Tom: When I was trying to think of an appropriate artist name several years ago, along with a description of who we are as an artist, it occurred to me that we have a lot of things in common with The Alan Parsons Project. By then, Donn had sung lead vocals for seven of my songs, and I had hired six different female singers to sing lead and/or background vocals for nine of my songs because Donn and I felt that one or more female vocalists would be a better fit for those songs. Plus, we both preferred the diversity that a mix of male and female vocalists would create.

Tom: Two years before I gave my first song to Donn for him to produce (which I wrote in 2007), I had started writing three other worship songs, but I wasn't confident that any of them were good enough to be produced. One of those songs was essentially done by the time he had finished creating his arrangement for my first song. When he was done with that arrangement, he asked me what else I had. So I shared with him the one that I had recently finished writing. He then said, "Let's work on that one next." For the next four years, this same scenario occurred repeatedly until I had written fourteen worship songs that he produced. Two of those songs ended up having multiple arrangements with different vocalists.

Tom: The main artists that have influenced my songwriting and music preferences the most are the early Jesus Music artists, which would primarily include Love Song, Chuck Girard, The Way, Lamb, Paul Clark & Friends (with Phil Keaggy), Randy Matthews, Barry McGuire, Malcolm and Alwyn, Harvest Flight, Petra, Keith Green, and several other lesser-known artists. Also, the Vineyard Worship group was a major influence during the 80s and 90s.

Donn Halliburton: My influences ranged from 60s rock and folk/rock to 70s prog/rock and alternative music throughout the 80s and 90s.

Tom: First, I want to say that I have a lot of respect for Matt Redman because his song "The Heart of Worship" is one of my favorite worship songs. Plus, the lyrics to that song are very close to expressing the same motivation behind all of the songs on this worship album project. The only difference is the line "It's all about You," which would have become "It's focused on You" if I had written that song.

When I heard "Blessed Be Your Name" on the radio for the first time about twenty years ago, I knew from the line "You give and take away" in the bridge that it was based partly on the book of Job and his determination to worship the Lord in spite of all the tragic losses that had just occurred to him and his wife. However, I didn't know until a few years ago that this song was intended to be a song of lament because it was written a few weeks after 9/11, with the spiritual and emotional climate of those dark days being an important factor in birthing it. The impression I got from this song's lyrics, though, is that it's essentially a sacrificial expression of praise to God regardless of one's circumstances, which is exactly what Job did when he blessed the name of the Lord after he heard about all of his tragic losses that had recently occurred. (This is probably why it's such a popular congregational worship song.) But every time I heard this song on the radio, I kept thinking about those places in the Psalms where God's name is blessed in response to His goodness and His marvelous works. These thoughts became so persistent that I eventually started saying to myself and to the Lord, "If I ever have the opportunity and the ability, I would write a song with the same title but from the perspective of the way it was used in the Psalms." So, after the Lord enabled me to discover my ability to write songs on a semi-regular basis in January 2013, that's what I did with "Blessed Be Your Name" when He led me to start writing worship songs in 2015.

Tom: Sure. "How Can It Be?" is one of the most unusual songs on the album because numerous chord changes were needed to accommodate the unique flow of the song's melody. So I was surprised but also grateful when I read that it's your personal favorite. Others have told me the same thing, so you're not alone. :-)

I wrote this song in June 2017 after Donn had finished creating his arrangement for the first song that I had given to him. Ever since I became a worship leader and discovered Jesus Music during my Bible college days in the mid-1970s, I've had a burning desire to express my love for music and my passion for biblical truth in a tangible and impactful way. So, when I heard the final version of that first song with all of the vocals in their place and all of the instrumental enhancements that he made to it, I was simply blown away by how good it sounded. As a result, I couldn't help but reflect on my past with thankfulness and praise to the Lord for all He had done in my life from the time that I was born again and got hooked on music at the age of seven until that moment. As I reflected on my journey through all those years, along with the paths I took to pursue my interests and the outcomes of those pursuits, this song came to me.

Tom: Besides being a source of encouragement, edification, education, and exhortation, my first hope and prayer is that these songs will implant in the heart of each listener a burning desire to pursue a deeper, more intimate, and more authentic relationship with Jesus and the Father. My second hope and prayer is that these songs will persuade worship leaders to recognize and embrace the immense value and supreme importance of genuine worship songs that are focused on God and/or Jesus.

Tom: This album project has been in the making for over ten years, and it's the first music project that I've had the pleasure of working on in my entire life. So, there have been times when I was concerned because of how long it was taking us to complete it so that I could start releasing my songs, and even after I started releasing them. This happened to me twice recently (once in March of last year and once in March of this year), but both times turned out to be a blessing in disguise because of the substantial improvements that ended up being made to some of my songs as a result. Also, the first time this happened, it resulted in an overall change to my release strategy from an aggressive and stressful three-year timeframe to a laid-back and relaxed five-year timeframe. So, God has been teaching me not to allow myself to be overcome with frustration and anxiety when my song release plans don't work out when and how I had intended them to.