Associated Press
March, 1999
JIM PATTERSON

FRANKLIN, Tenn. (AP) -- Smitty is more amused than annoyed.

Going into the annual Dove Awards for gospel music (March 24), only Toby McKeehan of the trio dc Talk has more nominations than Michael W. Smith, known affectionately throughout the Christian music industry as Smitty. McKeehan has 11 nominations; Smith has 10.

McKeehan and Smith would be tied, but a Gospel Music Association committee ruled that Smith's popular "Love Me Good" wasn't really a gospel song because of its lyrics.

Smith thinks the problem may be that the song's imagery mixing Genghis Khan and "The Brady Bunch" was too far-out for some GMA conservatives. Perhaps the chorus was taken to be too suggestive: "Give me love, give me love, love me good."

Taking a break from songwriting to talk about the Dove Awards and the Christian music industry in general, the former keyboard player for Amy Grant was surprisingly critical of his own industry.

Smith, 41, a native of West Virginia, has long yearned to be a pop singer who often writes about his faith, rather than a singer known only in Christian music. His musical hero is Elton John, and artists including Sheryl Crow and The Backstreet Boys have told him they are fans.

Smith has enjoyed some success beyond Christian music, selling more than 7 million albums and scoring with adult contemporary hits like "Place in This World" and "Cry for Love." But he hasn't crossed over to the extent of his friend Grant.

He thinks being content to stay a big fish in the smaller pond of Christian music would be a cop-out.

"I even hate that term 'Christian music' a lot, because I've never been able to separate the sacred and the secular," Smith says.

1. How do you feel about awards shows in general?

Smith: I like them OK. I don't think I care as much now about awards as I used to early in my career. As you grow up, you kind of learn what's really important in life. ... There's so much of people competing, and we used to have block voting that went on in the early days -- which I think has gotten better. Everybody thinks the artists are bad; the record companies are brutal. It's sad to me that it gets so competitive. I think there's a way to do this in love and not stab each other in the back. That's the one thing that kind of bothers me about the awards.

1 1/2. Will you perform on the show?

Smith: Yeah. They want me to do 'Live the Life.' It's four minutes and 20 seconds long and they want it three minutes, you know? It's impossible. So you try to fight a little bit -- and bend. My reasoning is that the song was a big song. Let's don't tamper with it too much. I cut a little bit, and I think everybody's happy. I didn't cut as much as they wanted me to.

2. Are awards a conflict for Christian artists, since all glory is supposed to go to God?

Smith: I think with most people there's not a conflict. Everybody's got to work out their own salvation, you know? I think it's fine to be able to congratulate and encourage people. If these awards absolutely consumed me every day, then I think it's not a healthy place. For me, from a spiritual point of view, I'm not taking any of this stuff with me, so it's an earthly possession. At this point in my life, I'm a little embarrassed at having awards on my shelf. I've often thought of packing them up in a box.

3. You've tried hard to cross over like your former employer Amy Grant. Why is that so important to you?

Smith: I love having a pop hit. I love being able to break down the barriers and get out of my subculture. There's a lot that I really, really dislike about our subculture. I think you get tainted and you have no idea what's going on in the real world. I make myself. I push myself to get out of it.

4. Then why do you work from a base in the Christian music industry?

Smith: Really, from a musical standpoint I belonged in L.A. I just didn't want to go to California. ... I hesitate to say this, but I'll go on record and say it: I'm not really sure it was smart to really ever start Christian music. But I think God uses it and I think people have been impacted by it. ... We decided, 'Oh, we're not going to be in that world because that's so evil. We're going to start our own thing over here.' And so then we started this subculture, and then we all live in this subculture and we just do our own thing over here, and we feed Christians and we have our own little club. And I absolutely hate it. I don't like it at all. I just don't think that's what Jesus would do.

5. What are you going to do about it?

Smith: I just think we need to be a little more open-minded. And we need to live on the edge a little more. And we need to be supportive of people who are going out of the subculture, like when Jars of Clay had a big hit with 'Flood.'