The nine-time Gospel Music Association Songwriter of the Year chronicles that life-changing year with his first collection of new songs in three years. "The bad news is it gave me time to write a whole lot more songs than I probably needed to write for one record. When I first went in I had 40 ideas that I had to weed through. That's always the tricky part or settling in on what the strongest ones are." The result is 12 new Chapman signature songs, from the energetic title track of renewed faith, "Speechless," to "Fingerprints of God," written to encourage teenage daughter Emily.
Chapman was thrust back into the spotlight during his sabbatical by the tragic shooting at his alma mater, Heath High School, in Paducah Kentucky. He made several trips to his hometown to offer emotional support and did a benefit for the victims' families. Tragedy struck again when a close family friend lost a daughter in a traffic accident. Those emotional draining events had a major impact on the writing for the new album.
"Because so much of Speechless was written around the times of funerals I was going to, I thought a lot of this record was going to be introspective and a little more dark, somber and moody. But just the opposite happened with songs emerging like "With Hope," dedicated to the lost lives. It turned out that as I got in to start recording the songs and picking the final 12 it actually is more of a joyful album. God is good, and I want to celebrate His goodness, even in the midst of the confusion and difficulties of life and unanswerable questions."
Speechless also finds Chapman breaking new ground musically. For the first time he has recorded an entire album with his touring band rather than studio musicians. "That's one of the things that's made this record so unique and that has breathed new life into it and added a lot of excitement."
While Chapman provided a majority of the music and all the vocals on Signs of Life, the involvement of his band on Speechless led Steven to explore new musical territory. Bassist Adam Anders was an integral part of the recording process. "A lot of these songs we sat down together and kind of built around a guitar riff, and then we'd find drum samples and loops and different kinds of sounds that gave this a real fresh approach."
The teamwork is evident on "Dive." The electronic sounds interplay with the acoustic guitar intro and the rhythmic track provides the foundation for the wall of sound created by Chapman and his band mates in the chorus.
The musical influences on the album include Collective Soul, The Wallflowers and The Dave Matthews Band. "I'm probably more influenced in terms of new music by what my kids like. That could be everything from The Supertones and Ska music to Newsboys and Delirious."
Lyrically, Chapman continues to be influenced by Christian authors of past and present. The biography of Jim Elliot, Through Gates of Splendor, and Oswald Chambers' life story, Abandoned to God, had a profound impact on Steven. "These two books got me thinking about what I am doing that really matters? These two guys lived lives that said 'right now at this moment am I doing what I think looks the most like obedience to God, and am I surrendering to His will?' They were just radically committed to the Gospel. That really has challenged me in the writing of this album."
An avid reader, Chapman has also absorbed books by classic authors including A.W. Tozer and Corrie Ten Boom. Contemporary writers Chapman admires include Phillip Yancey, David McCullough, Mike Yaconelli and Brennan Manning. "Manning's book Abba's Child, deeply affected me while writing for this album. I'm so astonished at God's love, and I want to be captured by it and invite others into that process with me."
Another major influence on Speechless was Steven's pastor and friend, Scotty Smith. The songs "Speechless," "Dive," and "The Change" were all inspired from sermons preached at Christ Community Church in Franklin, Tennessee. In fact, Steven and Scotty have just completed work on a book titled Speechless: In Awe of the Power of God's Disruptive Grace which will release on Zondervan in June.
Chapman was invited to participate in several major projects during his sabbatical. He contributed "I Will Not Go Quietly" to the Grammy Award winning The Apostle Soundtrack and filmed a music video featuring the star of the movie, Robert Duvall. Chapman also contributed a song to the gold-selling album inspired by the hit movie, The Prince of Egypt - Nashville.
As Chapman moves forward with this new chapter in his musical career, he takes a moment to look back from where he's come. "I'm having to shift into not being the new kid on the block, and I feel like Heaven In The Real World was kind of that shift to 'now he's an established artist.' So this was 'where do you go beyond established artist and what does that look like?' " Chapman has decided to let others contemplate that question as he moves on with his mission in life. His time away has rekindled the fire of his faith. "I was able to get far enough away that I feel like I've come back with a renewed sense of excitement about just writing and singing songs that talk about my faith in Jesus Christ. The songwriting that was done during that process gave birth to a renewed sense of awe and amazement and astonishment that I hope I captured on this album."
