Justin McRoberts

Justin McRoberts is one of our favorite artists here at Soul-Audio and a glimpse into this interview about McRoberts’ latest project of cover songs will readily identify why.  McRoberts, aside from being a wonderfully gifted wordsmith and musician in his own right, is also a thoughtful and intelligent soul who speaks the truths of his heart with honesty.  And that’s rare in our world today.

So please read on and learn more about McRoberts latest covers project and the in’s and out’s of song selection as well as a few thoughts about the nature of art, God, and the topsy turvy world of CCM.

Soul-Audio: Why a covers project now? And why these songs?

Justin McRoberts: I had originally planned on doing the covers as a second half to Deconstruction; a whole second disc comprised of covers. But the deeper I got into the project, the more it became clear that doing the cover project right meant putting it off until i could concentrate on it. So, in effect the idea I originally had for Deconstruction fell apart.. and that’s called irony.

With Deconstruction going on 18 months old or so and with a short stretch between heavy tour seasons, this summer presented itself as the perfect launching point for the covers project.

The songs I’m choosing are all tied together by their significance to my undoing and rebuilding as a person; They are all songs that have shaped me somehow.

At Calvin College’s Festival of Faith and Music, I sat in on a conversation with David Bazan and Jessica Hopper (NPR) much of which was centered on Bazan’s recent release Curse Your Branches. He was talking about the long journey from being the unassuming and blindly faithful youth group kid to being the cautious and hopeful agnostic he is now. Particularly, he was remarking on the role of music through that process when Bazan said “I suppose it is through songs I was first undone.”

Yeah, I wrote that down…

SA: Soul-Audio: So can you give us a few examples of how these songs have helped you to become undone and reborn, so to speak?

Justin: A lot of it has to do with language. In the case of Howard Jones’ “No One Is To Blame” I found imagery far more reflective of the tension I’d experienced between doing right/wrong and consequences; that things don’t always follow a logical “do good and receive good fruit” formula..

“You can build a mansion but you just cant live in it
Youre the fastest runner but youre not allowed to win
Some break the rules and live to count the cost
The insecurity is the thing that wont get lost…”

Similarly, the Smiths did wonders for me as a high-school kid trying not to drown in the chaos of my own thoughts/emotions. I found myself wedged between social groups, awkward in my attempts at dating and not quite good enough at anything to be a star. Johnny Marr’s sparkling guitar tones balanced by the sadness of Morrisey’s lyrics and vocal performance provided not just an accurate description of my innards but also an affirmation of my humanity; I was (as another lyric states it) “not alone in being alone.”

This kind of affirmation is one of the major themes running through the songs I chose. One of the best examples of that is Tom Waits’ “Georgia Lee.” In light of the tragic story of this young girl’s life and death, the song makes no attempt to make sense from it all, but leaves the question on the table:

“Why wasn’t God watching?
Why wasn’t God listening
Why wasn’t God there for Georgia Lee?”

I live there a lot of the time. I have a suspicion that many of us do.

SA: I totally have to agree with that; I know I do. And I’d like to come back to those thoughts but just to finish up this one, you mentioned the “sparkling guitar tones” and whatnot there as well. Clearly the music itself played a role in the pull of those songs too. How are you approaching covering these tracks? Are you taking them head-on or pursuing something more along the lines of reinvention?

Justin: That’s the fine balance and the tension. I’m covering songs I love; meaning I also like the way they were done in the first place. How do I honor the greatness of these songs while not simply mirroring they way the song was originally done? So, what I’m doing is honoring a couple OTHER projects in our production choices. The first is Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and the other is Pedro The Lion’s It’s Hard To Find A Friend. Now, this doesn’t mean that we’ll be strictly adhering to the specific production choices (tones, microphones etc.. ) that make those albums great, we’re letting those records guide our decision making; we’re nodding to those albums in our production choices.

Both records are genius in their simple creativity; instead of layer upon layer of noise, both albums surround and support each song with ideas that are appropriate to that song; revelatory of the song’s heart.. Well, I’m trying to do the same.. but rooted in my own heart’s response to these songs as a fan. Instead of a these choices being made from the perspective of a writer, I’m making production choices as a listener. I hope that makes sense.

SA: Yeah, it does make sense. Is that a freeing thing then, to be able to tackle it as a fan, a listener, instead of the “creative juggernaut,” so to speak?

Justin: No, it’s actually somewhat of restricting which is good for me. I have had a tendency to get carried away a bit in the studio rather than keeping things simple and sticking to what is needed. That changed quite a bit with Deconstruction and I’m trying to stick with that discipline.

That said, working with songs that are already written has a whole other kind of energy to it. Arranging parts is my favorite aspect of studio recording and that’s mainly what I get to do with these.

SA: Okay, let’s shift gears back a little bit. Earlier, in reference to Waits’ “Georgia Lee,”  you talked about the subject matter of openly and honestly questioning God, i.e, “Why wasn’t God watching, listening, whatever.”  And said that, “I live there a lot of the time. I have a suspicion that many of us do.” Now, I totally concur with that. We do live in that state of questioning, even though we don’t always own up to it. And truthfully, a lot of Christian music doesn’t openly address these questions; rather, they seem to offer up simple platitudes as opposed to tackling the issues head on. Is it important for you to address these kind of questions? And why do you feel as though the industry, the CCM one, anyway, is more reluctant to do so?

Justin: I find a great sense of normality in songs like Georgia Lee; songs that reflect a disconnect between man and God. My experience of faith has been that it is a difficult road to travel on and ‘choosing to believe’ at times is a sacrifice of pride and intellect that I am unwilling to make. To trust God in the face of deep tragedy is most often not as simple or easy as waiting for the tension of minor chords to resolve into major chords which reinforce the soaring, full-throated declaration that “I will praise You in this storm.” While I think that declaration is beautiful and necessary in its place, so is the song that says “My boat sank and I lost everything I cared about.. where the hell were you?”

I would further add that there is something at least equally redemptive in giving legitimacy to these expressions of frustration and doubt. After all, before Job said to God “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand” he.. well… spoke of things he did not understand. It is BECAUSE of his courage to confront God on what he saw as unjust action that he came to really KNOW what he had previously taken for granted.

It’s important for me to voice these things on a few levels. For myself to make my own soul known to me; art serves this purpose in my life.. I am able to read myself more clearly in the things I write, especially as time passes after a recording. I also believe it’s important to create space for the many of us who live here to have a sense of normalcy in our doubts.

As you mention, there is plenty of space provided for those more ‘certain’ about their faith; I am hoping to provide some room for the rest of us.

As regards the reluctance of the CCM to do or not do anything in particular, I can only guess; not knowing very many people working in its ranks anymore. I know that it is that it’s much harder to sell a story that makes people uncomfortable; a complicated or unresolved story. The CCM industry is just that: an industry. It’s not a church and we often expect of them the same principles we do of our local congregation. The job of an industry is to sell things. A Christian industry sells Christianity. A Christianity shrouded in mystery is a hard sell. Certainty? Well, that we can do.

• www.justinmcroberts.com
• www.myspace.com/jmcroberts

↓ One comment

#1 To Know My Own Soul « Brave and Bittersweet on January 21st, 2010 at 1:01 am

[...] Anyway, one of my favorite music artists is Justin McRoberts. (And hey he’s a really nice guy–he actually answers email.) I’ve always enjoyed his writing and his music–I’ve found something in it that resonates. He’s an indie Christian artist so I’m sure a lot of you don’t know him, but he’s going to be releasing a covers project. He’s been tweeting some previews and I know I’m looking forward to it but I just absolutely loved this interview at Soul Audio. [...]

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