Charlie Hall

If I asked you for names of the players under the Passion worship banner, Charlie Hall won’t be the first name that comes to your mind. Chris Tomlin wins ridiculous numbers of awards and you’d be hard pressed to find a worship set without at least one Tomlin-made-famous track. Nearly the same can be said for Matt Redman sans awards. And David Crowder’s raucous performances, art rock bravado and facial hair have carved their own fantastic niche.

Then there’s Hall. He’s been around since the beginning, shouting to the north and asking for clean hands and pure hearts since Passion’s inception in the mid-to-late ’90s. And while you probably know many of Charlie’s songs, his records somehow continue to fly under the radar. Yet for those who know, Hall stands as a fantastic songwriter who finds a fresh, brilliant way to make the old seem new or to illuminate something long since dormant. And his latest album is his best yet. The Bright Sadness is a perfect example of pursuing substance in both music and lyricism and the Oklahoma City native has created perhaps this year’s best worship offering.

In the first part of this two-part Soul-Audio exclusive, Hall walks us through his creative process, showcasing how spiritual seasons have played a key role in his songwriting.

Soul-Audio: Ever since I first discovered Charlie Hall for myself with Porch and Altar, which was around 8 years ago I think, until this latest with The Bright Sadness it seems like you’ve developed this consistent theme of mining for analogies and themes and perspectives that haven’t been used before.

Charlie Hall: I’ve just never been satisfied with singing something normal, or maybe I should say singing it in a normal way. I’ve always wanted to find words and turns that feel different as well as making normal words really come to life. So I just dig for that stuff, which is why I think it takes me longer to create a record. I want life to happen and I’m trying to process it with God and then really say some strong things in terms of prayer and life and adoration back to Him that would really be an authentic experience and have that be authentic for those that hear it as well.

SA: Are there particular ways you find those things? Whether it’s the subject itself such as the Porch and Altar concept or one of the last lines of your album that says “Jesus is my sanity,” for example. That line is never said and yet it’s absolutely a true statement…

Charlie: Things like Porch and Altar… there was a season in my life where it was really devoted for three or four years to praying for revival and a move of God. The things that would come up in prayer time with a group of people was a lot of Old Testament stuff. You start writing about the Old Testament or write the prayers or stories there and you’re gonna come out with a lot of things that nobody is singing. We use a lot of stuff from the New Testament in general. Then all the way up to the song “Mystery,” I still hold all the records and where they came from… they’re still a part of me.

At the same time, the journey has come so far. So I’ve been taking communion in an Episcopal church and using the Book of Common Prayer for the first time in my life. In the Porch and Altar days, it was flying by the seat of my pants. The prayers came out in a different way. But in this season, I need prayers that already existed to be able to pray. So I would go to communion and through the Book of Common Prayer and the majority of “Mystery” came from that book, except for “Jesus Christ my sanity, my clarity.”

So I was sitting in this communion feeling the presence of Jesus in all of this stuff and his presence is making me sing clear. In that moment, I felt right because I was with him. It was kind of the first step for me into a new kind of life where I was like, ‘Yeah, I can do this. I need Jesus to walk with me and talk with me and so I’m going to put myself in His presence as often and in many different ways that I can.’

SA: Can you tell us about the title, The Bright Sadness?

Charlie: With the last two albums, the titles have just hit me. With Flying into Daybreak, we were coming back home from Indonesia or something through Tokyo. I had come from a real mystical, dark place. I felt like I was starting to really embrace the world around me, the different types of people around me. I felt more alive than ever. She said, you might want to pull down your shades if you want to sleep because we’re flying into daybreak. And I knew then that was it. That was the title. The same thing with The Bright Sadness.

Usually the band does the Lenten season to different degrees. Some of the guys are extremely devoted to that season and I’m kind of in the middle. All of the guys celebrate in a different way. The whole Lenten season is the journey toward the cross and eventually the celebration of the resurrection. We ran across the phrase ‘the Bright Sadness’ during Lent this past year after we’d written the record and we were a month away from recording it. We were pondering phrases and things and here’s this old Christian orthodox phrase that means basically the cross right in front of you and right behind that is the bright light of hope and resurrection. So it was perfect for me, because I thought… it was a peculiar time in my life when I was really trying to embrace the cross for the first time.

I’d been a Christian since I was 17 but there was a lot that came with me when I did that. I hadn’t ever been broken down to the point where I had after 17 or 18 years of following Jesus and being inside the church and people knowing you as a church guy or pastor or whatever we call each other, a lot of our walk with Jesus ended up being a Christian title. I don’t know if that makes sense, but a lot of my walk was based upon people knowing that I’m supposed to walk with God. I don’t know if it was all driven by that, but there was this chunk that was.

So all of a sudden, I knew I was embracing a cross freshly for a different first time, where I did it as a human being, not as Charlie Hall. I did it as the person that God created me. So it didn’t come with anything social with it. It came with me falling apart at the seams and it’s not even because of something I’m doing, but instead it’s because of things happening around me. Jesus, I need you. For real. I don’t care what happens to my career. I don’t care what happens to anything right now. I just know that I need you. All of a sudden, things felt like… you’re a human being in the middle of a jillion things in your life, but right behind the cross there’s a brightness and a hope that’s coming. Walk right toward the cross and live big and He walks with us through every step. It was different. I was absolutely a Christian before, but this was a different place for me in terms of knowing and needing Jesus.

↓ One comment

#1 ASK on July 16th, 2009 at 1:20 pm

My husband and I heard you in Toronto a few years ago, when we dating. We’ve loved your music and distinct voice ever since. I listen to your music every morning in to work.
I can relate to your last 2 paragraphs about being known as a person to follow God and now having to approach God as a human. I can say that I’m in my very earliest stage of learning who I am and not a Christian title. I became a Christian in my early 20’s, and introducing Jesus to my little girl was the best thing ever a parent can do. I later married a Pastor. We’re learning taht it’s okay to be who you are and loved by God. Being different is natural and it’s okay.
Keep up the great work, we’d love to see you live again one day.

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