Christian singer and songwriter Matthew West will be offering messages of hope and grace through his musical talents at the Brown County Music Center July 28.
Growing up as the son of a pastor, West began making music young in his father’s church. He initially had his eyes set on going into sports and playing baseball, but later decided to go into music, as he said many people in his life had told him he had a gift for it.
“So, I started to walk down that road and really developed a passion for songwriting, and so that’s really what started my career was learning how to write a song and then I began my career in Music City as a songwriter behind the scenes, writing songs for other people,” West said.
Since beginning his musical career 20 years ago, West has gone on to release 13 albums, his latest in January of 2024, and has over 275 songwriting credits to his name, according to his biography. He has won several awards for both his singing and songwriting, including five Grammy nominations.
“My music is all about what I’m saying, not just how I’m saying it, and the lyrics really matter,” West said. “So I think that’s kind of how I would categorize, but most of my music is in the contemporary Christian category, but being a songwriter and writing songs, I’ve written songs for country artists and Christian artists and so I’m pretty eclectic in my writing style.”
Outside of music, West has written eight books, with a ninth one to release next February, and started a weekly podcast in 2020 titled the Matthew West Podcast. He also founded a nonprofit organization, titled popwe, with the help of his father. West said he founded this organization to continue the conversation with people who are hurting or are needing encouragement beyond his songs and concerts.
“I kind of look at my nonprofit or my podcast or the books that I write, it’s sort of just extensions of my mission in life, which is through my music and now through all of these different channels,” West said. “Hopefully with everything I do, I just want to use my voice to be a positive voice in a pretty negative world.”
Faith has always been a big part of West’s life. When he was 13, he said he made the decision to share the same faith as his family, but as the son of a pastor, he said he thought of church as the family business of sorts. It wasn’t until he went to college that he said he began to realize that God desired more than just a family connection with him.
“And that’s really when my faith started to go (to) deeper depths, when I started to really tap into ‘what does it look like to have a personal faith and a personal relationship with God?’ And so, ever since then, that’s really guided my decisions,” West said. “It’s how I want to raise my family, it’s the reason my marriage is strong, it’s the reason my kids are who they’re becoming, it’s all been guided by trying to live the life that I believe God put me on this earth to live.”
That relationship with his faith is carried over into his songs, the messages of which boil down to three words: hope, grace and Jesus. He said his songs carry messages of reminding people that everyone is looking for hope and the greatest source of hope he has found has been in the grace and forgiveness he has found in Jesus.
Fans and followers of West can hear those messages during his upcoming concert at the Brown County Music Center, where West said he will be singing many of his songs that people know from the radio. This concert will serve as West’s debut in Brown County, and he said he looks forward to meeting the people who come out and see it.
“I think ultimately, I hope people leave fired up, to go make the most of their one life that they get and to remember that the way to make the most of the life that you live is to put your faith in God and let Him guide your life,” West said. “And so I think that’s a really important part of every one of my concerts is just remind people that no matter what they’re going through, there’s hope and hopefully they walk out of those doors feeling a little more encouraged than before they walked in.”
