Cory Asbury relocated to Tennessee just over two years ago with his wife, Anna, and their four children. It’s this journey that Asbury shares with the listener on his fifth studio project Pioneer, out now. The Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter’s album serves as a bridge from his past Christian releases, so much so that he was calling the album “The Bridge Project” before settling on its title.
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The deeply personal 11-track album embraces the narrative-driven style found in Nashville’s country songwriting. All the while, the project showcases Asbury’s authenticity as a songwriter and an artist. In a candid conversation with American Songwriter, Asbury shares his journey into new creative territory and what it was like writing with country hitmakers Lori McKenna, Tom Douglas and Shane Stevens.
[RELATED: Cory Asbury Reflects on His Upbringing in New Song “My Inheritance”]
From the profound reflections on growing up and the emotional depth of his songwriting process to his realistic outlook on life, Asbury bares all in his songs and in our interview. Below is an excerpt from American Songwriter’s Q&A with Cory and Anna Asbury. Find the full video interview and performance of “These Are the Days” below.
American Songwriter: You’re gearing up to release your fifth album, Pioneer, and teamed up with some A-list country writers like Lori McKenna, Tom Douglas, and Shane Stevens. How did you get in the writing room with them?
Cory Asbury: Every connection has been super organic. I play basketball with all these country dudes over at Ashley Gorley’s house, who lives right next to Tom. I’ve gotten to know all these guys and I love them. They’re incredible guys. When we first moved here, I reached out to Paul Mabury, my producer, and I was like, “Dude, let’s, write some country songs.” I get bored or burnt out doing the same thing for a long time. I even get bored with some of the cultural elements of Christian music. And I was like, “Dude, let’s write some narrative-driven songs that people can relate to because that’s the stuff that touches me.”
I listened to Lee Brice’s song “Boy,” actually Nicolle Galyon’s “Boy,” and that song destroyed me. There are so many songs that lean that sort of country direction that are narrative-driven, that are story songs that I think hit people so hard, and they circumnavigate some of the typical walls that I think people have in their hearts to certain types of music, or certain ideas even.
AS: Was it a conscious decision to write with more country songwriters or the result of moving to Nashville?
CA: When we moved here, I just said, “Hey, let’s write some songs.” I’m very relational so I just hit people up on Instagram. I hit up Lori McKenna. I was like, “Hey, will you write with us?” And I always say, “Hey, I wrote a song called ‘Reckless Love’” because that’s what people know. It tends to open doors for whatever reason, even if they’re not fully Jesus-leaning folks.
We just connected and wrote a bunch of songs and it was super fun getting to know a totally different world and even in a way, a totally different way of writing a song. Tom Douglas has been such a father to Paul and me. The first time he stood in the room he was like, “What you’re doing is right, it’s gonna touch people.” He was such a generational father and encouraged the heck out of us. He’s like, “I’m in a corner. Whatever you want to write, I’m with you. So proud of the songs.” It was really sweet.
AS: Are you nervous about how the Christian audience will take the new music?
CA: To a certain extent. This record we’re about to release is called Pioneer. We wrote probably 50 or 60 songs, maybe more, and then we looked at it strategically. We [have] like 3 million monthly listeners on Spotify, we can’t just leave those folks behind. They know “Reckless Love” … If we just started writing these songs in a completely different lane, I feel like it would leave them behind. We were like, “Man, we’ve got to have a project that’s almost a bridge” and that’s what we’re calling us record. We called it The Bridge Project. Meaning, it’s a bridge from one world and one way of doing things to another, not necessarily because I need to go over here and become a country guy or country, whatever. But because I love the tradition of the beauty of country music writing. I think there’s such value to that and even bringing that back into this world over here.
I wouldn’t say I’m scared of it, but I’ve definitely counted the cost. Some folks are gonna go, “He doesn’t love God anymore. He doesn’t love Jesus, whatever.” … At the same time, I want to bring them along on the story. I want to help them understand where I’m trying to go and where I’m trying to go is just writing great songs. Wherever they land I’m happy. As long as they speak to people, and hopefully change lives, whatever that looks like, I’m good with that.
AS: You’ve said “The Promise Is the Same” is the “thesis statement for the record.” You wrote that with Lori McKenna and Paul Mabury and sing, They might say I’m sinner If I don’t sing hallelujah / That I’ll be forgotten if every song I sing’s not to ya.
CA: She’s definitely a hero. So the fact that she said yes and sat down with us. I just said, “Lori, this is what we need to write. It needs to feel like the statement song of what we’re doing and where we’re going to help people make sense of maybe a different sound, or a different direction.” I said a bunch of stuff to her. And then she goes, “Well, this is what I hear you saying,” [and] literally just spat out all that, so many of those lines, spat out the chorus. We just launched right into that song and she had the line, the promise is the same, which basically the idea is, you might be doing it a little differently now. It might look a little different, might sound a little different.
There’s a different sonic vibe to the music, but the promise is the same. That He’s with us and that we’re with Him and we’re doing it hand in hand and we’re walking together and Jesus is just as much with us in this as He was in the writing of “Reckless Love.” I think that’ll be a message that’s difficult for people to grasp. In that line, they might say I’m a sinner and I might say, A, B and C. But I find peace and holy ground in a little farmhouse. Down in Thompson Station, we got almost eight acres and that’s where I find peace. That’s where I find God. Sitting out there on the land, I feel like we felt so much healing out in that spot. So yeah, hopefully, people get it. Those lines are definitely the crux of it.
AS: Is there one song you’re especially excited about on this album for fans to hear?
Anna Asbury: I love “Pioneer.” “Pioneer” will always be my favorite. When we moved to Tennessee, we did our first just us tour together. It was basically very much like this. Just us two, him on the acoustic and then keys with us. We went out and we toured like that and we took one kid at a time with us so they got one-on-one time with us. We did “Pioneer” every night. At the time it was very much, and is still very much, the heartbeat I think of of our family, of our marriage. Just the message of it. It feels like the foundation of our home in a way.
AS: How far along in the album process did you decide to title the project Pioneer?
CA: We had been working on the record for over a year. Probably more like a year and a half honestly. There was so much tumult over the whole deal, trying to figure out how to release it, how to bring it to people how to make it make sense. We were calling it the bridge and I feel like all of a sudden one day it hit: “This is a pioneer project. This is going into uncharted territory in some ways.” You look at the pioneers back in the day, it was not an easy lifestyle. They left behind friends, they left behind family. Anything that they couldn’t fit on a dadgum wagon they were just like, “Alright, it’s staying here and we’re going.” I think there’s something to that. We’re pushing on into what God’s calling us to do, whether it’s easy or not, whether it feels comfortable or not, which it does not feel comfortable at all.
AA: And there’s no one to really tell you or to look to. When you’re pioneering something there’s not really anybody to say, “This is how you pioneer.” You just have to follow the voice of God in your life.
CA: We’re heading out West and hopefully we don’t get cholera and die. [laughs]
(Photo Credit: Rachel and Connor Dwyer / Courtesy Paul Freundlich Associates)
