Matthew West’s double album, My Story Your Glory, is out now. The 22- track project, which includes collaborations with Granger Smith, Jenn Johnson and David Leonard, is half songs inspired by stories West has heard throughout his 20-year career, and half praise and worship songs.
“It’s a double album, and that for starters makes me really excited, because it’s more music than I’ve ever put out before,” West tells Everything Nash. “The title of the album splits perfectly in half those two statements, ‘My Story Your Glory.’ And as I began to think about calling the album that, I began to realize, ‘Oh, this could be the dividing line, like two different concepts in one.’ We’re living in a world where a lot of times people listen to one song from one artist. And my idea was just to be less focused on trying to have a radio hit, and more focused on telling a story from start to finish. And so that’s the idea.”
West has a lengthy history of writing songs, often inspired by others, like “Forgiveness,” “Wonderful LIfe” and more. With the first part of the record, My Story, the recent NSAI Artist/Songwriter of the Year was up to the challenge of doing an entire album of songs of his life, as well as songs that told, in some way, the stories he has been told over the years by others.
“The first album, My Story, is me doing what I do as a singer-songwriter, telling my story and the stories of people’s lives who’ve inspired me over the last few years,” West shares. “And then the second album, Your Glory, as you look at that title, you can probably tell it’s more vertical. It’s a worship-driven project, which I’ve never really done something like that before. Most of my songs have been in the singer-songwriter category, so it really felt that creatively I was moving forward. I’m always wanting to do something that I haven’t done before.”
West is one of the leading artists in Christian music, but he’s had success in country music as well, penning songs for Rascal Flatts, Scotty McCreery, Diamond Rio, Billy Ray Cyrus and more. With 22 songs on My Story Your Glory, the father of two wouldn’t be opposed to having a song in country music as well, even as his feet are firmly planted within the Christian music genre.
“Some of the songs are definitely more country-sounding,” West acknowledges. “There’s one called ‘Before You Ask Her’ that I was pitching to Tim McGraw and different country artists, and nobody was picking it up yet. And that’s when I was just like, ‘Well, why am I waiting for somebody else to record it? This is my story too. I think I just wanna sing it.’ I love the song. When you listen to this record, I don’t wanna say it’s all over the place, because it’s still very intentional, but stylistically I’ve never felt more freedom than I do these days.
“If a song sounds a little country, I’m cool with that. I’ve lived in Nashville now 20 years, so it’s hard to escape it,” he adds with a laugh.
West will celebrate the release of My Story Your Glory with his My Story Your Glory Tour, kicking off on February 23 in his home state of Illinois.
“The My Story Your Glory Tour is gonna be 32 cities,” West shares. “And then we’ll probably run it back again in the fall. Although it’s gonna be my daughter’s senior year in high school, so I’m probably gonna be a little bit lighter so I can watch her cheerleading squad a little bit more. … It’s gonna be a fun year playing concerts. I’m writing another song tomorrow and I’ll write another one the day after that. I just love writing songs. That’s why I love being in Nashville for that reason, just staying creative, staying active, and putting music out into the world that hopefully encourages people.”
Find My Story Your Glory and all of West’s music, as well as a list of his upcoming shows, at MatthewWest.com.