Anthony Evans

(Interview and Article from West Michigan Christian News)

Gospel singer and songwriter Anthony Evans toured with Truth and Kirk Franklin before focusing on his solo Christian music career.

Evans leaves his Franklin, Tennessee home once a month to lead worship at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, the Dallas mega church where his father, the internationally famous Dr. Tony Evans, is senior pastor.

In addition to recording, Anthony Evans, Jr. estimates that he travels to an average of 100 worship events every year.

I met with Evans after a performance at the 2010 Evangelical Press Association Convention in Dallas. What was his perspective on the difficulties Tesh encountered with “keeping it real” in church as a “celebrity” artist?

Evans thought geographical location was a key factor. “Hollywood? L.A.? I’m sure that if you’re worship leading in L.A., and you’re on T.V… yeah, it’s a problem.”

Of his own challenges he interjected with intensity, “I was praying about this the other day! ‘God, get me to a point where I can sit down on Sundays and be part of the congregation, sit on the fiftieth row,’ you know what I mean? Not be in the first row and have a mic in my hand! I think making sure there is a balance is very important.”

Most of Evans’ appearances are at churches across the country where he leads Sunday praise as the guest worship leader. The songs on his newest album, Undisguised, reflect his experiences in local congregations. Does he make “celebrity adjustments” on Sunday?

“I try to defuse situations. Even if it’s things like autographs in church, I try to say, ‘let’s wait until we’re done. Let’s keep the main thing the main thing right now, you know?’ Because that’s a very uncomfortable feeling. I make sure that there’s lots of eye contact, letting people know that I’m – you! I tell the truth from onstage. A lot of the heartbreak that I faced in my life, I was honest and vulnerable about it.”

“For me, it’s about remembering why I do this kind of music. There’s a part of Christian music that follows the celebrity trend… I choose to do Christian music, so the celebrity trend is null and void. I’ve surrounded myself with people who remind me that I’m here to serve, even though there are lights, and there’s smoke, and there’s fancy stuff, ultimately I’m here to serve.

“What can I do to reach your heart? Keeping a mindset of service is how the celebrity thing goes away.”

He strives for authenticity. “The real life – that’s my objective. As long as I’m doing Christian music, I want to be authentic so that the celebrity becomes back seat to ministry.”

Regular gatherings with other worship leaders for prayer and music is another key element for staying spiritually refreshed. Evans looks forward to these “special nights” of accountability and interaction to counteract the temptation of celebrity buzz. “Yes, it can get to you and it’s discussed a lot amongst me and my friends in the industry.”

Balancing distraction is an on-going concern for Evans. “(It is) a conversation that happens often and is taken very seriously because when you’re doing ministry for a living, it can wear you out.”

By Deborah Evans Price, senior music editor, gmc.com

It’s no secret that sometimes the most powerful art is the product of a difficult time in an artist’s life. A combination of creativity and angst can lead to vulnerability and a deeper connection to an audience. In the case of Anthony Evans, it fuels his new CD Undisguised.

A broken engagement became a catalyst that prompted the gifted singer/songwriter to re-evaluate his life and music.

“I think I have always been truthful,” he tells gmc.com. “But over the years, I’ve faced some stuff that I couldn’t hide. I went out in front of an audience and told them, ‘I don’t want to do this tonight.’ It was after my broken engagement. Through that awkward moment of honesty came one of the most connected nights of worship. I told them my story and I sang songs anyway and it was a night of healing. So from this point on, no matter what’s happening and what’s going on, no matter how hard it is – and it’s hard at times – I’m just going to tell the truth to my audience, knowing that that is my job. I’m a Christian musician. It’s about people leaving [saying more than] ‘oh, that was cool.’ I want them to leave with something bigger.”

It’s obvious Evans is in a very different place, and he readily admits it wasn’t easy to get through some of the changes that have taken place.

“It was a mutual break,” he says of his six-month engagement. “It was very hard. I saw my true reflection in her and it wasn’t her fault. I think a lot of it was me seeing things I needed to work on and it was just overwhelming for me because I’m such a performer and want everybody to think everything is great.”

On Undisguised, Evans wrote nine of the 12 tracks and is confident he’s delivered his most personal collection.

“It was a fruitful time. You wouldn’t think that during heartbreak you would want to write worship, but that’s what came out,” he says. “I was very intrigued by that – out of my heartache I wrote worshipful songs that ultimately I get to put on a record and communicate with audiences. [If] my pain brings thousands of people over the course of this year into a deeper worship experience, I would go through it again.”

Among those powerful new worship songs is “Wait,” a song inspired by Isaiah 40:31 that Evans wrote with a friend. On “Rejoice,” he enlisted Kari Jobe to sing with him. “I met Kari years ago at Gateway Church [in Southlake, Texas] and I remember thinking the first time I heard her ‘that girl can lead worship!’ She’s great at that and I had no idea that a few years later she’d be the top worship leader in America,” he says. “I was at her church when I started writing that song and she walked in and I asked ‘what do you have to do tomorrow?’ She didn’t have anything, so I flew her to Nashville and we worked on the song.”

After they finished writing it, Evans invited her to sing it with him. “It’s a great reminder to all of us as we face life’s hardships – even if we’re not going through anything personally, you turn on TV and we’re seeing life’s hard for a lot of people – and for those of us who believe we’ve been promised that great is our reward and kingdom of heaven is ours. I just wanted to remind people through that song.”

In order to capture the feel of a live performance on CD, Evans enlisted some of his favorite musicians in the recording process.

“I translated the songs by having some of my favorite live players come play the album in the studio,” he says. “I can tend to lose some of my feelings if I just use a session player that’s not connected to me. The people who played on this record, they knew me, they knew what I was going through, they know what happened and where the song is coming from. I’m real big on relationship with my players and the people around me who are close to me. I’m into that more than I am everything being musically perfect. I just want there to be an authenticity.”

Undisguised is the first project to be released on Evans’ own label. “With the relationships that I’ve made over the years I thought, I could really do this,” says Evans, who partnered with his former record company home, INO Records, for distribution. “Given the way the industry is changing, I feel like this is the time to start your own thing and create something substantial.”

These days Evans is relaxed and happy.

“I was uncomfortable because of what was going on emotionally inside of me but now I’m more comfortable in my skin and I’m excited about what is going on in my life. I’m very content.”

GMCLife.com