Grammy-Winning Christian Singer: ‘Music Can and Does Bring Us All Together’

Unlike many musicians celebrated by today’s mainstream media, Jason Crabb draws his artistic inspiration from faith and hope.

As an artist, he’s looking to unify people — and he’s found great success doing it.

The Kentucky native and father of two is a Grammy winner, and his newest album, “Unexpected,” has just dropped. It includes duets with fellow musicians Kaya Jones and Rascal Flatt’s Gary LeVox.

LifeZette had the opportunity to speak with Crabb by phone about his latest album and get his thoughts on the role of art in our currently divided culture.

Question: You’ve released your fair share of music over the years. Is there anything you think is specifically different about this new album?
Answer: I think this project directly speaks to the time we’re living in today. We need more love, and God is love. We definitely need that today. The title, “Unexpected,” comes from a song on the record. And I think we need to expect unexpected blessings from God. That’s called faith. Expect God to do something great in your life — He will.

Q: On this album, you have a song written by Gloria Gaynor — the classic singer behind hits such as “I Will Survive” — and you sang with her at Carnegie Hall. It’s quite an unexpected pairing. Did you guys really meet through Twitter? What is the story behind that friendship?
A: Ha! Yes! It’s a true story! I was on my way to New York City to sing at Carnegie Hall and my publicist called me and said, ‘Gloria Gaynor is liking and retweeting a lot of your tweets. You should reach out to her and invite her to the concert.’ I didn’t think it was really her.

Everyone who’s in the public eye gets impersonated on all kinds of social media. And he said, ‘It’s really her! She’s got a blue check and that means she is verified. She’s real.’ So I invited her to Carnegie Hall that night and she said yes. Well, when she got there, we just started singing around a piano in my dressing room. When we got through, I looked at her and asked, ‘Will you sing that with me tonight?’ I called her up out of the crowd and that place went nuts. It was so cool.

We’ve kept in touch and she was in Nashville several months ago, so we got together to write with a guy named Chris Stephens, who’s just an amazing producer and writer. And the song “Day One” came out of that session. That was a special moment.

Q: You also have duets with both Gary LeVox and Kaya Jones. How did those songs come together — and how do you settle these days on whom you would like to collaborate with artistically?
A: I’ve known Jay DeMarcus [a member of Rascal Flatts and a producer of Crabb’s new album] and Gary LeVox for years. They came out of Christian music. I’ve worked with Jay before on music, and it’s always a blast. He knows how to get the best out of me, and I’ve always wanted to sing with Gary, but it just had to be the perfect song.

When Jay heard this song [“You Chose To Be My Friend”], he called up Gary. This was the perfect song and the perfect lyric.

And with Kaya, she’s most known from the pop world, but she has found Jesus and is a Christian. Jay knew her, and when he heard the song “Let It Be Love,” he told me she had the perfect voice. The next thing I know, she’s in the studio singing on it.

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I am a big fan of lots of styles of music. I believe talent is God-given. It’s always great to interact and collaborate with people who bring a different style to the table. It challenges me musically, and that’s fun — keeps me on my toes!

Q: Popular culture is very divided right now. A lot of art expresses the cynical nature people feel today. What do you feel the role of art is in today’s culture?
A: I truly feel like music can and does bring us all together. Music, art, theater — it can unite people from all walks of life. And, when you’re talking about Gospel and Christian music, well, that’s the good news. Jesus loves you.

Jason Crabb’s “Unexpected” is available now.

PopZette editor Zachary Leeman can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter.