TobyMac makes it about the passion
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TobyMac is the kind of artist who believes that lasting music shouldn’t be rushed.
His latest record, “Portable Sounds,” was over a year in the making.
“I really like to take my time to make sure that it’s exactly what I want it to be,” he said in a phone interview on his way to rehearsal. “I wanted it to have a really lush and full sound with a lot of layering.”
That’s why “Portable Sounds” has horn samples laid out over live horn sounds, sampled strings over real strings.
“It’s arranged in an old school way, but mixed new school,” he said. “The goal was to make it as passionate, as
authentic and as real-life as possible.”
Especially real-life.
“So much about my music is about my life and my friends,” he said. “The joy is in it. The pain is in it. The struggle is in it, and the over-coming is in it. My faith is a real part of it.
“All of that ultimately ends up on the pages of my lyric book, the ins and outs of everyday life.”
Perhaps that’s why since going solo after the dissolution of the ground-breaking dc talk in 1999, Toby McKeehan ranks among the most successful artists in Christian music history with two gold albums, six No. 1 singles and two Grammy nominations.
“When you write like that, people can connect,” McKeehan said. “We’re all going through the same things, so if people can relate to what you’re saying, they can feel it, too.”
The challenge, then, is to re-create that lush sound and passion for the work in a live setting as well. It helps, he said, to have reliable support.
“I’ve been blessed with the same band for about seven years now,” he said. “It’s hard for people outside the industry to realize how special that is. They are more than my family.
“It’s tough to translate from the record to the stage,” he said. “The music has a lot more space, but with the horns and the background singers, we have nine people up there on stage and the keyboard player adds loops to give it some texture.”
how to go
WHAT: TobyMac’s Portable Sounds (the Tour) Featuring TobyMac with special guests Barlowgirl and Thousand Foot Crutch
WHERE: Landmark Baptist Church, 1600 Glendale Milford Rd., Cincinnati
WHEN: 6 p.m. Saturday
COST: $22
MORE INFO: (877) 840-0457; www.ticketforce.com
