When Was The Last Time You Experienced God's Presence Through Music?

Music Let's talk. A daily program powered by the Truth Network. This is kind of a great thing and I'll tell you why. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together.

Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. When was the last time you experienced God's presence through music, right? I hope you have. You just go down the road and you hear that song or you hear that melody and all of a sudden you're broke into tears and you just feel God's presence is amazing. You know, when was the last time that happened to you and what brought that on? And, you know, what do you think God might reveal to you at a Christian violin concert? Actually, what you were hearing there at the intro was a blue violin. Chris Vooke, and we're so excited to have him with us today, but this is a call-in show and we need you to call and tell us what, or excuse me, when was the last time you experienced God's presence through music?

866-348-7884, 866-348-7884. What an honor it is to have you on with us, Chris. I'm so excited to be here. And so, my understanding is you're in Australia tonight? I was there last week, but I'm stateside again here. I was there for about two and a half months touring. Oh, wow. How fun. And so, you've got concerts coming up all over North Carolina, South Carolina, in Newberry, South Carolina on Tuesday, May the 6th, and on May the 7th you're in Greensboro at the Carolina Theatre, at the Junction Center on Thursday, May the 8th in Mannheim, Pennsylvania, and Knoxville, Tennessee. Wow. You're going to be touring the country, it sounds like. Yes, sir. And so, I had a chance to watch, and I don't know how many of our listeners have had a chance to see Chris's work with the blue violin, but I got to tell you, it's not what you might expect a blue violin to look like.

And then, oh my goodness, you know, you're in for just a real treat. So, I'm very curious how you came to the style of violin that you play. Yeah, well, it's a bit of a story with some twists and turns. I started playing violin when I was six years old. I grew up in Northeastern Iowa, a small town, about a thousand folks, and I was a Suzuki kid, learned classical music until I was about 16 years old, and then I went to a summer camp as a teenager in San Diego, California, and I met my first rock and roll violin player, and it shocked me. I had no idea you could play rock and roll on a violin, and it really inspired me.

I went to college shortly after that. I went to a classical conservatory for a couple years, and then I eventually transferred to Berklee College of Music in Boston, a contemporary music school, and that kind of changed my trajectory towards contemporary rock and roll, jazz, world fusion. I started, restarted a group called the Boston String Quartet while I lived in Boston. They were created by the Boston Symphony Orchestra decades and decades ago, and I restarted the group and toured with them for about 10, 11 years, played a lot of classical music, but we also played a fair amount of rock and roll, and it was during a big show we had in downtown Boston. We had about a thousand people coming out for a concert, and I realized about five minutes before the show how stressed out I was, and I retired from music about a year after that as a result of that experience, and I was pretty newly married.

Whoa. We lost Chris there right in the middle of a very touching story, actually. I would love to hear the rest of it, so hopefully we will get him back, but I got to tell you that when you hear how God has put it on his heart to play some of the songs, you just heard Amazing Grace. At the intro, we're going to hear Oceans here shortly, coming into one of the breaks, and it's pretty amazing what God has done with his music, and I'm very anxious to hear the rest of the story, but you know, how about your story?

You've had that happen where God just grabbed you. Maybe it's the way that actually you came to know God was through music. I can tell you that for me personally, you may know I do the Christian Car Guy show on the Truth Network now for about 19 years, and I never do a show, and Nick knows this all too well. The music is a critical aspect of it for me. I have to have the music right in order to get my heart to where I think I'm creating the show God wants me to create, because every show you do is an adventure with God and an opportunity to connect with Him, and often we do that so where I do it, my heart does that so much through worship and through music. And so I wonder how that works out in your particular field of, you know, do you get off work and listen to music, or is it something that inspires your work?

