Working Without a Net
That's how acclaimed songwriter Twila Paris describes the recording of her first live worship album in her 25-year career.
by Maryann B. Hunsberger | posted 9/19/2005
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Twila Paris has experienced a lot of success since the release of her first album, scoring thirty-two No. 1 songs on Christian radio, earning five Dove Awards, and selling more than two million albums. Yet after twenty-five years in the music business and being regarded as an important worship songwriter, she's only recently released her first live worship album, He Is Exalted.Paris shared with us what the experience was like and how she feels contemporary worship music has evolved over the years.
What took you so long to release a live record?
Twila Paris Probably because the studio is a comfort zone for me. I tend to be a perfectionist, and you're allowed to be that in the studio by tweaking and tweaking. When it's live, you can still come back and overdub over mistakes, but you also want to hold that to a minimum because it won't feel live anymore. It took some encouragement from my manager and the folks at the record company, but I realized this was an album I should do.
Is there more stress doing a live album, since there's only once chance to get it right?
Paris Oh, sure. I enjoy being onstage, but it's never been my natural domain. It's not like I was backstage hyperventilating into a bag all these years, but I had to learn to be comfortable onstage. I was just more at home writing songs and recording in the studio.
It is also different to sing brand new songs with a live audience rather than to sing songs I know like the back of my hand. We had some rehearsal, but it was still like taking the first night of a tour and recording it. It leaves you kind of breathless, like doing it without a net.
What was the first live recording experience like?
Paris Although the project was recorded live, it happened in a studio. We had about 50 people active with worship teams and choirs sing along. They had learned the music previously. We recorded over a two-night period—for the sake of those who have to listen to it over and over, you do live albums over at least a couple of nights in order to pick the best takes and edit out the talking. Still, it doesn't take much longer than the actual time you spend singing. Even if it's not the easiest thing to do, when you step up, God gives you the grace to do it.
Many people consider you to be a modern hymn writer, a key songwriter for the worship movement. How do you feel about that designation?
Paris I always appreciate encouragement and never take it for granted. But I don't take to heart those kinds of designations. It's like the old saying about not believing your own PR. I don't go around thinking I'm a modern-day Fanny Crosby. Each song is a gift from the Lord. Having had the privilege to write some worship songs that have found their way into the body of Christ over the years is an incredible privilege for me. Romans 11:36 says, "For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever." That has become a life Scripture for me.
But you do primarily write songs for the church. Why is that important to you?
Paris This is what I was called and enabled to do. It's what's in my heart. When you write and record worship songs, it's the way you offer them to the body. Sometimes they want to use them in corporate worship, sometimes they don't. When they use a song, they offer it back to God. When God gives me a song and I give it to the body and they offer it back to him, it feels so right. It's this appropriate cycle of giving. It's that same "from him, through him, and back to him."
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