Jesusfreakhideout.com Music News, January 2008: Matthew West

Matthew West Finds True Voice on SOMETHING TO SAY
Vocal chord surgery, two months of complete silence speak into prolific singer/songwriter’s best work yet

NEWS SOURCE: Sparrow Records
January 4, 2008

Matthew West, singer of hit songs like “More” and “Only Grace,” wasn’t sure he’d ever sing again when doctors found a polyp on his vocal chords last spring that required surgery and two months of prescribed silence. But he’s back with a bold new album, Something To Say, in stores January 15, 2008.

“It was foundation shattering,” West says about that season of not knowing if his full voice—so recognizable to popular Christian music fans today—would return. “I found myself surrounded by questions like, ‘What if I can’t sing anymore? What if I can’t provide for my family?’ But I felt this recurring message on my heart saying, ‘Don’t even ask for answers. Just be with Me. Be still. I am using your voice, even when you can’t hear it.’”

Indeed, West’s voice did return along with a greater passion for the faith that he sings about.

“I wanted to write songs that weren’t afraid to talk about real life,” Matthew says. “Real struggles. Real issues. Real problems. Because every song about real life is an opportunity to sing about the real Hope that can be found in Jesus.”

Something To Say is led by first single “You Are Everything” and other real life song stories like “Life Inside You” and “A Friend in the World.” Other standout cuts include “The Moment of Truth,” a ballad entitled “Stop the World,” and the energetic title track.

“It’s the brokenness of our lives that God uses to give us Something To Say to the world,” West says. “I was sitting in church one Sunday after my surgery when my pastor read a quote from C. S. Lewis. ‘God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.’”

Following the album’s release, West will join the 26-city Boomin’ Beyond Measure Tour of the United States with tobyMac and Jeremy Camp on February 7. Also a prolific writer whose tunes have been cut by Rascal Flatts, Billy Ray Cyrus, and Mandisa, he recently wrote a song for the next Veggie Tales film, The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything (which hits theaters January 11th).

Check concert dates, and get links to Something To Say pre-order deals, audio previews, video documentaries, and more at MatthewWest.com.

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