You call us 866-348-7884. I'm so glad we got Chris back with us, and Chris, we lost you right at the point in time that you were talking about you had a difficult marriage that led partially to why you retired from music. Oh, sorry about the cut out there. No, it was kind of a culmination of a lot of stress in my life coming from performing, being newly married, having a daughter, and I retired from music and got into business for about 10 years. And it was around the time of COVID that I did a lot of soul searching. And my youngest son at the time, I have four kids, he had found an old YouTube video of me playing music. And he said, Daddy, I'm so proud of you as a musician.

And something just switched in my head hearing him say that. And I pulled out the violin, hadn't really played it for eight, nine years, started practicing. And I started playing again. I started doing some shows in Colorado where I lived at the time. I did a tour, a small tour the next year. Last year, I did about 50 shows.

And this year we're on pace for about 120, 130 shows in three continents. And it's been a huge transformation of my life coming from music, out of music, and back to it once again. And that's kind of redefined my style, I think, as a player, from more of a classical player into through and through a rock and roll player, a worship player, and someone that's really passionate about engaging audiences in something they may not have seen or heard before. So, from the standpoint of worship, how did God, what role did God play in that transformation do you feel like?

Yeah, well, I actually was a member of Youth with a Mission, or YWAM, during the couple years right after COVID. And that really caused me to, I performed in churches as a kid and growing up, but I really tried to think, how could I integrate the violin as a solo instrument in worship or Christian music? And I released a solo Christian album entitled Blue Violin back in 2022. And it was this idea of how can I create all these lines on a single violin? And I think that's kind of the crux of my playing is I take one violin and through, I use a loop pedal a lot when I perform, I use some tracks that I've recorded before, and I create this large montage of sound that's really based on the solo violin performing in this kind of large sonic multi-track quality. Right, which is so cool, because that's so creative, right? Like, obviously, God's given you a vision for the music.

And then as you begin to lay down different tracks and whatever and think about the total outcome, then you're, you know, I just want to get into that more when we come back. But I would love you guys listening, you know, your questions or thoughts for Chris, but also, you know, how does music affect what you do? 866-348-7884, 866-34-TRUTH.

We'll be right back. Blue Violin is what you're listening to today on Truth Talk Live. The question is, when was the last time you experienced God's presence through music?

We would love to hear your ideas or thoughts. 866-348-7884, we're so honored to have with us Chris Vuk with Blue Violin. And what you just heard was his rendition or a part of the rendition of Oceans. And what he was talking about is that all those different violins that you hear in that experience, he was playing in different tracks. And so how fun is that to, you know, in a way, it's taken all the things that God taught you all those years in music and being able to create your own production, right? Absolutely, yeah. It's a process of looking at the initial composition, and we take the different lines from the bass, the drums, the guitar, piano, vocals, and really we're translating them onto single violin. And so fun. And since you, I suppose, as much as you've played the violin your whole life, that you feel the violin somewhere down in your soul, like probably better than you speak.

Probably do. And so it's really cool that, you know, in its own way, you can express feelings to God through that, you know, it's almost like prayer to you. Yeah, I had a really special memory. I remember when I was in college, I was performing a very romantic, beautiful, beautiful piece of music for a violin contest. And most of the other contestants were playing, you know, very difficult violin concertos. And my teacher at the time had recommended that I play this very beautiful piece.

And I'd always grown up hearing people talking about, you know, being in tune with the music and kind of losing yourself kind of common cliched phrase, but I didn't really understand what that meant. And I remember playing that contest. I had this moment, you know, shortly after I started with for the first time in my life, I was probably 17 at the time for the first time in my life, I forgot about the notes. And I just thought about the emotion of the music. And it was a very beautiful and special time in my life.

I never forgot it. And I'd say nowadays, that's how I primarily play. But it was such a transformative moment where I was able to really get past the technical aspects of playing the instrument. And as you mentioned, the word your prayer or prayerful, it was kind of this holy moment for me. And I thought, wow, this is this is what it's like, this is what it really feels like to to do this.

