Feature Articles

Jul

2002

Joel Lindsey-"Proclaiming God is Good”

What do the following songs have in common: "Only God Knows" (Martins), "When He Spoke" (Perrys), "He Made a Change" (Cathedrals), "Let The Rocks Keep Silent" (LordSong), "The Body and the Blood (Janet Paschal), "I'd Do it All Over Again" (Vestal Goodman), "Mountains of Mercy, Oceans of Grace" (Gaither Vocal Band), "Stranger Things Have Happened" (Cumberland Quartet), "Gather at the River" (Point of Grace) and many others? They were all either written or co-written by Joel Lindsey. No, he's not a household name but that's only because he is not on the front lines singing. God has blessed Joel with a powerful ministry of pointing the world to the cross through his songs. Though I have seen his name on countless songs, I have only recently really become acquainted with his music. My hope is that through this interview you will become well acquainted with the man and his music as well!

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James Hales (JH): Who is Joel Lindsey?

Joel Lindsey (JL): Basically I am someone who has dreamed of writing songs my entire life. I'm one of those kids that went to the concerts and sat there with an ache in their gut because they wanted to hear those people sing their songs. It took me a long time to get there because I did other things before I was a songwriter. But it has been a great journey getting to this point in my life.

I was born in Oklahoma and raised in church and have just always loved the music and loved songs and songwriting. Even as a little kid I would get the albums and read all the liner notes and see who wrote what. I have always been a huge Dottie Rambo fan. I remember specifically hearing one of her songs and for the first time consciously saying 'I want to do that!' That song was "How Graciously Grace Has Covered My Sins", and it was not like a big hit for her, it was just one of those songs that struck me in a cool way. I was intrigued with how she used words and put them together to make her point.

But like I said, I was a late starter and in my late 20's I started writing. My first song recorded by an artist was around 1988 when Wendy Bagwell & The Sunliters recorded "I Learned About Love."

JH: Who were/are your inspirations musically and lyrically?

JL: Dottie Rambo, like I already said, is definitely number one. She is the best there is. The stuff she was writing in the 1970's was so ahead of her time. I really was a big Lanny Wolfe fan and a big Bill Gaither fan. Growing up, those were my big influences.

Now, there are just so many people I admire. There is a writer named Wayne Kirkpatrick that is just a lyrical genius. I like Cindi Ballard who writes for Daywind who I think is highly underrated. Ann Ballard has been around since the 1970's; she is underrated as well. Both her and her daughter are really great writers.

JH: You have been allowed to write with an innumerable amount of people. I notice you co-write more than you write alone. Do you enjoy writing with other people more?

JL: I think all songwriters are really lazy people! (laughing) When you co-write and you have that appointment on your book, you show up and it is a really good way to discipline yourself to write. I'm really picky about who I co-write with because I think if it's a good collaboration, it can be so much fun, and if it is a bad collaboration it makes that time writing together seem like an eternity. I try to be really selective, and I think it has paid off, because I write with some really great people. I think it is important as a writer to write with other people, you know iron sharpens iron.

JH: Your songwriting is not boxed into one certain style. You can write a straight up CCM song, and then turn right around and write a song as Southern Gospel as they come. How would you explain that?

JL: Well, I like all styles of music. If I had to write just one style of music I think I would just die of boredom! (laughing) For someone who makes their living writing songs, you've got to keep yourself fresh. I'm not an entertainer; I don't go out to sing or anything like that. Writing is what I do, so I've got to keep myself fresh.

JH: What is up the road with your writing?

JL: I am real excited about the Cumberland Quartet's new single, "Stranger Things Have Happened." I think the single has just shipped and I am really excited about that song. I wrote that with Sue Smith and they did a great job on the song. The Hoppers recorded a song called "But For the Blood" that I wrote with Belinda Smith, and I hope it will be one of their singles.

JH: What is your favorite song that you've written?

JL: I wrote a song years ago that was a big hit in Contemporary Music for Pam Thum, and Debra Talley also recorded it called, "Life is Hard, God is Good." If there were anything that is my testimony in song, it would have to be that one. Also, if there is any song that I have written that has gotten peoples attention or has caused them to share with me how that song has affected them, it would have to be that song. It's one of those songs that seem to hit people where they are. Life after you get saved is not necessarily rosy. Christians have as many bad days as anyone and I think the song addresses that. The Bible says many are the afflictions of the righteous. I have gotten letters that range from college students who were stressing over exams to a mother who was losing her son to AIDS telling me how that song ministered to them. When a song can hit people in that broad a spectrum, I think it's a cool thing. I feel really blessed to have been able to write that song. In Southern Gospel it was never a hit, but I still think it is one of those songs that when people hear it, they really seem to respond to it.

