Recording artist Shaun Groves is currently in the studio working on his sophomore CD, Twilight, tentatively scheduled for an August 5 release. In this second installment of a monthly series in which Shaun reveals the process of making his new album, he shares about the writing and selection of songs and how the choice is impacted by both creative and commercial concerns.

Revolutions happen every day. It's just that we don't always hear about them. A man recently unveiled an innovative automobile, the fruit of 10 years of labor and over one billion dollars, to a major car manufacturer. His design replaced gasoline with a hydrogen-based fuel cell, required few moving parts and no combustible engine, and featured exchangeable customized exteriors that snap onto a chassis containing the real guts of the futuristic vehicle. Amazing.

But while his masterpiece promised to run without failure for 30-plus years, emit no pollutants, end dependence upon foreign oil, and secure the U.S. a place atop the auto industry, you and I have not seen this wonder — and we may never see it. When a manufacturer presented the inventor's marvel to his sales division and reps from the oil industry, he was given two cold shoulders. The salesmen and oil moguls — gatekeepers for the auto industry — said the American consumer is not ready to ditch the traditional car for something so different and revolutionary.

They never asked me.

The gatekeepers for the car business kept a good thing from reaching the masses and made sure their industry would remain safe and profitable. They were afraid of change and risk and failure.

I deal with good hearted, well-intentioned gatekeepers as well — intelligent people with much more experience than I have, and often with much more at stake. In my world there are three: record labels execs, radio program directors, and buyers for retail stores. These people are huge factors in the creation of a CD, especially at the stage I'm in today — choosing the 10 songs you will hear.

Briefly, here's how they affect the decision-making process. Because there is no MTV or Entertainment Weekly for Christian music, the primary way my music and message get to the masses is through radio. Most people who buy my record do so because they hear me live in concert or on the airwaves. (And they only see my concert because a promoter heard me on the radio.) Then there's retail. Buyers decide if and how many of my CDs will be on shelves nationwide, and how hard they will promote the CD with ads and displays, etc. But none of these people has a greater effect on the CD creation process than my label president. It's his job, at this stage, to pick the songs that will make the best record.

Rocketown Records is a democracy. As president, Don Donahue leads the way, making these difficult decisions with a great deal of input from my manager, producer, and me. And all of us, to some degree, will choose songs for this CD following our own convictions while keeping one eye on the gatekeepers.

It's hard not to.

Some in the radio business are scared right now. The economy is squeezing them like it is the rest of us. Americans are not only buying less stock, they have also slowed their financial support of some listener-supported stations. And those who are still sending checks to noncommercial stations are believed by some to be the older listeners who are often more conservative than younger listeners. A station manager recently told me that while he would like to play more music "that is more original and offers more than encouragement," his station literally can't afford to. He believes that the supportive, over-30 conservative listener — his financial backbone — wants familiar worship music and classics that are "positive" and predictable lyrically and musically. I hate that he's in such a dilemma. I'm not sure what I would do in such a position.

And retailers, who have been very supportive of my first disc, do their best to provide a wide variety of music for a wide variety of people. But more and more people, one bookstore manager told me, "prefer self-help and light fiction over commentaries and study aids," so it's no surprise they also want "lighter, entertaining music from familiar faces" — not necessarily something innovative or heady. He must avoid provocation and controversy and steer clear of anything "too new." After all, like the rest of us, he has bills to pay.

It's true that ignorance is bliss. It was effortless to choose 10 songs two years ago when I didn't know the large parts these gatekeepers would play in my commercial success — or the difficulties that sometimes force them to throw much of their support behind a narrow scope of music and ministry. It was easy not knowing.

In 2001, I simply gave Don and Monroe Jones (my producer) a CD with about 20 songs on it. I only included songs I wouldn't mind playing for two years — songs I was sure about theologically, lyrically, and musically. We all went our separate ways, listened, and made a list of our 10 favorite songs, using any criteria we wanted. We met again a week later and compared lists. Any song on all three lists made the record. Any song that wasn't was discussed until we all agreed. In a short time — less than an hour — we emerged from Don's office with 10 songs, ready to make a CD. Simple.

But today I sat in Don's office with Monroe, a list of my 10 favorite songs, my two managers' lists, and a head full of doubts and worries. I couldn't get the gatekeepers out of my head. After a few hours of discussion and relistening to demos, we ended our meeting in agreement about eight songs. We'll decide about the last two some other time, content to move ahead and record those we are certain about today.

The eight are an interesting mixture of lyrical and musical styles as well as theological themes I haven't explored before. It's part stern prophecy and part lighthearted pop/rock — torn between introspection and observation. It's not revolutionary, but it's not classic or conventional either.

There's no changing the list now, but I'm still rethinking it anyway. Again, it's the gatekeepers that haunt me. What will radio do with songs that aren't "worship"? What if these songs don't scratch where they believe people itch? And what about the songs that aren't safe? Will retailers support a record or back an artist that portrays Jesus as an everyday man? Will they get it? Will they like it?

Only time will tell. Until then I guess it doesn't hurt to ask as long as I don't answer my own questions with cowardice or retreat to the ease of conformity.

Know this: I don't claim to have reinvented anything. I can't promise that under the tarp is a sleek new machine the world's never seen — the product of innovation and genius. But I do think that my list — our list — is fearless and obedient to God. It's honest about who I am and who he is. I'm not pretending or pandering. I'm deciding to think the best of the gatekeepers. I'm betting they want to offer the masses a choice that's a little different as much as I do.

In a few days we'll set these eight songs in digital stone. The band will gather and tape will roll. Then we'll sit back in the days that follow and see what happens when the fruit of our writing, praying, meeting, questioning, and laboring reaches the gates.

Who knows, maybe you'll actually hear about this revolution.

Click here to listen to an exclusive one-minute demo of Shaun's new song, "Twilight."

The Process: Making An Album, part one in our series with Shaun Groves

Stay tuned for part three of this series in mid-April. In the meantime, you can read more about Shaun Groves by visiting our artist page for him. Click here to read our review of Invitation to Eavesdrop, and pick up your own copy of it at Musicforce.com.

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