And I think, you know, in a secular setting, we might call it as I said, you know, losing yourself in in the music, I think in a spiritual context, we might, you know, connect that with with faith and in a spirituality and just that, that holy presence of God experience through music. Oh, it's it's absolutely and then the whole creative process that goes into it so amazingly beautiful again, the blue violin is they got amazing concerts coming up in Newberry, South Carolina, that's at the Newberry Opera House. This is coming up May 6, and the seventh he'll be in Greensboro. So those are both right in our back door.

Those of you in Greensboro, that's gonna be Wednesday, May the seventh at the Carolina Theatre and the Junction Center is Thursday, May the eighth in Manheim, Pennsylvania and Knoxville, Tennessee on the ninth. But you know, Chris, our producer, Nick is a musician studied in in college and all that. And so I was like, Well, Nick, you got to have questions. He goes, Oh, Robbie, please, please. So anyway, Nick, you go for buddy.

Yeah. Chris, well, first off, really nice to talk to you. I don't I like to talk to other musicians that kind of pick their brain a little bit. So, you know, I have a question about just about, you know, how do you how do you approach live performance? Well, I'm sure you do studio work, and you do live performances as well. So how do you approach live performances different from studio work? Yeah, I'd say I was talking about this with a colleague the other day, I think, you know, the element of studio performance in at least the way I record as well as I'm laying down all the lines of the song from, you know, the harmony to the bass lines to, you know, the percussion, and a lot of it, it's kind of mechanical, you know, playing eighth notes or 16th note beats just consistently, you know, getting that stuff layered in so I can get to, you know, the melody or the interlocking parts, I feel like, you know, recording is it's a much more stationary position.

And you kind of want to get it done as perfectly as possible, right? And not a lot of movement, because then you get out of the way the mic, but as a performer, I love to move. And over the last year and a half, I have a dance teacher that works with me and I, I run around, I was doing a show, performing a solo with the symphony in Wyoming a couple days ago.

And doing that the orchestra was kind of smiling at me as I was running from the left side to the right side. And I don't think they've performed with anybody that did anything quite as crazy as me. And I just love engaging in, you know, bringing the audience into the show, because I think, you know, people, you want to have a moment, you want to have a memory, you want to have something that connects you in a special way. That's why you came out to a concert rather than, you know, listening on Spotify at home or, and you want to have an experience. And I think that's more than just beautiful, beautiful music. And at least as a violinist, I think most violinists, we want to have a perfect performance and you'll stand in place and perform as well as we can. But I, as I've become older, I feel that, you know, it's more than that. It's, it's, you know, speaking to the audience, telling stories, connecting with them in a meaningful way.

It's surprising them. I love doing costume changes. I love running up to the audience and leaning over and looking in their eyes and jumping around or back bending and playing with my violin, you know, completely a hundred degrees from where they'd expect, you know, staring at the ceiling, you know, stuff that people don't see a violinist doing.

And that's something that I think is so fun and makes the live performance so engaging. Especially with like a blue violin, because not because, you know, violins they're, you know, they're made out of wood and they're brown. But, you know, I guess my next question is why the, why blue? You know, does, does, does blue have a symbolization to you?

You know, it's a lot simpler story than that. I actually had a friend that performs with Wayne Newton in Las Vegas. And, um, my family had a dinner with her and some other friends and she brought her electric violin. It's a bridge violin from the UK.

And she said, Chris, you're going to love this thing. You've got to try this instrument. So she took out a case and I, I ended up kind of excusing myself from the party and I just played on it for like an hour and a half to get one of these things. So I went to their website, I called them and I said, I want the white one in the white.

That'd be a really cool color. And actually a violinist that I used to watch growing up, her name is Vanessa May. She was kind of an early, I've heard that before. Yeah. Yeah. She was one of the first electric violinist and she had a white violin.

I thought, ah, you know, I want to be like that. So I ordered the white violin. They messaged me a week later. So I'm sorry, we don't have any white. We've got a blue one. Can we send that? I said, that's fine. Just send me the white one later.

