Jeremy Koering of Music Faith: Overall, how does your new album compare to your past ones?
Bebo Norman: That’s a good question. I think that overall probably, I’m not quite sure if I have a good answer, overall probably… a little more aggressive or something, I don’t know if that’s the right word, musically it’s a little less folk, little less singer/songwriter than the previous records. I kind of wanted to push the envelope a little bit more, just to express… kind of… all the musical influence I have, because I have a lot of them, not just singer/songwriters or folk music, so I’d say that. In terms of content in general it’s a little more of a hopeful record. But it’s kind of about trying to find peace in the middle of a world that’s really not at peace right now, specifically. So that’s kind of the essential things. Hints the title Between the Dreaming and Coming True, just that idea of living between those two things… its peace that I feel like I’m promised as a believer, and yet the world is really temporarily not at peace right now.
Jeremy Koering: Where did you get the title?
Bebo Norman: The title is actually borrowed from a book I read, [from] a guy named Robert Benson. Who wrote a book, which is actually about finding God in the struggle of depression, which is a pretty heavy subject and my record is certainly not really about that. His book is a really hopeful book as well and that’s what inspired me. The idea for me, for this record, every single song on the record ended up being a little about, what I was telling you a minute ago, that idea of trying to understand this peace I feel like I’ve had for the last few years. How do you reconcile that to a world that is not at peace? And that idea of living between, hope eternal and a very temporal world, and almost every song on the record speaks of that on some level or another. So that ends up being sort of the theme of the record. So the idea of Between the Dreaming and Coming True made perfect since according to the songs.
Jeremy Koering: It says here that tracks 1-9 tell a story. Can you explain a little about that?
Bebo Norman: Yeah Y’know it’s interesting, because it’s not a story so much as you’d read in a novel, but they’re sort of, each of the tracks especially 1 through 9 are interrelated. I think they sort of weave you in and out of the process… song 1 is an overview of the record, stepping out of the dark night of the soul, if you will, and stepping into daylight, and that idea, which is a real hopeful idea. I think in general the story that is being told is, in 1 through 9 is… I think a lot times in Christian music people try to paint a real pretty picture and package things up real nicely so what faith looks like. Looks like is a perfectly sealed little vacuum of faith. And that’s not been my experience with faith. I feel like we live in a world that is hard to live and faith is hard to find. So I really wanted to express that in the songs. So really in the first nine songs, really, just walks through a journey of different ways that life sort of challenges us. And yet at the same time each song speaks that there is peace in the middle of that there is faith in the middle of that.
Jeremy Koering: What inspired “Time Takes It’s Toll on us”?
Bebo Norman: My life just inspired it Y’know? I think the whole song sort of sums up by the idea of… the bridge says that the time takes / time takes away / the love remains / love remains. I think the bottom line is again, that life and time can be… Y’know I’m old enough now that I see friends of my go through marriages that have failed, friends of mine go through miscarriages and see friends parents start to die and all those things that can be sad, but are genuine parts of life. And so the idea of time can be sort of… the longer we live the longer we realize life is hard and life is not a pretty picture all the time. But I think for me the longer I live and the more I realize that in the light of it, that even still with the difficulties and that time does take its toll. That I feel that more than ever that I feel God is in control. And there is a story being told in each of our lives, that’s a really beautiful picture, and it requires some level of darkness to see daylight. So that’s really what the song is written from, more than anything. Just a general story of what my life is.
Jeremy Koering: What about “I Will Lift My Eyes”?
Bebo Norman: I Will Lift My Eyes; it sort of speaks to that similar theme of realizing that even in all the stuff in this world that looks confusing or difficult, I think a lot of things that have inspired me couple years, is I have traveled over seas to third world countries, doing a lot of middle east work, and it’s just made me realize the world is a big place. And third world countries aren’t the prettiest places to look at. That’s just an example to the fact that the world is a fallen place. And so I Will Lift My Eyes is really a prayer to look upward or more deeply into life, and realize that there are pictures of who God is everyday. And we have to remind ourselves to lift our eyes up to those things, and not be taken in by the things that look sad or frightening. That there are really pictures of who God is everyday, and it’s really a prayer more than anything.
Jeremy Koering: I’m not sure why, but I’m drawn to the song “To Find My Way to You” can you tell me a little how you wrote it?
Bebo Norman: Yeah man, it’s honestly about life lived on the road a lot Y’know? It’s a love song really. I wrote it for my wife; we’ve been married for about 3 years. The truth is as difficult as it is as much as I am; I’ve been gone about a month and got about two weeks to go ‘til I see her again. And there are days and moments when it’s just hard to be away from her. But the reality is that it’s my life and it’s our life, we realize it’s what we do. At the same time being away from her is a constant reminder how much I need her and how much I miss her, and in the long run it ends up pushing us closer to each other. Because we realize how much we miss each other… Life doesn’t give us a chance to be boring, because I’m gone so much and it’s just kind of the way it works for us.
Jeremy Koering: Is there a song that sticks out or you like from Between the Dreaming and Coming True?
Bebo Norman: Time Takes it Toll is one of my favorites for sure… honestly between Time Takes its Toll and Into the Day, the very first song on the record, those are the two that jump out to me first, also I know Now is a song just about redemption that I really enjoy.
Jeremy Koering: What bands have you enjoyed touring with in the past?
Bebo Norman: Honestly I don’t know if I’ve had a bad touring experience. I’ve toured with a bunch of folks. I’ve toured with MercyMe, Amy Grant to Third Day and I’ve played shows with Jars of Clay. I feel like I’m fortunate in that regard. But this tour I’m on right now is honestly has been one of my favorites.
Jeremy Koering: Are there any that you haven’t toured with that you’d like to?
Bebo Norman: I haven’t done a full out tour with Jars of Clay yet and so I’d like to tour with those guys that’d be fun.
Jeremy Koering: Do you have any last comments?
Bebo Norman: No I’m good to go bro. I think you covered it.
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