Cindy Morgan Interview

Who Is Cindy Morgan?
Cindy Morgan debuted on the Christian music scene over 15 years ago and released six studio albums with Word Records and one with Reunion Records before self-producing Beautiful Bird as an independent artist.  Morgan is a prolific songwriting - having written songs for artists like Natalie Grant, John Tesh, Michael English, BeBe Winans, Rachael Lampa, Point of Grace and more.  Morgan was crowned Songwriter of the Year at this year’s Dove Awards.

KEY:
C> Chris
L> Leah
CM> Cindy Morgan

C> Ok - so, your last record Postcards released on Reunion Records.  You’re now on your own.  Tell us what you’ve been up to to bring us to this point in your career.

CM>  Well, as you know, half of my life is consumed with songwriting, and the other half of my life me doing the “artist” thing.  I did touring to promote Postcards but also really wanted to stay connected to songwriting for other artists, so I’ve kind of been doing lots of that and writing with different artists as well as my regular group of songwriters that I write with.  I wanted for a couple of years - you know that nagging in the back of my head (which was God) saying to do a record that I wanted to produce, not without help, but something that I would be in charge of and responsible for. 

I just really wanted to fuse all of the things about music that I love together - stuff like pop, symphonic, country, and bluegrass.  I love the way country music is written, lyrically, just great storytelling and songwriting.  But I just wanted to fuse all of that in with my Appalacian upbringing and those instruments like the dobro and the dulcimer, bring all of that in with my piano-pop.  I really felt like Postcards was a great swing at that - but I didn’t feel like I did a good job of explaining that and where I was coming from.  I really feel like with this record, I understand better who I am and what I am trying to do.  So, the only way for me to really do it was to do it myself.  That meant doing it very slow and methodical.  So, that’s what I’ve been doing for the last few months - just taking my time and getting it all right.  I’ll go in and record my piano part and other parts and experiment with different instruments to figure out what really works and what doesn’t.  I think for me, I don’t think I could ever produce anyone else’s project - I just know what in my heart and head it’s supposed to sound like for me.  So, basically, that’s what I’ve been doing since the release of Postcards.

I worked with a fantastic engineer, Stephen Leweike, who co-produced the record and was great at all the things I was bad at - so it was a great working relationship.  These are just songs that I’ve been writing on for years and feel like now is the time for them to be heard.  There’s this one song on the record that it took me eight years to write.  So, there are some that are brand new, and some that I’ve been working on for a long time. 

WOW, That’s a REALLY long sentence!

C> That’s a run-on sentence if I ever heard one!

Everyone laughs. 

C> So, what are some of the topics that you are bringing up on this new recording?

CM> Well, there’s a lot of slices of life - like, the first song on the album, called “Lay Me Down”, I co-wrote with Phil Madeira.  It’s a very O Brother, Where Art Thou? theme based on Psalm 23, “yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.”  Thematically, I feel like one of the things in my life that constantly reoccurs is not being anxious or worrying about things and my desire to have peace of mind, you know?  That song is really about working that out. 

There’s also a song called “I Wish”, that I also wrote with Phil, it’s about all the things we wish were - the second verse says “I wish there was a cure for cancer/I wish somebody had an answer/And all of God’s children never got hurt/I wish Eve never bit that apple/And young men never went to battle/And I didn’t get so mad at the world.”  I think we all have the “list” of things we wish God would take care of. 

A lot of the songs are story songs - there’s one song called “The Sun Shines Through” where the first verse is about a friend of mine who was pregnant but she and her husband ended up losing their house and everything.  It was supposed to be a time in their life that was wonderful but it had all this tragedy happening at the same time.  Like, how could you survive all of these blows?  But in the end, as long as we hold on to God, he pulls us through.  The hook is “Even when it’s raining, the sun shines through” because even in the hard times if we hold on to our faith, we’ll make it out.  Then, the second verse talks about a girl who was my Homecoming queen in high school.  It was a true story about her life.  So, yeah, that’s just a few.  It’s all pretty true to life. 

