Brian Wahl is a husband, an independent musician, and a worship leader and youth pastor at River Oaks Community Church and Evergreen Community Church in Raleigh, NC. He’s also our featured artist for September. We interviewed Brian to learn more about his songwriting process, his use of Scripture, and much more. Learn more about Brian via his website and follow him on Twitter at @brian_wahl.
1) Tell us about your songwriting process in general. When and how do you write a song? What inspires you to sit down and write?
This is a really hard question to answer. Sometimes I’ll be reading a passage of Scripture or listening to a song, and an idea will come, and then 15 minutes later the entire song is done. My song “Though I Walk Through The Valley” is an example of that. Literally 15 minutes of writing.
Other times, I’ll start out with an idea and spend months with it in my head. I’ll write out some lyrics and they’ll sit for months. Sometimes they never get polished into a finished song.
As far as the mechanics of what I do – I usually start with an idea and a chord progression. Typically I’ll try and come up with the chorus first – usually it’s going to contain the essence of the idea I’m trying to communicate, and it needs to have a hook – the chorus has to be memorable. From there, I’ll work out different parts.
I’ve found that setting up a schedule is a great way to get songwriting done. If you just wait around for inspiration, you might wait way too long. I try to write at least one song a month. Sometimes I’ll write four in a month. Sometimes none, but for all of 2011, I’ve kept to this schedule, and it’s been my most productive songwriting season by far.
2) You’ve written several songs for The Scripture to Music Collective, and they’re great! How do you go about writing a song from Scripture?
Thanks! The first thing is to spend lots of time reading scripture! If you read the Bible, you’ll probably know what I’m saying when I say that some passages just get stuck in your heart and in your soul. You’ll read something and find yourself meditating on it a lot – for days, weeks, or even months – or longer. When this happens to me, I like to express it somehow, and songwriting is a natural expression for me.
Sometimes I’ll just re-communicate exactly what is written. I think it’s good to put your own spin on things, but you certainly don’t have to. Some of my songs have lots of lyrics that are word-for-word scripture (“Though I Walk Through The Valley“, “Unfailing Love“, “God is My Helper“).
I also think it’s fun to tell a story through the eyes of a character – even God (which is a scary thing!).
3) Who are some of your favorite songwriters and why?
Justin McRoberts. He’s a Christian artist, and he’s not afraid to write about the struggle. A lot of Christian artists focus only on the positive. That’s great, but life is more than just the positive. In Matthew, Jesus tells us that we will have trouble. Justin writes about the trouble, and he does it in a way that I would describe as “deep” and “beautiful”.
Bono. U2 is my all-time favorite band. These guys have been making music for 30+ years, and every single thing they do seems to be great. He writes about all sorts of issues, and many of his songs are about faith and social struggle. Plus, U2 writes the greatest hooks – their songs just stick in your head.
John Mayer. Most people might think of him as a pop artist, but his songs are very deep lyrically. While I may not agree with everything he writes, I can’t deny that he can communicate an idea with impressive depth and clarity.
Matt Redman. Of all the contemporary Christian songwriters, Matt Redman is at the top of my list of favorites. He writes great songs for the church, and through his songs, we are challenged to worship God authentically, and to worship God through all seasons of life.
4) What three things do you think it’s important for us to know about you?
I’m a worship leader. I don’t think it’s necessarily a good thing to ID somebody by what they do for a living, but for me, my job is more than just a job. I really believe that it’s God’s will for my life vocationally – at least for this part of my life. Two years from now it might be something totally different, but today I have the wonderful opportunity to be a worship leader. It also ties into the fact that I’m a follower of Christ, and I serve in a local church body. The follower of Christ thing is absolutely most important thing in the world, and I believe that serving in a local church body is extremely important as well.
I’m surrounded by great people. That may sound strange, but who you surround yourself with determines who and what you’ll become. First of all – my wife Angela is awesome. She’s extremely supportive of what I do, both with music and in the church, and I really look up to and admire her for lots of reasons, and I really believe that she makes me a better person. I consider myself very lucky to be married to her. The leadership of the churches I serve in (I’m on staff for two different churches) are all incredible. Also, the local church bodies that I serve alongside are great.
I’m really laid back and I love to connect with people. So send me a message on twitter or facebook or something. Let’s be friends.
5) How does community affect you as a songwriter? Where do you find artistic community that encourages you to use your music faithfully? Do you have any suggestions for other songwriters?
Community is extremely important. You can find it in lots of places, too. I’ve really embraced online communities. The Scripture to Music Collective is one of them. Another community I’m really involved in is the Songwriters Cafe hosted by All About Worship. They do a challenge where you write and submit one song a month. All the members listen and offer feedback. Another way to engage community is through Twitter. I’ve built real relationships with people I’ve never met through Twitter and these other online communities.
My local church is another community that is very supportive and encouraging. I’m a worship leader, so I regularly play with other musicians and we do some of my original songs in church for corporate worship. The leadership I work with encourages me to write and perform outside the church as a way to build relationships with people outside our local church body as well.
As far as suggestions for other songwriters – this community piece is pretty critical. If you’re doing this all by yourself, it’s easy to become discouraged and grow stagnant in your songwriting. I say this from experience. Just reach out – both locally and online. Your church is a great place to start (if you attend a local church). If you’d like, follow me on twitter. Send me a message there or through my website – I’d love to be an encouragement to you. Write a song based on scripture and submit it here to the Collective.
6) Anything else you want to say?
Ha, I think I’ve talked long enough! But I’ll go on… 
Keep writing songs. The more you do it the better you get at it. Also – listen to all different genres of music (I’m guilty of not doing this one!). And when you do write songs – get them recorded and put them out on the internet somewhere so we can listen. I’d love to hear them!