Let me share this about the song. I was at a diner in New York City and I accidentally dropped the lyrics to that song. I was working on some stuff and papers were spread out on the table and I had gotten up to leave and had dropped the lyrics and she chased me down a couple of blocks away and she was crying. She kept saying, 'How did you know? How did you know how I feel?' I didn't really know what she was talking about. Finally she held out the piece of paper that had my lyrics on it and she said 'This is my life! I lost my husband to cancer this year, and I lost my only son to AIDS. Everyday I get up and paint a smile on my face and go to work because that's what I have to do to make money and make a living. I come home every night and my world falls apart.'

When something like that happens it makes you rethink what you do and that your writing does make a difference in peoples lives. Her name was Mary and I've kept in touch with her and she has that lyric framed inside her front door of her apartment. I keep an idea notebook where I keep all my song ideas in, and since that day, on the front page of my idea notebook I have in big letters "MARY'S SONGS." I want to remember that everything I write could be heard by someone who's going through something like Mary was going through. I think we need things like that to remind us that we are writing for real people who have real problems. You don't have to make things palatable to the world; they get it. Songs don't need it to be disguised into some new age language; they know what you are talking about.

JH: Where do you get most of your inspirations for songs and what type of things influence your writing the most?

JL: Ideas come from everywhere. Ideas are the scariest part of songwriting. You can know how to write a song, but your ideas are the things you are totally dependent on God for. If you don't have a great idea, you're not going to write a great song. But, I get a lot of ideas from general conversations with people. I am a big believer in writing your life. I write a lot from experiences in life. It is so important to be in touch with your feelings and with your walk with God and to be able to express that in song.

This year has been real hard year for me. I have faced a battle with cancer and this has obviously been a very emotional year. I think when you go through things like that, you can't help but draw from that when you're trying to write about it. I can say things now that would touch people going through situations I knew nothing about a year ago.

I also get a lot of ideas from sermons. Once you start to tune yourself to writing you start hearing things in conversations, sermons, etc. that you never would have picked up on before. You're always looking for that next 'big idea' to write about.

I write a lot of songs about the cross and the blood. I just feel like that is the crux of what we believe. If you can't write about that then there's just nothing left to write about. If you write a song about Grace, that's a great song, but it all starts with the blood and the cross. Everything comes after that in my opinion. I'm not afraid to write about the cross and the blood.

But you know, the more I write the more I see how little control I have over my songwriting. Ultimately, if God doesn't give the ideas you're just sitting there.

JH: Has a song you've written for another circumstance ever come back to minister to you in another way?

JL: Definitely! There are songs that when I wrote them I didn't realize the impact it would have on me. There is a song I wrote with Belinda Smith that the Perrys recorded called "Love Brought me Back." That's one of those songs that when I wrote it, I didn't think it would come back to minister to me at some point, but it has. Something you'll be going through and something you wrote will come back to you and will be exactly what you needed at that time.

JH: Is there a song that you may not have written that has ministered to you?

JL: I have to say that going through my cancer treatments this year was an amazing experience. It has definitely been the hardest thing I've ever gone through emotionally. Around the time I started the treatments, a friend of mine gave me an advance copy of the Talley Trio's CD with the song "The Healer" on it. That song was right where I was living at the time. I went through 40 days of treatments in a row and everyday I took that CD with me and listened to that song on my way to my treatments. It's a powerful song and in the place where I was it really was what I needed. I really don't know how I would have made it through that time without that song. I literally would listen to it over and over again. I was almost obsessed with it, because it was what I needed to hear. It was really cool to tell Gerald Crabb what an amazing song that was and how it had really touched my life. Many times songwriters don't get to see or hear the impact their songs make on peoples lives, so it was really cool to be able to tell Gerald, songwriter to songwriter, what that song meant to me.

JH: Where and under what unusual circumstance has a song ever come to you, and what was that song?

JL: I was writing one time with a friend of mine named Jeff Silvey and we didn't have anything to write aboutï¿½no ideas or anything. We just kind of sat in his office staring at the walls. I had my laptop with me, and I'm flipping through the different files on my laptop and I have my 'thing to do' list up and as a joke I said "we could right a song called 'Things to Do!" Jeff laughed and said 'OK." So, we wrote a song called "Things to Do." We wrote it that day and Mark Lowry just happened to be in the studio working on his "But Seriously" album. We called him and said we have a song he had to hear and we took it over after we finished writing it and he recorded it that same day!

JH: You've already kind of answered this question in several different ways, but I'll ask it anywayï¿½What certain difficulties have you faced in life, and how have these things impacted your songwriting?

