Interview with Jason Gray - Part 1 [Gourmet Music Report #30]

Just 1 month ago I got to see Jason Gray play live for the first time. The weird thing was it felt like I had seen him many times over, thanks to his 2008 CD Acoustic Storytime, which gives you a front-row seat for his live solo act. It was less than a year ago when I even heard about Jason, and since then I have fallen head-over-heels in love with his music and ministry. Here's some of our conversation with Jason:

DT: What do people need to know about Jason Gray?
JG: One of the unique things I get to do is talk to my audiences about weakness. I grew up with a speech handicap known as stuttering. I wasn't sure how this could work (with God's calling on my life). I meet people all the time, like myself, who are afraid that because of our weakness and brokenness, we are disqualified from doing anything significant in God's kingdom, but I believe that God calls us not in spite of our weakness, but because of it. It's in our weakness that he reveals His grace and His strength.

DT: Tell me about the Acoustic Storytime album.
JG: We wanted to capture the storytelling element - what you won't hear on a regular album. Basically we wanted to build the album around that and have it only be me and my guitar. I didn't have a lot of budget to work with on that one, so we recorded a week of live shows for a small amount of money and we basically had to use what we got. So at the end of it, I was so insecure about that record because there's no band, it's just me. When we released it I was so scared that people weren't going to be into it. It's the first album that I released that said, "I hoped no one actually buys it." [laughing] It's ironic because I talk all the time about how God uses our weakness, yet I was scared to release this album that had a lot of weakness and revealed more humanity than I cared to. What has been a wonderful grace to me is that it's my most popular record, so what do I know. [laughing] I was so happy to be wrong about that record and I'm grateful for how it's been received.

DT: Your new CD Everything Sad is Coming Untrue is out. Are you excited about getting these new songs out?
JG: I think its going to be my best record, because I was blessed to work with great artists on this record who I collaborated with on the songwriting. I think it's my best group of songs, I'm grateful for that, excited about it.

Come back here next week for Part 2 of the interview. Also, tune in to "Under The Radar" beginning 10/2/09 as Jason Gray joins us as our special guest.  [www.RadarRadio.net]