There’s a song that I wrote with my mom.  It’s a song that she did on her bluegrass record called “Two Roads”.  So, I took her chorus and put it in my song and wrote another song around it, and I sampled her voice on the song.  So, I love it, it really turned out great.  It’s kind of a “tent revival” thing.

C> Yet, at the same time - the song title itself is representative of what you did with the song.  Two roads - your mom and you coming together and creating this thing together.

CM> I never thought of that - that’s GOOD! 

L> I thought it was intentional!  I was like - “that’s such a good idea!”

Everyone laughs more.

C> Well, now you can use that and not even tell them I said that! 

CM> Yeah, “Chris and I were talking, then I said the song also represents me and my mom!

C> Yeah, exactly!

Even more laughing takes place.

So, based on your blog entries and your webpage, the song “Beautiful Bird” seems to really be having an impact on you.  Can you explain that song a little bit?

CM> Yeah, it is for a lot of reasons.  First - the birth of the song is special - I’ll try not to make this a run-on sentence.  A couple summer ago, we were in Canada and I was playing the piano and everyone else was outside.  Then, I heard something weird - and there was this bird flapping on the floor, and it was a hummingbird.  My husband came in and held it in his hand and warmed it up.  He said that its wings were just cold and they needed to be warmed up.  So, I took this incredible picture of him holding this bird and Olivia (my daughter) looking on.  So, he warms the wings, and it flys away.  End of story.  So, fast forward, six months later, Olivia brings up that bird and how she wished we could have kept it and she would have found a great cage for it.  So then, I ask her if she really thinks that bird would want to stay in a cage because birds are not meant to live in cages.  So, I started thinking of people in my life who are like that bird.  They have wings and all the mechanics to fly, but they can’t go anywhere because they have broken wings.  And that’s what the song was written about. 

Then I had a real special experience with this song - where a friend of mine who was dying with cancer - and I went up to sing this song to her.  And you never really know what do in that situation - with someone who is dying - you take very seriously what you are going to say and do with them.  I just took my dulcimer up there and I really felt like I was supposed to sing that song for her.  I just sat there by her bed and I played it.  She just wanted me to keep playing the song - and I just told her, “I know you are like that bird.”  So, it’s special, and I dedicated the song to her and her husband on the album.

Also, at the same time, my husband (Sigmund Brouwer) was writing his latest book called Broken Angel.  Well, he & I never talk about our work until it’s finished.  We are never in on the creative process of the other person.  That’s just not how we work.  So, he’s writing this book - and I told him that I wanted him to come in and listen to the demo about the song I wrote about that hummingbird (and of course I never let him in on songs I’m writing).  He heard it and was like, “you haven’t been sneaking in and reading my manuscript or anything have you?”  I was like, no, of course not.  What was so weird was that the novel and the song are mirror images of each other.  The girl in my song describes the journey that the girl in his book (Broken Angel) is on.  It was a total God thing.  So his publisher is going to do a music video, and they are going to cross-promote the book and the album.  So, that’s kind of the marketing end of the song - but it holds much more emotional connection for me.

C> So, are you pursuing any label backing or distribution?  Or are you going to remain independent?

CM> Well, I’m still figuring all of that out.  However, for now, unless something really good comes along, I really like being independent at this moment.  I really feel like I can stay in control of my music and where I want it to go.  I’m really enjoying where I’m at right now.  I’m looking for avenues of how to get it in the stores - but I don’t think I’ll go the traditional record label route.

C> Well, as you know, I’ve never been known to be a long interviewer - but I do want to leave off with one more, kind of goofy question.  What is your current musical guilty pleasure?

CM> Does it have to musical?

C> Ok, not necessarily - what’s anything that is your current guilty pleasure?

CM> OK - America’s Next Top Model

Everyone laughs.

It just cracks me up, that world they live in. 

C>  So the new album is available online on May 20 in digital form! 

CM> That’s right!

You can purchase Cindy’s new album, at her website.  For more information on Cindy, visit her webpage or log onto her MySpace.

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