

Christian Music - Reviews, News, Interviews

One to Watch: Andrew Carlton

  • Stephen Douglas Losey CCM Magazine
  • 2004 21 Jun
One to Watch:  Andrew Carlton

Flying Leap Records artist Andrew Carlton is a performer who wears his emotions on his sleeve. The Knoxville, Tenn., native’s debut disc, "Falling In,"  is intended to reach a generation of seekers as it paints pictures of pain, faith and hope set to a rock and pop background.  

CCM:  What does your music sound like?

Andrew:  I can do that vocalist ballad but yet pick up the guitar and have that rock feel. I bring an edge but also that moment in the show where there’s just a vocal and piano. Truthfully, I’m hoping to hit every generation, and that’s not a very common thing in our industry. I’m just going to sing what I love and what’s in my heart. I wrote these songs without thinking about the critics.

CCM: How do you personally write a song? 

Andrew:  There are a lot of ways. With all my traveling it seems like I’m always at an airport. I’m constantly calling my voicemail and singing into it because a melody has popped into my head. I try not to look crazy to the people around me. I believe melody is music with the lyrics being the distinction between us [Christian music] and the mainstream market.

CCM:  It seems that pain is a theme woven throughout your last few years. Can you talk about that?

Andrew:  Inside of a two-year time span I lost my grandfather, who was a huge influence on me; and my parents divorced after a 30-year marriage. It can make you question your faith. It rocks you. God has used those situations to draw me closer to Him. As a songwriter, I released a lot of that pain into my music.

CCM:  Do we need to experience pain before we experience grace?

Andrew:  I know that I’ve had to. I think Mel Gibson said it best in his interview with Diane Sawyer [ABC’s “Primetime”] when he said, “Pain is the pre-cursor to change.”
