CCM: So, what’s it feel like to now be stepping out of the cabin with this new and personal material?
MW: Honestly, I always get super-nervous before I put a record out. After it’s done, I start to criticize. I’m my own toughest critic, but honestly, I’m kind of feeling different this time, and maybe it’s because of some of the enthusiasm that I’m sensing even from my record label around this album. I’m thankful to have a team around me that doesn’t over-hype things, you know? I don’t have people going, “Dude, this is the greatest album in the history of the world!” But, I do have my trusted people around me that are saying, “Man, there’s some special things on this record. This feels like we’re about to head into a season of great things, and these songs are going to speak to people.”

So, I think I’m still nervous, just because I’m weird like that. You know, you’d think that I’d sort-of cross a barrier where I could rest and go, “Man, okay. There’s enough people that have informed me that they like my music. It’s okay. You don’t have to worry.” But I think I’ll always be nervous about that. But, for the most part, I’m really fired up about it because at the end of the day, as a creative person, as an artist, as a songwriter, all you can do is be as honest as you know how to be and hope that that resonates with people. I feel like that’s taken place on this record. It’s spoken to me, and so, I think that’s what gets me more excited—to see how it’s going to speak to other people because it spoke to me first.

Writing that book unlocked something for me, and then I also think that this record has just taken me to different places musically. I don’t know that I’ll always knock it out of the park 100% of the time, but my goal is never to travel the same ground twice musically or lyrically. Hopefully people can say, “Okay, I may not like every one of his songs, but he’s always coming out with something that’s a unique statement both musically and lyrically,” and I hope that’s the case this time. There’s elements of this record that are way more pop than I’ve done in the past, and then there’s elements of this record that are straight up singer-songwriter, almost country kind-of vibe. I love that in today’s [music] industry there’s a freedom to be all across the board, you can be as eclectic as you want to be.

CCM: We look forward to that duet with Alan Jackson, then…
MW: Oh, yeah!

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