Fernando Ortega is an extremely engaging artist from the stage. At his concerts you'll see people laughing because of his humorous remarks and crying because of his beautiful and meaningful lyrics. Fernando is one of the strongest lyricists in Christian music today. We talked with him about his songwriting process and how others have strengthened his skills over the years. His ever-present humility matches the high level of his talents. That's understood in the first minute of talking with him. Fortunately, we had a more time than that with him, and he gave us a true peek into the passion of the music in his life.

Through all the years of writing and performing, how have those processes evolved over time?

Fernando Ortega: That's an interesting question, because recently somebody gave me a cassette of one of my first performances when I was 21. He said, "You sang at our church in Colorado." I remember the concert; it was part of a youth group or something, so I was kind of anxious to hear it. It was on cassette and I could only listen to about three minutes and then I just … Oh gosh, I can't believe I ever did that. I was so overwrought and maudlin.

I think my style has really evolved. It's a way softer approach to singing, a gentler approach to singing than I used to have. My first record was called In a Welcome Field, and it's pretty funny because it's all these power ballads that have electric guitars and choruses cranked up real big, and it has lots of background vocals and larger stuff in the background. It's almost like Richard Marx or something along those lines. It's really taken a lot more of a folk kind of turn over the years.

Who were your early music influences?

Ortega: There are a few really key influences. One was a piano teacher I had named Ralph Burkowitz. He taught me a lot about refinement, a whole lot about subtlety and my approach to the piano, about building phrases, and about lines in music and how interweaving lines run through a song and how to sustain a line.

Another was a fiddle player I played with, a woman named Sharene Taylor. Now she's a principle second violin at the Metropolitan Opera. You can learn a lot just by hearing a violin player play. You learn a lot about the length of phrases and where things grow and where things breathe and all that.

Then John Schreiner is a friend of mine who produces all my records. He's a frequent song collaborator. I'd say he's a really big influence on the way I think about songwriting.

There are two other huge influences—my neighbors, Peter Morrison and Elaine Rubenstein. Aside from the fact that they taught me a lot about the power of words, I also learned about how to write songs where you're not trying to tell the listener how to feel, but in some cases you're just making observations about what you see. It requires skill. It requires thought. It's not just writing what you see and what your experience of a situation is. There's a way of writing that allows listeners to experience it for themselves. You have to say things in a universal way. They helped me a lot with lyric writing on that level, but also they turned me on to a whole lot of really good music that I didn't know about back then. Their CD collection is immense.

Do you tend to generally listen to the styles of music you perform?

Ortega: Well, I just bought The Essential Stevie Ray Vaughan CD. I've been listening to that a lot in my car. And we drove down to San Diego the other day and listened to Beethoven's Sixth Symphony. It runs the gamut, everything. We listen to a lot of world music, African folk music, and Irish folk music. We listen to all kinds of pop music. I still play a lot of the newest Sixpence CD. I still don't own anything by Britney Spears.

Do you keep up with the latest hot acts and artists in the mainstream music world?

Ortega: I'm not obsessed as I used to be about it, but I do like to hear anything that's good that's new.

You mentioned Stevie Ray Vaughan. Does that music inspire you in any way?

Ortega: I wouldn't really say Stevie Ray Vaughan. If that stuff that started to creep into my music, I would sound like an idiot. If I try to sing rock 'n' roll or blues or play jazz, I sound dumb. I just don't have it. I don't know if I can develop it or not, but my voice just doesn't run itself in that kind of stuff. But I think with a lot of the music I listen to, some of it does end up inspiring me or inspiring thoughts about what songs could be about.

Is there something you know about songwriting now you wish you would have understood years ago?

Ortega: Just that it takes time to get it right. It's not so much about cranking out the song, but about getting to the core of something. And you can write a whole bunch of stuff on the way to get there, and it can even be good stuff, but it may not be what makes it a good, true song.

I've also learned that you have to let go. There has to be a certain amount of letting go of your ego. I don't know. There's a nugget to be got at, and that's what you're after. I like to surround myself with good critics—Peter and Elaine, John Schreiner, my wife—and run the things that I write past them. Sometimes it's really difficult. You think you've written something really great, and they'll listen to it and say, "It was very sentimental," or like "You have one good line in this whole song." And I really enjoy that kind of feedback. It's part of the process. I know plenty of people would never want to have that kind of thing in their life, but for me it works very well.

How hard are you on yourself?

Ortega: Way, way too hard. I'm ruthless, and that's why so much stuff gets written before I'll write down a chorus. That other stuff is just junk that I'll never come back to. Whereas I think the key is to go back to it and let it grow into something.

What comes first, the lyrics or the melody?

Ortega: It can go both ways. I find it a lot easier to take some lyrics and set them to music than to have a melody and chords already in place that you have make lyrics fit into. But I would say that's how seventy percent of the songs I do are.

Has it always been like that?

Ortega: It's always been easier for me to do it that way. "Jesus, King of Angels" was an entire song before I ever had any words. And I knew how the melody was going to go and everything, but I had to fit the syllables, strong and weak syllables on the right strong and weak moments. It's very hard. I think that's my favorite. It's just so much agony. And then when it came, it was just kind of like all of a sudden.

What are the most difficult songs to sing?

Ortega: To sing physically?

Emotionally.

Ortega: The only thing I can ever think that I can tear up on in the middle of a song is one I wrote for my wife. Otherwise, I can be singing about death and whatever and I won't lose it. But there were a few times where I just got in the emotion of the song. I don't know why that is. It's a tender, sweet song. I sang it in Minneapolis one night and just started bawling. I think I sang like three lines and just had to play the whole thing instrumentally with audience clapping. It was last year on our anniversary.

Fernando Ortega's next album is currently slated to release on Curb Records in August of 2004. For more about him and his music, visit his artist page on our site, where you'll find a review of his most recent studio album, Storm. To listen to sound clips and buy Fernando Ortega's music, visit Christianbook.com.

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