But his apprehensions were quickly put to rest.

“[During the summer of ’05] when we were on the bus flipping through television channels, we came across an old rerun of ‘The Wilburn Brothers’ variety show on the Rural Farm Delivery Network, as they announced, ‘And now, Miss Loretta Lynn!’ It cut from the brothers to a young Loretta holding a guitar,” Crowder recalls. “She opened her mouth and sang, ‘Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die!’ And her voice was in my head a month later when a close friend was diagnosed with breast cancer and told it was terminal. I decided the phrase Loretta Lynn used would open "A Collision." Then after we had finished tracking, I saw her backstage in Atlanta; and she said to me, ‘It’s not that I’m afraid to die. I mean, I want to go to heaven. I just don’t want to die.’ And I knew exactly what she meant.”

The events of last December’s devastating tsunami that claimed nearly 200,000 lives also inspired Crowder to put pen to paper for the moving worship of “Here Is Our King.”

“It is a difficult thing to observe the depth of our fall in such a vivid way. I mean we know that things in the world aren’t as God intended. But here is this thing that comes from the middle of the sea to bring devastation, and our minds cannot fit this in,” Crowder says. “It is the depth of our fall upon us. Even the ground under our feet is not right. The air we breathe is not right. Yet, the hope I have found in Christ miraculously expands. I believe that we are part of a bigger story unfolding. I believe that the rescue of creation has been coming toward us for a long time. I believe that, sure, there was a moment that I was found by this rescue and that I am rescued continually; but the even greater thing, the thing that expands in my chest in this moment, is that there is more coming! He is coming to set things right.”

And Now for the Rest of the Story …

Aside from a study of the tension between life and death and the tragedy we often face, not to mention a foray into a new genre, the making of "A Collision" also gave fans — some more so than others – a rare look into the recording process. Most of the album was tracked in Crowder’s barn behind his Waco, Texas, home. For those not familiar, this is far from your ordinary barn. It’s actually the birthplace of Crowder’s favorite beverage:  Dr Pepper. According to Crowder, the barn was built in 1885 by Waco corner drugstore owner and alchemist Wade Morrison. And it was Morrison who debuted the drink at his store, a story the Pepper-loving Crowder loves to tell.

During the making of the album, Crowder utilized recent technology and created his own reality show of sorts by documenting the entire process. “We checked in with Weblogs and had four Webcams running 24 hours a day for four weeks,” he recalls.

For some lucky fans in particular, the behind-the-scenes access became up close and personal. “Near the end of our tracking, I posted an invitation to those ‘tuning in’ to join us in the fun for some Texas barbeque and group singing,” says Crowder. The result? Let’s just say more people showed up than Crowder and his wife, Toni, had bargained for.

While he was discreet about giving out his home address online and assured his wife that only a few people would probably see the impromptu invite anyway, more than 150 fans traveled from California, Tennessee, Georgia and beyond to hang out at Crowder’s barn. It was a memorable night to say the least.

“Of course I won’t be able to do this ever again, but it truly was amazing,” Crowder enthuses. Among the highlights? “There was a 10-foot-tall barbeque smoker in the shape of a pistol. Basically, the meat goes in the chamber, and the smoke comes out of the barrel. It was true Texas indulgence.”

And for this proud Texan, he wouldn’t have had it any other way.

  
 © 2005 CCM Magazine.  All rights reserved.  Used with permission.   Click here to subscribe.