has its identity and it has its truth. My job as a steward of the music is to keep the truth and identity pure, so no, I would not co-mingle. But I certainly would like to get back into production and hopefully my studio [Addiction Sound in Nashville] can be a new beacon on the hill for Christian music, and maybe this label [Identity Records] that I’m starting can make some waves. I’ve been inspired by what the Jesus Culture people have done. Kim Walker-Smith is a friend of ours and what she’s been able to accomplish is just amazing. If the Lord’s opening doors like that, then I’m gonna keep knocking.