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Even though he's a relatively new worship artist, Jason Morant has never been one to cash in a fad or pad his lyrics with clichés. Instead the 24-year-old singer/songwriter has sought to relate, connect and challenge his mostly college-age crowd, while lifting up the Lord in the process. But much has happened since his 2004 debut, Abandon, including deaths in the family, marriage growing pains, a re-examination of his faith, and Hurricane Katrina. Morant and his wife Brianna were living in New Orleans when Katrina hit, forcing them to relocate—they moved to Nashville—and begin anew. Over pizza at Gino's East just outside of Chicago, Morant tells how those painful events shaped his latest record, Open, and how his songs go beyond the merely vertical, giving believers a wake-up call.

What's been up since your debut CD released?

Jason Morant: There's been a lot since then—a lot of writing, a lot of touring, a lot of playing out, and a lot of life. There's been different experiences, personal painful experiences, a lot my wife and I have gone through. It's been a real roller coaster.

How has being young and married factored into your recording career?

Morant: We were married at a young age, but it still feels new. To have started dating my wife around 19 and married at 20 have made the last four or five years insane but awesome. We've gotten to grow up with each other, but it's also very scary. As you grow up a lot of stuff comes out about you—especially when it comes to selfishness. I've basically learned I need a lot of help. Each person is whatever their life experience has made them to be, and things are very different from when we were 19 until now. Our minds have been shaping, ideas have been forming, and my dynamic and relationship with God is different.

In what way?

Morant: It's a lot more peaceful and a lot more restful. I don't have this anxiousness, which is really weird because I am still so young. I read the book No Compromise by Keith Green and it was awesome. To those that knew him, he was a pain in the butt because he was always getting on people, and he was the first to admit it. But he just had really high expectations of himself and those around him.

I'm not built that way, but wanted to be. I went through a time when I was hard on the world and hard on myself. You don't really know who you are at 19, so I guess going through that with a partner has been grounding and good, because there's a person committed to me regardless of the stuff I go through, but also it's tough.

What are some of the challenges?

Morant: Even though I've known my wife a long time, I didn't really know her till we were married. And until that point, I didn't really know myself. I surprise myself all the time—how I responded to her, how much of a jerk I can be, how gracious I can be when naturally I don't want to do something.

Also, it may sound weird, but through growth in my relationship with God, I'm becoming okay with the fact that I am flawed and okay when others are flawed. We are all flawed.

How did Katrina shake up all of this self-examination?

Morant: The funny thing is, there were other experiences as well—my grandmother died, my wife and I had a miscarriage, and we had a situation at church with some politics. Then Katrina hit and we were like, "Oh, great!" Our life was like that movie The Money Pit with all that was happening in our marriage. Shortly after [Katrina], my wife's grandmother died, who she was really close to, and then we moved up to Nashville.

Now that you've moved and are often on tour, is it hard to stay close to family?

Morant: At first when I set out to make Open, I wanted to do it in New Orleans and found a great studio where Lenny Kravitz and Ryan Adams recorded. But it was flooded, and I wound up recording in Nashville. When I recorded there [for the last record], I slept on friends' couches for two and a half months; I didn't want to do that again, so we got an apartment. It was hard at first and we missed everyone, especially because I was in the studio all the time.

So, here I was in the whole creative process, but my wife didn't know that many people. It's easier for me since I'm more independent. But for Brianna, it's been a little tougher. When I went on tour, she had a choice—either spend all of her time by herself, or do something. And she did. She's been working and hanging out a lot with friends and establishing a lot of relationships over the past couple of months.

How did Katrina's aftermath affect you personally?

Morant: It was completely surreal. Even when I look back now, it was like a dream. I wasn't getting any sleep. I was worried about the house and trying to call people who I knew lived in areas that were affected. People were trapped in homes—friends and family members. It was a constant state of panic that was just scary.

But it was funny, because over the last few months before Katrina, I'd been realizing how I thought the world worked, how I thought God worked, who Jesus is, and all those things I thought I knew because of Sunday school or Bible camp. Katrina was just another event that showed how unpredictable life can be.

What is your take on all the faults and finger pointing in Katrina's aftermath?

Morant: As far as politically and the finger pointing, I think everyone failed. I think the mayor went a little nuts; that shouldn't happen because it adds to the madness. The governor was hesitant to work with government organizations to get things done. And then just the government itself. And it's the people's fault who lived there and stayed! I almost stayed! If I didn't have a meeting in Nashville, I would've been patrolling the streets and prevent looting in our neighborhood.

The only thing I get really agitated at is when people start talking about how it's God's judgment on the country. Basically, I believe that everything will be judged in its timing, and rain falls on the just and unjust. It's funny how most areas in New Orleans that were hit aren't famous for their sex, drinking and scandal. A town in western Louisiana had a bunch of casinos destroyed; a person sent me an e-mail, thinking God was judging them. I thought, You know, most of the people who frequent those casinos are watching this all go down from their homes in Arkansas and West Virginia. No locals really do that stuff!

So, we sit in high places and try to figure out God's liking instead of taking advantage of opportunities to help. When Billy Graham was on Larry King and was asked about the twin towers falling, he said it happened because a lot time ago there was a garden with a boy and girl in love and explained the whole sin story. That's what I subscribe to, and as long as we're out there getting our hands dirty and providing people's needs, we're doing our job. I'm not going to just sit and point fingers, because I don't think that's Jesus' heart.

As a songwriter, how has this led you to explore topics outside of worship?

Morant: It really has, like on the title track "Open" and a few others where I take on the perspective of the church as opposed to my own personal [life]. As a songwriter, that's what do—you talk from your or someone else's shoes.

On this last tour, I would sing, "Jesus, your name is like honey on my lips" to try and get people to sing. And then I'd go into "Open," which is completely different and directed toward people. It's a "if we're going to pretend like worshipping, let's really look at what worship is" type of song; the lyrics are pretty harsh. Afterwards, I often talk with people who say, "What's with that song? It hurt, but I needed to hear that."

I think I once heard in a sermon "we sing more lies than we tell," and so instead of it being a response to worship it's an actual, "I can't sing that unless I'm doing what I'm singing about."

Most of the times we sing lyrics because it's a hook tune with a hook—"My life is yours," "All I want is you," "You alone satisfy me," lyrics like that. But if I really think about it, I can't fully sing that song because that's a lie. I hate that, but it is the truth.

It's been years since I wrote my first record, and there are a lot of different things that have happened in my life that made me more thankful than I used to be and more apt to listen rather than speak. I'm a different person and naturally those songs were written out of those experiences and have shaped who I am today.

Visit our artist page to read more about Jason Morant, and click here to read our review of Open. You can sample and purchase his music by going to Christianbook.com.

© Andy Argyrakis, subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

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