JL: Everyone goes through tough times in their lives. If you shake your head no, you're kidding yourself. I just think the best songs are born out of pain. How can you truly experience joy if you've not experienced pain or sorrow? The greatest joy is born out of the greatest sorrow. You have to experience that to know what you are writing about. Just like everyone else, I've had health problems, financial problems, etc. We all go through those things. There are those problems with romance or problems with marriages and if you write about that, then you've got an audience to minister to. When I've gone through things, I don't necessarily sayï¿½'I'm going to write a song about my cancer.' But, I think it definitely comes out in some emotional place. It may not ever address that specific pain or hurt, but the emotion is going to be there. Someone studying to pass the bar exam or something like that may need the song I may have written from a cancer situation to remind them that they are going to get through this. I think it's all relative.

JH: As a songwriter, what would you feel to be your greatest accomplishment?

JL: Being a writer for 14 years and still having people record my songs! (laughing) You don't find a lot of writers still out there today who were writing 10 or 15 years ago; maybe moreso in Southern but definitely not as much in Contemporary music. That's really the only thing I've ever wanted to do. So for me to be able to make a living doing it is a great accomplishment for me.
Sometimes it's all a little overwhelming and I don't always know how to express it. When I get a chance to talk to an artist who may have recorded one of my songs, sometimes it's hard for me to not just gush when I speak to them. When an artist I really have a lot of respect for cuts one of my songs; it's just the greatest feeling in the world. It's a humbling thing and a very personal thing because I know what I've been through to write that song. It's a very humbling and sobering feeling to know someone I have a lot of respect for as an artist believes in what I have to say in a song so much that want to say that too.

JH: If you had the world as your audience and you could tell the world one thing, what would it be?

JL: What I would say to the world is probably what I said in the song the Martins recorded -- "Dream Big." I think a lot of times we, as Christians, think really small as far as our roles in the Kingdom and in the world is concerned. I think if we only knew how much God loves to see us soar, we would dream a lot bigger. I really like the line..."you'll see your greatest dreams come true, cause all of Heaven is dreaming big for you."

JH: What advice do you have for any young, aspiring songwriters?

JL: Listen to other great songs. I don't know if anyone can really teach you to write a song, because so much is instinctual. If you listen to other great songs and learn from other great songwriters, you learn how to use language and words. I think that's a big thing. You have to know how to express yourself with words to get the point across.

I think it is important to read a lot and be well read and well versed in what is happening in the world and just in music in general. To affect culture and to try to bring about some sort of change you have to know what is going on in the world and how to capture it in a song. You can't just bury your head in the sand. I think as Christians we've been guilty of barricading ourselves off and having our own superior little kingdom when people, who are only separated from us by the slightest little line of Grace, are just around the corner and we don't have a clue as to what they are going through. That is a problem we have and you can't write a song that is going to change people if you don't know where they live and what they're going through.

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That is some of the best advice anyone can give! Earlier in the interview Joel shared the story about the song "Life is Hard, God is Good." Born of out life experiences and hitting people where they are living is what the song is all about. Though never a hit in Southern Gospel, it is a song that needs to be shared. Since few people have heard the song in Southern Gospel circles, below are the very descriptive lyrics of this remarkable song. Thank you Joel for sharing your heart and your songs!

LIFE IS HARD, GOD IS GOOD
You turn the key then close the door behind you,
Drop your bags on the floor,
You reach out for the light, but there's darkness deep inside,
And you can't take it anymore,
'Cause sometimes living takes the life out of you,
And sometimes living is all you can do.

Life is hard, the world is cold,
We're barely young and then we're old,
But every falling tear is always understood,
Life is hard, but God is good.

You start to cry 'cause you've been strong for so long,
But that's not how you feel,
You try to pray but there's nothing left to say,
So you just quietly kneel,
And in the silence of all that you face,
God will give you mercy and grace.
Jesus never said it was an easy road to travel,
He only said that you would never be alone,
So when your last thread of hope begins to comes unraveled,
Don't give up He'll walk beside you on this journey Home.

And He knows, Life is hard, the world is cold,
We're barely young and then we're old,
But every falling tear is always understood,
Life is hard, but God is good.

Â©1995-Joel Lindsey, Pam Thum/McSpadden-Smith Music/Dimension Music/Paragon Music/ASCAP

James Hales

Reader Comments

We are interested in any sheet music or songbooks that you may have available, especially "Love Brought Me Back" co-written with Belinda Smith.
Thank you!

Commented by Wes Hendricker On 08/10/2003

Have enjoyed reading this interview with Joel Lindsey. He is actually a 2nd cousin to my husband, David. We just found this site and were so blessed by the song lyrics. Thanks. Joel is certainly from a family of Holy Ghost filled Aunties, ha! Prayerfully we can meet him soon. Darla

Commented by On 07/23/2008

Hi Joel! Great to "see" you again. God bless you. You are in our thoughts and prayers. Tammy, Boyd & Addie

Commented by On 08/15/2008

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