For many artists, being on the road means spending long periods of time away from their families. But, for the Cline family, also known as CLINE, making music and touring is a family affair. They live out their mantra of bringing together faith, family, and music.
Garrett Cline, his wife Jacquelyn, and his brother Darrick found success in the country music industry, but they never stopped writing and performing Christian music, while remaining connected to their local church. Now, CLINE is sharing its journey with the Christian community through music.
They recently dropped their latest single, "Worthy One." I spoke with Garrett about the inspiration, theme, and message behind this new release.
Can you tell us about the inspiration behind the new single?
We pray that every time we sit down to write music God would give us the words that He wants His people to sing or hear. Sometimes we can write a song of hope and restoration, a song about God’s faithfulness, or a song that can be sung with our church to proclaim God’s goodness and majesty. “Worthy One” falls into that last category. We were inspired to write a song that sings the glory of Christ, proclaiming Him as the worthy one.
Is there any specific message or theme that runs through this single?
This song is an answer to two questions: Who is Jesus? And who are we? Proclaiming that truth weekly in our worship gatherings is important. In a world where identity crisis is rampant, we need to sing over our lives “we are your people, You are our God” and that Jesus “came and called my name and set me free.” It’s even more important to state who Jesus is: “Who was and is and is to come, the holy and the worthy one.”
Can you walk us through the songwriting and recording process for this single?
We collaborated on this song with two of our favorite people: Curt Gibbs, our music producer, and Mo Pitney, a country singer who is featured in the song. Mo and Curt love Jesus and we have been close friends for a while. We came together to write a song for the body of Christ.
“Worthy One” was born from that day and things fell into place. Mo also sang on the track, and we wanted to release it in its raw and authentic form. Thankfully, we could do so.
We recorded this song during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which made the process unusual. Our friend and phenomenal keyboard player, Josue Meza, recorded his parts at his home studio. Darrick and I then tracked guitars, bass, and drums at our home studio. Jacq and Mo then recorded vocals at Curt's home studio.
We even added group vocals from worship leaders at our church that was recorded in our worship room. It was a great learning curve for all of us to track this way and has opened other recording opportunities we had not dug into before. Curt has a magical way of gluing everything together.
How does the faith of CLINE's members influence the music and the themes in the music?
One of my favorite quotes was by MercyMe's lead vocalist Bart Millard when he was asked about songwriting. He says that talented songwriters “write about what consumes their hearts, and our hearts happen to be consumed by Jesus.”
Jesus has transformed our lives. He has walked with us through pain and trials. We can honestly say we’re alive because of Christ. Being rooted in the local church has also been key to our songwriting. We don’t have to only draw from our own experiences, but we get to learn so much about God by walking through life in the community with other believers.
When we write, we write to give words that help our community of faith to connect with Jesus. We want to give words to people who need them in times of need: when they don’t know what to say or when the troubles of life have rendered them speechless.
How do you see this single impacting the worship community and your listeners? How do you want your music to make a lasting impact?
I remember the first time that our church worship team led “Worthy One” on a Sunday that the Clines weren’t leading. It was a moving experience because we were given a different perspective on the song. Watching people sing and raise their hands in worship, connecting with Jesus, and proclaiming truth through this song was a powerful reminder that our purpose in writing music is to serve and give, not to receive.
Our hope for this song is that it will be useful for worship leaders and congregations in a way that whoever wrote it becomes irrelevant, and that the focus is on its ability to empower congregations to proclaim these truths in worship gatherings. And that goes for any music that we are a part of composing.
Can you talk about any challenges you face while making new music and how you overcome them?
One of the great challenges of writing faith-based or worship music is that “there is nothing new under the sun.” There is no new truth. And if someone tells you they have something new, then run. The great songwriter Tony Wood has said that all truth has been written, but not all truth has been written looking through your window.
I always say that “we never want to say something new at the cost of saying something true.” Overcoming that challenge is about awareness and doing our best to be as theologically accurate as possible, while also being creative in the ways that God has created us to be.
What’s next? When can we expect a new album or EP?
We’ll see. We live with the mindset that our “yes” is on the table. We’re trusting God with our next step, whatever that may be. As for new music, stay tuned.
How can we be praying for you?
This might be the best interview question we’ve ever been asked. Thank you. As a band and family, we’ve been praying that God will align us together with the right partners to help us release this music so that as many people as possible can hear the messages in these songs.
We’re excited about the journey that God has assigned to us and look forward to seeing whom we meet along the way. Also, please pray for our marriages, and that God would protect them. The first place the enemy starts trying to disrupt things is in our marriages. Thank you for praying for us.
Paul Phillips is a Canadian journalist with 20 years of experience writing and editing digital and print content. He specializes in health, fitness, nutrition, and travel. He loves music, movies, and, of course, living for Jesus.
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