Mike Rimmer quizzed veteran RUSS TAFF about his new album and those classic '80s releases

Russ Taff

Russ Taff is one of Christian music's done-it-all men. Down the decades he's sung with the Imperials, made classic pop rock albums, made a nod at country music and in recent years been featured on numerous projects with Mr & Mrs Southern Gospel, the Gaithers. However, Russ' new album 'Faroe Islands' is more cutting edge than recent albums and already being acclaimed as his best since the '80s. Mike Rimmer caught up with Russ in Nashville and quizzed the singer about his recent renaissance.

Mike: Why have you called your album 'Faroe Islands'?

Russ: Well, I have always wanted to do a record in an exotic place. I met Jakup Zachariassen and Oli Poulsen about nine years ago. Oli lives in Copenhagen and I started going to the Faroe Islands about nine years ago because there was a rock festival. It wasn't a Christian festival, but they wanted me to do the classic stuff from the '80s. They put a band together, and I went over there and met these guys. About a year ago, we were talking about a record. They both have state of the art studios, one in Faroe Islands and one in Copenhagen. So they suggested they did the record, the only thing they asked was would I go back and re-capture some of the passion from the '80s and '90s from songs like "I Still Believe" and "Low Lens". I had been getting lots of comments from people around the country, asking when I was going to do something like that again. So it was the perfect opportunity to do a record where the view from the vocal booth was mountains and oceans. To get out of Nashville and go someplace, just to work on the record... I was there two or three weeks at a time going over there four times last year. It had been a dream my whole life, and was such a rewarding experience for me.

Mike: I loved the 'Medals' era albums. There was something very special going on back in the '80s, wasn't there?

Russ: Yes, it was actually a very interesting time for Christian music in general; it was a lot more open I think. I speak to artists these days who get frustrated, because there are so many people in the studio from marketing, production all telling you what they need. It is so easy to lose focus. But over there, everything went away. The label just left me alone and let me do what I wanted, keeping their fingers crossed! But I came back with something they liked so I was happy.

Mike: What sticks in your mind about the Faroe Islands?

Russ: The first time there nine years ago, I had never seen a place like that, 18 islands shooting up out of the ocean. Everywhere you turn there are just these incredible views. The strongest impact was that there are 48,000 people, but their passion for music! When I got there, sitting down and talking to the band about times in their lives and what they liked about songs. Over the first week there, that passion kind of started, it became a career. There was an innocence about it with them, and it was as though a light came on inside of me and I realised that is what I wanted to rediscover.

Mike: You've drawn on the history of the country for the song "Missionary Man".

Russ: My heroes have been people who have shaken countries for God. People like Martin Luther, they really affected countries for Christ. They told me about a missionary, I can't remember his name, who came to the island bringing the Gospel and he wound up being beheaded for his faith in Jesus Christ. That prompted the song about a guy who is faced with the thing that you can walk away clean or stand for what you believe and you're going to die. It starts out with a singer from the Faroe Islands from hundreds of years ago. They have songs from 800 years ago out there; in fact that is how they passed on messages. They were playing me stuff from songs written 500 years ago. The history of music in Europe is amazing. I was caught up in all of that, and we incorporated some of the Nordic songs and Faroe Island chants on top of some of the turnarounds. So that song really captures that part of the world.

Mike: Tell me about the song "Love Is A Cross".

Russ: It was written by several friends of mine here in town, including Reggie Hamm... I love the lyric of it, this song says love was the cross, the greatest form of love there was, that a man would lay down his life for all of us.

Mike: What about your version of Kris Kristofferson's "Help Me Jesus"?

Russ: "Help Me Jesus" is one of my all time favourites. It's one of the most honest songs. In the Christian field we present ourselves as beautiful symbols of what Christ can do in a life, but the truth is that we are all struggling to conform to the image of Christ. One of the trying times as an artist is when you stand in front of people and they want a word from God. But he has brought me out of and delivered me from so many things. Larry Gatlin wrote this song years ago, and it's been my prayer for the last 34 years in this business every day.

Mike: On 'Faroe Islands' you have a version of Bob Dylan's "I Believe In You".

Russ: When Dylan's 'Slow Train Comin'' came out, it became, and still is, my favourite record of all time and that song particularly. I remember being in New York after 'Medals' and they had me play The Ritz, it was a swish nightclub. I played that club and people were dancing, but the lyrics were so strong and they hit so hard. Afterwards, the manager came to see me and said, "If that guy quit singing about that Jesus crap he could be a star." I was thinking about that on the way back to the hotel. In this country bigger is better. There isn't a great theology on loss in this country. There is a lot of loss but nobody ever talks about it. So I thought about it and said, "That is who I am. If I lose that, I lose me." So that's where it came from, "I believe in you" through all of the other stuff.

