As a boy, Matthew West dreamed of playing for his hometown Chicago Cubs, but after a few college-aged curveballs, he wound up with a notepad in one hand and a guitar in the other. After graduation, he linked up with Word Publishing to pen songs for the likes of Salvador, Rachael Lampa, Jump5, and Billy Ray Cyrus, eventually touring on his own and recording an indie CD. Meanwhile, his singles written for other acts kept charting, and offers for record deals came in from Universal South in the mainstream and Sparrow on the Christian side. An accident nearly washed West's musical hopes down the drain, but now he's back in the game with his national debut CD, Happy.

You're wearing a guitar strap, not a Cubs uniform. What happened to your diamond dreams?

Matthew West: I grew up in the Chicago suburbs and baseball was it! Our favorite team was the Cubs, and all my friends and I were huge baseball fans. Growing up through high school, I had gotten pretty good at it. When I was a senior, I was captain of the baseball team and I was even listed as a top college prospect by the Chicago Sun-Times. So I thought I might have a shot of continuing, at least at the college level. But I never got the scholarship offer I had hoped. So that really forced me to get into college somehow, and I wasn't an honor student by any means. I wound up on a music scholarship at Millikin University in Illinois and was trained classically for four years.

How did you react to the change of direction?

West: God redirected my path, giving me signs that I wasn't supposed to follow baseball. And it threw me into a tailspin. But I can look back now and see why that was important. It helped me refocus and develop one of my other gifts, which was music. I remember singing in church constantly and working on church musicals. My mom taught me how to sing harmony, and my dad was a pastor. I wrote most of my first songs in the sanctuary of the church he pastored when I was home on college breaks.

What was your first big break in terms of transitioning to music full-time?

West: Just before I was about to graduate from Millikin (in 1999), a guy who worked at my university told me about a Christian artists seminar in Colorado sponsored by GMA (Gospel Music Association). It's an event where aspiring musicians and songwriters are critiqued by industry professionals. This guy said, "I think you need to go to this." I didn't really know the guy, plus I saw the price tag at $1,000 and knew I could never afford it. I said, "Thanks but no thanks." And he said, "It's already paid for and your name's already registered. All you need to do is say 'yes.' " He and some other people, whom I've never met to this day, felt called to help me out.

What did you gain from that experience?

West: I met a representative from Word Publishing, and I went to the finals in a competition there. One of the reps took an interest in me, kept in touch until I graduated, and offered me a songwriting deal five weeks after college. I was fortunate to be in that minority where I was actually moving to Nashville and heading to something. But there was another curveball, because it was songwriting—and I had thought I'd get attention as an artist. But for some reason they took notice of the songwriting potential and really encouraged me to build my career by learning how to write great songs.

Was that rewarding, or was it humbling because you were behind the scenes?

West: It became rewarding in its own right. I really fell in love with the process of writing for other artists and I still actively pursued it. It became a real creative outlet for me. I got to spread my wings and write all sorts of styles. Artists who recorded my songs run to one extreme to the other. It's given me the chance to write different things, like a Christmas song when I don't even have a Christmas record coming out.

Once you got established as a songwriter, was it harder to be viewed as an artist?

West: People began to recognize me as a songwriter, which is good but humbling because a label would call and say "Hey I've got to talk to you" and I would always think that was my break. But then they'd say, "I've got a new artist we've signed and they need some hit songs, I want you to write with them." I walked away flattered knowing they wanted to set up their artists with me, but I was also going, "Man I could write it and I could sing it." It was a little frustrating.

But eventually you landed a split record deal with Universal South and Sparrow. How did those come about?

West: I've really seen how God is at work in all those things. I think being recognized as a viable entity in the songwriting community gave me the chance to see the industry from that side—and meet the right people on that side. I had really been working hard independently, and I think they could see how I could relate to any audience put in front of me. I was open to God using me in any situation, from 20 kids at a secular college to 50 kids at a youth group to 100 people in a congregation. That and the fact that I had a track record for writing familiar songs led to this amazing partnership, which is the first of its kind between the two labels.

Still, you had another curveball thrown your way when you had an accident. Tell me about that.

West: About a week before I was to sign the dotted line, I locked myself out of my house. But I'd done that before, and I had a way of breaking in through a window. But this time, I had a really hard time getting the window open. I started pushing up on the window really hard and my hand broke through the glass. Blood starting spewing out of my left arm everywhere and I ran down my street screaming for help. After seeing so much blood, I went into shock and just blacked out in the middle of the street. The next thing I can remember is some construction workers praying over me in Spanish and then being taken to the hospital.

What was the verdict on the injury?

West: When I got to the hospital, they told me I was very close to severing an artery and that the chances of me regaining full use of my left arm might be severely limited. Since I'm left-handed and play guitar with my left hand, that wouldn't have been good, especially a week before signing a record deal.

How did you react to that news?

West: While I was lying in the hospital bed, I had this image in my mind: I saw my dream being tied to the end of a string, and I literally had this vision of somebody just pulling that string. I felt my dream slipping further away. I'm not going to candy coat it and say, "Life is hard but God is good." No, I was at the depths and my weakest moment. It took months of recovery. I had to be driven to physical therapy. I couldn't tie my shoes or even write my name, let alone write a song or play guitar. I began to have nothing else but to lean on my Savior.

Why did the record labels kept you on board despite the injury?

West: I knew the industry was very fickle, and I was very concerned that I wasn't going to get to sign the deal considering there was no way I could produce anything at that point. All I can say is God has had his way of opening and closing doors, and in this case, he opened them wide. The labels stood by me 100% and told me I could come back to record a project whenever I was feeling up to it. The record has more truth to it as a result, because it was written during that recovery process when God taught me to give it all to him.

It seems like a Happy ending to me. What can we expect from your project?

West: It's eclectic. When I met with other labels before Universal and Sparrow, they'd say, "You need to pick a style and go with it." I would walk away and go, "You know what, mixing it up is my style," so that's what you're going to find on Happy. The minute you think you've figured out Matthew West's sound, whether that be aggressive, acoustic, or worshipful, hopefully the next tune turns another corner and keeps you interested.

For more about this up-and-coming new artist, visit our artist page for Matthew West, where you'll find a review of his debut album, Happy. To listen to sound clips and buy his music, visit Christianbook.com.

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