This page is about Wayne Watson. The last two decades, Wayne has been one of the leading contemporary christian artists. He is widely recognized as one of the best in this style of music and as a winner of lots of awards and other music prizes, he has gained respect of both his fellow artists and the listeners.
Wayne Watson is married, has two children of around 20 and currently resides near Houston, TX.
Wayne started singing at small places like schools and on the street. "I never wanted to be an artist," he says. "But the doors just opened. I began to just go through the doors that got opened, not playing concerts but playing for little music groups, after-church meetings or playing for kids at a summer camp. Anywhere the door opened I would go. And I think God honors those insignificant, seemingly insignificant things. I never had ambitions to do what I am doing now, I never scratched and pleaded with God. I think he honors that and I think I enjoy it more because I didn t scratch my way up here."
Wayne Watson s main purpose is to let people know that it is not all about religion or tradition but about a personal relationship with Jesus. "I am simging mostly to a church audience, to a religious audience. I don t get out of the States very often because I think we live in a very religious country but a country that is very alien to intimacy with Christ. They know religion and tradition, but they don t know what it is to have a relationship with Jesus. And I hope that I can bring some light to those traditions that need to be thrown overboard."
Having read the above, you may think that Wayne is real heavy and serious all the time. But, fortunately, he is not. The evidence is on the record "Home Free."
"The record company loves people that don t know me, who think that I am real heavy all the time. But I am not! I love having a good time just like anybody else. So I wrote this song, "Teenager in the house". I had songs about my children in the past, but they aren t cute little babies anymore, they are older now. I did this song as a joke, but the record company asked me to put it on the record for the people that think I m too heavy. And so we did and this is what happened."
In his twenties Wayne started wondering how he could get into the music business. A friend told him to continue the small concerts he was playing already. God is to do the rest. "I told my friend that I was doing little camp meetings and playing for little groups of kids and churches. And he said: Just go on doing it. And now I tell those kids to go out and go through the doors that got opened. If you have a musical gift, use it wherever God opens a door. If he wants to blow it up into something magnificent, that's his business. You can't buy it, there is no formula. It has to be the Lord."
When Wayne Watson recorded his first album he mostly used songs written by others for he thoight writing songs is something you have to learn. "In the early days I did not write my own songs because I did not feel qualified. There were some great writers around, as there are now and I sang their material because I didn't feel like mine was very good. I wrote a couple of songs on my first album, 4 of 5 on the next and it has just grown and now I write almost all the songs myself. But all my record I wanted to be good records and if that means moving some of my stuff out for somebody else's better song, then I'm going to do it."
Today Wayne plays for large audiences. But Wayne Watson says that it is better to perform without a band for then you can communicate better with the audience. "I feel like a lot of times the band distracts me from the main purpose of why I am here. I feel like a band, not speaking for Amy Grant or Michael W. Smith, distracts me when I am trying to create an intimacy with the crowd. Being alone and playing the guitar and the piano is a real intimate unproduced kind of evening but hopefully the Word and the things I want to communicate come across."
The song "Home Free" is one of Wayne's most precious songs. It is about losing someone who is really close to yoy. He wrote it when a friend of his passed away. "Death and loss are something we all have in common. If not right now, we will have. All of us are going to lose people to death. This songs helps people. It makes them remember we're not down to this flesh forever. Home free is special comfort to me."
Want to hear some more of Wayne's music? Here is his complete discography:
More information on Wayne Watson:
CCM Magazine
Wayne Watson Fan page This site is REALLY good!
