Matthew West will headline his first show at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on Sunday, August 21, and now we know who at least some of the guests are who will join him on stage. The show, A Night of Worship at the Mother Church with Matthew West and Friends, will feature several of West’s famous friends, including country music’s own Lainey Wilson.
West announced the news via Bandsintown.com.
“My first headline show at The Ryman is happening in less than two weeks and the list of awesome guests is growing!” West shared. “I’m excited to be joined by none other than Lainey Wilson, Pastor Allen Jackson, Tasha Layton, Jordan St Cyr, Lathan Warlick, and another ‘secret’ special guest!”
The father of two recently celebrated his 12th No. 1 hit, with “Me On Your Mind.” The song was written by West, along with Anne Wilson and Jeff Pardo,
“I don’t know if I’m getting more emotional or what, but my songs are making me cry more than ever,” West told Everything Nash of the song. “‘Me On Your Mind’ is this song about just that moment when you feel like God is trying to speak directly to you, and then you’re amazed by it. I thought ‘Why would He even pay attention to me?’ I don’t know if you’ve ever heard a song and you thought, ‘Man, that song’s speaking to me, That song’s for me.’ Or maybe you’ve read a Bible verse and thought, ‘Wow, I needed to hear that today.’ The thought that God was not surprised by that, that it was all part of his design, is really what inspired me to write that song.”
West followed “Me On Your Mind” with a new single, “How Good of God.” The song was, perhaps ironically, inspired by the unfortunate events that took place as a result of the pandemic.
“One day during the height of the pandemic my wife noticed a piece of paper on the nightstand next to my daughter’s bed,” West recalled. “She had written a list of everything that was going wrong in our world at the time. My wife showed the list to me and it broke our hearts to think that our little girl is going to bed with so much bad news on her mind. So, the next day we decided we would sit down together as a family and make a different kind of list.
“We took turns talking about something good in our lives, something we are thankful for, something that brings us joy,” he continued. “The craziest thing happened! That list we made was much longer than the list of troubles. That experience inspired me to sit down and write ‘How Good of God.’”
All of West’s music and tour dates can be found at MatthewWest.com. Tickets for West’s headlining Ryman show are available at Ryman.com.