Jimmy Needham has always followed his own path. Whether that mantra is applied to his music, his spirituality or his modesty, Needham has built a successful career on his own terms—and his third full-length CD, Nightlights, is an affirmation of that approach.

Correspondingly, if his bride Kelly inspired his last album Not Without Love, Nightlights was the result of a lot of hard thinking about his priorities in life.

“Christian music is an interesting paradox because the ambition should be the promotion of Christ and yet everything in your industry is telling you that it’s a promotion of self,” he explains.

These conflicting emotions are at the heart of Nightlights and writing these songs was Needham’s way of working through his issues.

“The heartbeat of the whole album comes from a line in the first song I wrote for the project, “The Reason I Sing,” he explains. “It says, 'Compared to you, I’m just a nightlight against a blazing sun.' We are so much less of a big deal than we think and writing the songs on this album was a really therapeutic way for me to get back into that mindset.”

NRT's Bill Lurwick talked with Jimmy about the themes that fueled his latest release.

What were you aiming for, stylistically, on the new record, Nightlights​?

This whole record has had a new approach. When we recorded the record, we all got in one room and just tracked it live. It gave it that live flavor and it feels a little bit more spur-of-the-moment. So, I’m really pleased with how it came out.

When you do a live recording like that, does it happen in just one take or does it take several to nail it down?

We did several takes, and then there’s some tweaking where we'd replay parts. But for the most part what you’re going to hear on the record is the best take for the band.



Your first single to radio from this album, “Yours to Take,” is about surrender, right?

That’s right. It’s a song that says that God has done so much for us. He paid our fine and gave His whole life for us, not just to save us, but to make us His. So, from my perspective as the songwriter, I just wanted to communicate that God has purchased a people for Himself, and that I'm a part of that people. It says I'm yours to take and you are my owner now; do with me what you will.

There’s another song on the project called “Being Small.” Could you give us the scoop on that?

Something that I’ve really struggled with in my walk is trying to keep a level head on; it is God that I am needing to promote and not myself. I feel like for so many of us Christians, we want to promote ourselves. We’re like people in Babylon in chapter 11 of Genesis who are building up this kingdom for ourselves, building up this tower, so that we can “make a name for ourselves.” I wrote this song to just speak for myself and just say, “You know? If God is the one that’s getting bigger, I need to be totally content with being small,” because that’s exactly what I am compared to a great and a big and a holy God.

Now, Jimmy, you travel a lot. How many dates would you say you're out on the road in a year?

It’s tough to nail it down. The last time I got numbers in on how busy we were, we were on the road for 235 days. So, it’s a little less busy right now because the recording process slows you down, but we hit it pretty hard. We’re out there quite a bit.

It’s a draining thing to be on the road all the time. How do you keep it real? How do you keep plugged into your local church or your local pastor or your own personal self?

I have to commit to make some sacrifices. My wife used to be on the road with us and now she’s not anymore. So one thing we committed to was that I'm going to be home for our church services at least two Sundays a month. Sundays are usually a work day for the Christian artist, but we thought it’s really vital for my spiritual health and for the health of my marriage. If want to attend church together twice a month and to be in the same church getting fed the same food, spiritual food, and grow together.



Do you have a favorite cut on the record, maybe one that’s not gone to radio?

Yeah. The one that I’m most excited about right now, to be honest with you, is a song called “Grace Amazing,” and it’s probably the most stylistically different thing I’ve ever done on a record. If you were to hear it, you’d think that it was a hip-hop song. I invited a friend of mine, hip-hop artist Trip Lee, to come rap on a song for me. So it’s kind of a blended style of soul music and hip-hop; it almost has a Michael Jackson/Maroon 5 sort of feel to it.

And lyrically, it’s just a twist on "Amazing Grace?"

Yeah. It celebrates the Biblical idea that God has been the great initiator in my salvation, that really we are just like Lazarus. We are in dead and in the tomb, and then God comes and He takes us out of that. He doesn’t just heal us from our sickness; He gives us life from death. He is the sole initiator of that process and that it really makes grace that much more amazing when we understand that.