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Best-selling recording artist Michael W. Smith hasn't recorded a pop album in five years—but he's hardly been idle or absent. Instead, he's been busy with other worthwhile projects since 1999's This Is Your Time. In 2000, he recorded an instrumental album, Freedom. In 2001, he released the live Worship CD, which went platinum and prompted the 2002 sequel Worship Again. Then came The Second Decade in 2003, celebrating his 20th anniversary as a Christian recording artist. So now at long last we come to Healing Rain, Smith's 18th album, and fans are curious what to expect. We jumped at the chance to visit Smitty's farmhouse getaway to talk about the new music, the people he's been working with, and his longtime friendship with President George W. Bush.

So you're back to pop/rock.

Michael W. Smith Well, it's been a long time coming. I actually started on this record not long after This Is Your Time. I wrote probably 50 or 60 songs for the record, and actually recorded 31 of them. Sometimes you have to keep troubleshooting, and since the record kept getting delayed, I thought I should keep trying to write better songs. There are three on this record that were written three years ago. I think a good song is a good song, and hopefully these will stand up to the test of time.

This was probably the most enjoyable, though hard, time I've had making a record. Maybe it's from not doing it in a while, but I really enjoy being in the studio. It's the producing side of things, getting creative and seeing the album come alive. And during the process, thinking to myself, "Wow, I can still do this!" It's been exciting to dive back into the studio and try new things.

Such as?

Smith Well, for one thing, I didn't think I would produce the record, but I ended up producing 6 of the 11 songs. I'm getting older and I don't think I have my ear to the ground like some of these younger kids do, but I found out that I can still produce.

There are certain things I think I do well, and there are certain things I don't think I do well. There are a few, kind of hip sounding tracks on the album—those are the ones I didn't do! Matt Bronleewe produced four others, and the other one was produced by Sam Ashworth, Charlie Peacock's son.

What about songwriting? You typically match your music with a variety of lyricists.

Smith I got back together with one of my favorite collaborators, Wayne Kirkpatrick, for three songs. I also worked with Wes King for "Eagles Fly," and another with Dan Hill called "Human Spark" that we wrote right after 9/11.

The big surprise for me was making a trek across the Atlantic and writing a few songs with Martin Smith, lead singer of Delirious, who's written so many great songs for the church. We had a blast. I've found a new co-writer. It was such a joy because I would play some musical ideas, and then he would giggle and start to write. Suddenly 30 minutes later, we'd have a song. I love writing with people like that. Wayne Kirkpatrick takes a month to write a lyric, which is okay because it usually ends up pretty amazing.

You recorded some songs at George Lucas' Skywalker Studios in California. Why?

Smith We mostly just wanted to leave town. Recording here in Nashville is great, but it's also detrimental in the sense that we've got cell phones and daily demands that keep us from focusing on creating.

So we looked for a cool place to record, and someone told me about Skywalker Studios. I'm a huge Star Wars fan and of George Lucas' work. We called him, checked into it, and found there was time available to record there for a week. It was absolutely gorgeous and unbelievable. The recording space was this huge and spacious room like Abbey Road. A couple of the tracks from "the Skywalker Sessions" made it onto this record—"Human Spark" and "We Can't Wait Any Longer."

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