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Nichole Nordeman has always enjoyed the stories of the heroes of the Bible, even sharing the Sunday school versions with her young children. But she never fully appreciated or understood those characters until she tried stepping into their shoes and literally giving them songs to sing.

Nichole Nordeman

That was her task in penning the lyrics, in first-person voice, for the 18 songs on (Music Inspired by) The Story, a new album chronicling Scripture's best-loved characters—from Adam and Eve to Abraham and Sarah, from Joshua to Job, from Mary to Jesus to the Apostle Paul. The CD—featuring Amy Grant, Steven Curtis Chapman, Natalie Grant, Bart Millard, Francesca Battistelli, Mac Powell, Natalie Grant, and more—is part of an ambitious project based on a series of books—The Story Bible from Zondervan, The Heart of the Story by Randy Frazee, and God's Story, Your Story by Max Lucado. There is also a music video DVD, and a December tour is planned.

Nordeman hadn't done much songwriting since 2005's Brave, her last studio album, opting to focus on motherhood and family instead. But when Norman Miller, the project's visionary and executive producer, approached Nordeman about the project, she was all in. She joined co-writer/producer Bernie Herms, Miller, and Frazee for a vision-casting meeting at Lucado's San Antonio home, and they were off and running.

CT caught up with Nordeman, 39, to talk about the new project, and what she's been doing in the six years that have elapsed since her last album.

What have you been up to since Brave?

I made a decision to stay at home with my kids and press pause on my life as an artist. At the time, my son Charlie was 3, and I was having a lot of trouble balancing my role as a mother with the demands of music and career. I decided (with lots of prayer) that I could always have music in my life at some level, but my kids were only going to learn how to somersault once. And I didn't want to miss a breath of it. [Charlie is now 8; Nordeman and husband Errol Ingram also have a daughter, Paige, now 2½.]

What has brought you the most joy, and what's been the hardest?

The "everydayness" of being a stay-at-home mom gets to me after a while. Any given day will likely be very similar, if not identical, to the day before and after. That starts to make me feel a little crazy sometimes. Being at home with young children can be a very isolating experience, a far cry from jetting through airports and meeting interesting people all over the country. I have to force myself to reach out—not my strength! But there is so much joy—and laughter. Paige stuffed scrambled eggs down her pajama pants the other morning, and hoped I wouldn't notice the breakfast trail behind her as she left the room. That doesn't happen much on arena stages.

The 2007 CCM cover

The last time we heard from you was the now-famous CCM cover story in 2007, with the airbrushed you and the "real" you on the cover. What reactions did you get to that?

I was impressed that CCM took that risk, and let me "vent" about the topic of beauty and authenticity in our industry. The artists I interviewed took that generosity one step further, in their great honesty (painful at times) about the topic. The article was certainly not meant to "fix" anything in our industry any more than writing it would fix the struggle in me. I really just wanted to start the conversation.

Because the artists I spoke to were so transparent, I think it may have helped all us—writers, artists, readers, industry veterans—to take a harder look at the preoccupation we have with beauty and perfection, and how it "sells" our message. I still don't have any answers, but it helped me step back a bit and consider my own role in the whole thing.

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