Tony Cummings quizzed Nashville-based singer/songwriter GARY CHAPMAN about his troubled past and creative present

Gary: It's hard to pick a favourite but for me it depends on which half and where. As a songwriter, "Everything I Know" is a favourite; as a singer, no it doesn't really stretch too much. As a singer I love "Safe From The Wind" and I love "If God Had A Front Porch". I didn't write that one but some good friends wrote it and passed it on to me. The first time I heard it, as it faded to quiet at the end of the demo I spoke Alison's name out loud. It was perfect.

Tony: Many Nashville songwriters are encouraged to write a stream of songs for other artists so they can make a comfortable living. You never seemed to become a songwriting factory.

Gary: The craft of songwriting can be formulaic, it can be something like, if you do this then if A equals B, then B equals C, you know; kind of play it out. I've just never done it that way. I spent a few years early in life, really, really working hard pitching songs and having a 10 o'clock appointment and a two o'clock appointment and a six o'clock appointment and just kept churning them out. I created a lot of songs that, to the analytical eye, were great, they were fine. There was not an ounce of fat on them, there was not a wasted space, not a wasted phrase, an interesting melody; it had all the parts. But I noticed over time, that the ones I worked the hardest were the most easily ignored. "Sweet Jesus" (the classic song on Gary's 1994 'The Light Inside' album) was the opposite of that. For me the analogy is, it's like I'm stepping off a curb and a song-shaped bus just mows me down out of nowhere. I literally wrote "Sweet Jesus" in 10 minutes.

Tony: Yes, you said that in an interview years ago and it sounds very much to me like you had an epiphany and God delivered that song to you.

Gary: Absolutely. I believe that without a doubt. I think if you consider yourself a creative person and you think you can do it apart from the source of all creation - you're an idiot. That's just my opinion. But I think it's God's oh so subtle way of reminding me of that fact, because "Everything I Know" was the same experience. Every now and then it happens like that. There's another song on the record, "Window Of The South", where I had the same experience. You learn to just wait and, not to toot my horn, listen to the signals, to the voice. I know when it's about to happen and I just lean into it. And it never fails.

Tony: In recent years you've moved into film producing and directing. You did the full length documentary The Eighth Of November for the country duo Big And Rich. Is film directing as important as music for you today?

Gary: If it's the right story and it's something that I'm passionate about. I just love the filmmaking process. I spent the majority of the early part of my life "doing people's ears", but when you engage their eyes as well it gets more interesting. So I really, really do enjoy that process. I'm always looking for the next story and I think I found one recently. It'll take a year or two to get it to where it can be exposed. Yeah, I love a great story.

Tony: Getting back to your album for a second. What was it like singing with your daughter, Sarah? That must have been a pretty amazing experience as well.

Gary: It's just wonderful. She is a joy of a person, she's a real - I don't know, we call her Hippy Chick. She's just free and happy and just bouncing through life. I've never pushed my kids to be in the music business. I've encouraged them to be able to express themselves and Sarah's voice is really unique. It was a great feeling to have her singing on a song that was inspired by my dying father, a three generational experience. It was pretty sweet for me.

Tony: You recently became a dad again. Is Eva Rose keeping you awake at night?

Gary: You know what, she is incredible. We almost can't talk to other parents with infant children as somewhere around three weeks of age she went to sleep at eight o'clock and woke up at eight o'clock. And she does it every night. These days she will wake up and will spend half an hour singing to herself and laughing. She is a total joy. An amazing little person.

Tony: In an interview last year Amy Grant spoke about some of her troubles down the years and she included a reference to you and she talked about cocaine addiction. Did that interview raise old wounds?

Gary: No. I chose to go public with my drug issue, December 2nd 1986 and I'm sneaking up on 30 years of not struggling with that. The reason I chose to become public at that time was, quite frankly, we were in the middle of what everyone calls a rocky relationship - there were plenty of other things going on and I chose at that time, rightly or wrongly, to take it on the chin and let it be my fault, blame it on the drugs. Two-fold, I also wanted to be available and believable to others who were struggling with that and to be honest about my own struggle; that was step one. I don't regret that. But the whole story will be told someday, there's kind of no need; you know the truth comes out.

Tony: You, or should I say Jesus seems to have finally overcome your inner demons. Your wife and kids seem to have played quite a part in that.

Gary: Oh very much so. My whole process, the painful public divorce with Amy and her relationship with Vince, subsequent marriage and that whole process was so painful. I'm not a victim guy but it was really hard; it hurt, a lot. That coupled with dealing with the aftermath of that with my children. They slowly improved and are all doing really well. Got two girls living in Manhattan and a son going for his master's degrees - double major applied mathematics and engineering; kind of a brainiac. That process led me to being there for my dad. My father lived with Cassie and me until he died; this Easter will be five years - he died sunrise on Easter morning. Which is great if you're a preacher and a believer. That whole process, the combination of all those experiences caused me to decide to be absolutely and irreversibly completely transparent. I am honest, that's why I call the record "The Truth"; I could not lie. I have chosen to live out my days in complete freedom and the only way to do that is to be completely honest. And I'm so at peace and so happy with that choice. We all want to do it, but in little ways we break our own commitments and when you can really take the stick and really dive in to the ocean of truth it's the sweetest swim ever. I'm just very, very pleased with life.