5 Questions for Matthew West about Music, Songwriting, and the Power of Prayer

The last few months have been a busy time for five-time Grammy nominee Matthew West. He released a new song, "Don't Stop Praying," along with a new video. He wrapped up a new devotional, My Story, Your Glory, which will hit bookstores on March 19. He also began preparation for his 2024 tour, which begins February 22 in Charlotte.

Crosswalk recently chatted with West, who was writing music the day we spoke.

"Just this morning, [I was] tweaking a song lyric that we started three months ago," he said.

Crosswalk talked to West about his new song, his inspiration for his music, and his hopes for 2024. Below are five questions we asked West, with answers edited lightly for clarity.

1. You have a new song called "Don't Stop Praying." What's the story behind it?

I feel like we're headed into the great unknown in the year 2024. I was joking with someone the other day -- I remember in 2020 thinking, "Well, it can't get any worse than this." And then 2021 was like, "You ain't seen nothing." And then 2022 was like, "Watch this." Every year seems to be trying to beat out the year before as the craziest year ever. Of course, we're heading into an election year. As a follower of Christ, what if that was my mission - to commit to prayer and going deeper in my prayer life? I've been convicted lately of Instagram and TikTok trends that encourage you to become your best self -- you've got to do a cold plunge, and you've got to get in a sauna. And then you've gotta eat this way. And so I started doing cold plunges every day, four minutes, in freezing cold water. And I'm proud of myself for it, right? And I feel good. But one day, I was in the cold plunge, and I felt convicted, like the Lord was saying, "Matthew, it seems like some days the hardest thing for you to do is to stop and pick up your Bible." As a follower of Christ, I need to remember [that] if your mission is to do at least one hard thing a day, I need to do that -- first things first. The hard thing is to sit down and be still and talk to God. And it's hard to pray, especially when you've prayed for something over and over again. 

There's a line in the song that says, "When you've cried, and you've cried until your tears run dry, and the answer won't come, and you don't know why. And you wonder if you can bow your head even one more time -- do it one more time." And so this song is really a call to prayer. It's a call not to give up. It's an invitation to remember that the Bible says there's power in prayer, that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. And it's a reminder that we serve a God who hears us when we call on Him. I hope this song will be a special anthem for others as we head into this new year. Don't stop praying for your family. Don't stop praying for your prodigal. Don't stop praying for your financial situation. Don't stop praying for our nation. Don't stop praying for our leaders.

2. You write music that inspires other people, but how do you, yourself, stay inspired?

I find that I'm at my best when I'm holding my schedule accountable and staying in motion. I don't like laziness; I don't like being lazy. It's like going to the gym even when you don't feel like it. I'm not one of those writers who waits for inspiration to strike. I'm one of those writers that goes digging even when I don't feel like it. There's a great quote from a famous author -- they asked him, "Do you write when the inspiration strikes? What is your writing process like?" And he's like, "I write only when inspiration strikes. I'm just fortunate that it happens to strike every morning at 8 a.m. sharp" or something like that. I'm butchering the quote, but he's on a schedule; he's going to work. Sometimes -- I don't know how to describe it -- the songs appear, and what I'm supposed to write about just kind of takes shape. And a lot of it is influenced by what I'm going through in my own life.

3. Some of your songs are written over multiple days, weeks, or months?

Yes. In fact, I was, just this morning, tweaking a song lyric that we started three months ago. I was on a Zoom call with a writer this morning who just said, "Hey, I want to change this one part." I'm like, "Cool. Let's mess with it." It's a process. Even when I'm finished with a song, am I ever really finished? It's a hard thing.

4. Are you saying that sometimes you finish a song, and when it's on the radio, you think, "Oh, I could have made that a little better"?

Absolutely, yes. I would say that for every song I've put out, there's something I would tweak or change. A lot of times, it's how I sang the song. You write the song, you record the song, and then you put the song out, and then you go on tour and perform the song 200 times. Well, you're gonna sing the song differently after 200 performances of the song. You have figured it out, right? So oftentimes, I wish I could go re-record my vocals after taking the song on tour for a year.

5. Have you ever written a song that became a hit that you didn't think would be a hit?

I've stopped predicting. But as I'm sitting here, I'm looking at a plaque for Anne Wilson, which is called My Jesus that I certainly didn't predict it was going to do what it did. And it's become such a crazy, far-reaching song in a really neat way. So I think that's a good example of one that when we wrote it, I was like, I really like that song. But I had no idea it was going to go on and do what it did.

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Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.