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How intentionally do you think about perspectives when writing songs?

Rice: I want to approach everything I write from just a little bit different angle than I've ever heard it before, because that really intrigues people. I think it makes them really pay attention to what you're saying ultimately when they finally get to the "Aha" moment in a song. They may never get there in some of the songs, but when they do, they've had to work their mind—they've had to stretch a little bit. I think it's just like working out. You stretch, you push, and you get stronger. And I think that increases their faith a little bit more because you're introducing not new thought, but a new way to think about it—or you're using a whole different circuit to get there.

What are you doing these days?

Rice: I've been speaking at a couple of retreats and camps. I was a Bible study leader and kind of taught, and I love doing that. I'm still a worship leader at various events, as well as touring in between. It's been a busy time. Also, I'm just really staying connected with people—especially high school and college students. Just about every night of the week, I'm doing something with students here in Nashville. My life is full of kids all the time.

Is there anything different you'd like to do in music someday?

Rice: I really would like to tour with a live string section. That would allow me to create some different treatments of songs I've always done with a full-blown rock'n'roll band. I'd like to do different arrangements—not symphony stuff necessarily, but simpler, real acoustic, string-oriented versions. Maybe acoustic piano. I'd do some different treatments of songs that people already know, but to hear them in a fresh kind of setting would be fun.

Any particular songs you have in mind?

Rice: All of them. Even the ones that slam the biggest in concert. The way I write lyrically can be done well with a whole band, or they can be treated in a real simple way. It could let the lyrics really shine and the melody really stand out.

Billy Joel does that, writing so that his melody can be interpreted classically. So a song like "Uptown Girl" can be played on the piano in a very classic style.

Rice: I think you have to get to a certain place in your career to do that. You can't do that on your second or third record because people are still getting used to you. If I'm still in this three or four years from now, when my music has kind of settled in, then it's a really cool thing for people to hear those songs redone. We were watching a video of Paul McCartney's live show on the bus the other night. It was great to hear these songs I've heard so many times, but to hear him do a different rendition.

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