Mike: I haven't really cared for your Gaither output. Now you seem to be joining the ranks of a number of artists who have gone back to roots, where you are producing great work again by rediscovering something you lost.

Russ: Absolutely. First of all, let me say that Bill Gaither and I have been friends for a long time. In this business, you're hot, cold, up, down one year to the next. Bill said come and work with me and I did a record in 1991 called 'Under The Influence' and it won a Grammy. He loves that record. He kept me eating. I love the music and I love him, but as an artist you are making records for a specific audience.

Mike: Bill Gaither seems to run a complete rehabilitation course for older artists. The Christian music scene in Nashville is really good at euthanasia.

Russ: Yeah. There again, I have reinvented myself three times to be out here. Bill has been great for taking people like Howard Goodman, Jake Hess and all of those older Southern gospel artists.

Mike: We need someone to do that for the Jesus music artists.

Russ: Right, absolutely, because there are so many. We finished the Christmas tour and I said before you hang this thing up, let me get 2nd Chapter Of Acts back. Randy Stonehill. Randy Matthews. Chuck Girard - the sound of Christian contemporary music, let's get all of them together. I would like to get all the folks from that era to do a two hour video. I'm working on it. Even the rock world is kinder to older artists than what the Christian music world has been. Another thing about the CCM industry today, I have people saying it would be great if I could do a praise and worship record. I said, "30 years ago I did a song called 'Praise The Lord', is that not worship music?" What they are looking for is not what I am called to do. There are men and women who are called to lead worship and it is very powerful. But I'm not called to that. I am very grateful that through the years of doing "I Still Believe", where I am honest, it created me a platform.

Mike: You have a history of being very honest. After the huge success of 'Medals', you made the 'Russ Taff' album. It was a really honest, "this is a bigger struggle than you think" kind of record, wasn't it?

Russ: When we started writing, my wife Tori asked me if I wanted to be that honest and my answer was I have to be as an artist. A very dear friend once said art is just looking at life honestly and writing about it. For so many years, I held things in. But with that record, I couldn't write, it took me a long, long time. I was standing on the balcony of a hotel in LA and we were looking at songs. He played "I Still Believe" and I started crying. I wanted to sit down and write a song. We all grew up singing songs in church, and then all of a sudden you are standing in front of thousands of people. You learn as you go. You can't get a degree in this. During the 'Medals' record, it was so commercial. I remember going to the label to hear the 'Russ Taff' record and they were saying, "We want 'Medals 2'" and I said, "I have to be honest with people if I am going to survive, I've got to tell them who I am." Tori and I, we were getting further and further apart, I was caught up in my world and she was caught up in hers. I thought I was doing great things for God, but I started losing that thing inside that was holding me together. I put the brakes on; it took a long, long time for that record to come out.

Mike: It's interesting the way in which mainstream artists like Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, Johnny Cash re-invent themselves.

Russ: Well the voice is still strong, and in the last couple of years the passion has come back. I was down in Austin and I have never had so much fun! I've been doing it for 34 years, but the pressure is so much less. When you are a young artist winning awards, you are only as good as your last single. If I could just make great music and a certain amount of people buy it, picking songs that move audiences so they have tears in their eyes... That's the way it's supposed to be. I don't have to get too caught up in the hoopla of the whole thing.

I was at a men's retreat in October and I found that as I stood it front of them and said I am not perfect, and as I began to be honest, it freed other men. Someone stood up and said, "I'm not perfect and I am leaning on Jesus every day and this is what I am struggling with." Something good could happen. We men don't really talk very much. My wife does and it's healthy, but we men don't when we are in front of people. Just to strip it all down. I find that I have made more comments about this record than any other.

Mike: You have reached an age where you are not bothered about what people think of you so you can be honest and minister properly and use your experiences to help people.

Russ: The great thing about getting old is that I don't care what people think any more. I am 57 and I have been able to do what I do and make a living, but these days it is for a whole different reason. You can truly minister from a place of honesty, you're not as good as your last single and it is that moment in time which matters. Hopefully in the middle of all of it, we exalt Jesus and his name is glorified. What's important is if I can do something to further the Kingdom of Jesus, that's what I am supposed to do.