We'll trade. I started performing on it and people like, I can't remember this guy's name, you know, Chris something or other, but he's got that blue violin. Right. Right. That's how they pick you out from, you know, other violinists, you know, they pick you out.

Oh, the guy with the blue violin that does, that moves all around the stage and, you know, has a great stage presence. And that's, that's, that's, that's really awesome that you, you know, it's crazy how those random things become like massive. You know what I mean?

Like that's, that's really cool for you. Well, Robbie, we actually got to go to a quick break. Yeah, we do. And we got a couple of callers lined up. So hang on with us, folks.

We've got Mike in Drayton, Ohio and Dayton, Ohio, or Drayton. And then we got another caller as well. So we're excited about you guys. Hang on with us.

We'll be back in a minute for those in some markets. You'll have to go back and listen to the podcast later as you're going to be hearing another show for the second part, but the rest of us stay tuned, man. We're going to be all wired up with the blue violin. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live today.

How fun. When have you experienced God's presence through music? We're having so much fun with Chris Vooke, the blue violin, and he is coming all over the place.

He's coming to South Carolina at the Newberry Opera House on Tuesday, May the 7th, Carolina theater, Wednesday, May the 7th, which is right here in Greensboro at 310 Green Street and the Junction Center in Mannheim, Pennsylvania, as well as Knoxville Tennessee at the historic Bayou Theater. And, uh, when we got all these wonderful calls calling in, so I'm going to go to the first one who called was Mike in Dayton, Ohio. Mike, you're on Truth Talk Live. If you got a question for Chris or what you're thinking. Well, the other day you were asking what made you cry and I was, uh, it was a lyric says, uh, which I had faith, like, uh, David and the lion's den. Um, I don't know if you know that song, I Googled it.

I did get it up and I don't know all the lyrics, but my gosh, it was, um, really hit to my heart. And because God was, uh, chastising me to make, um, maybe make him trust him more. Um, it's not always easy to trust him more and always obey his obey where he's leading you.

You know what I mean? And that song really hit to my heart where he was leading me in a, you know, leading me a lot of times and directions and, and I just, I just, I just push it down, you know, I just didn't say, okay, God, I, I want to, I want to go that way, you know, and, uh, and this song really made me say, okay, God, I'm surrendering. I'm going to surrender and I'm going to, I'm going to follow you in when you lead me. And I'm calling today because God is, I am, God led me to call.

Oh, there you go. You're, you're being, and so don't, you know, those are tears, Mike, as you describe it that are so amazing, right? When you know that God touched you somewhere and all of a sudden it's like the fountains just opened up and you're not exactly sure what all's going on, but you know that, you know, you've been changed somehow. And, uh, that's, that's beautiful stuff, Mike. I love it.

I am so glad you called in and, uh, as always you amaze me, my friend. Oh, thank you. And, um, what it was is, um, you look at people and you sometimes don't like them or you don't like what they're doing.

Right. And you, can you say, well, God loves them and you know, and, and God put it on my heart to say, I love those people and don't be so mad at them or so, uh, disheartened about them or, you know, love them like I love them. And I'm like, Oh my God, this song just really hit me with when, when, when that happened, you know, I need to look, I need to overlook what they do to you, Mike, to me, which is not easy, you know, cause you're in the world and you know, and you're in the devil's turpin in your ear, but then, you know, but then, you know, God says, uh, you know, love these people and, and show them love and give them a big smile. You know what I mean? And, uh, that, that is, that was so awesome. And I'm trying not to cry now. God bless you, my friend. Keep up the great work. We got Anthony is in Greensboro.

Uh, Anthony, you got a question for Chris. Yes. I was wondering after so many years of not, uh, playing and not functioning, how did you build a platform to start touring and getting back into the ministry of music? Yeah.

Well, thanks for that question. I think I kind of wondered that same thing to myself was I, you know, coming back to this kind of too old to be jumping into a second time as a, as a career, as a violinist, I'm a reader. I love to read, uh, and I particularly love biographies and I found myself reading a number of biographies of, um, musicians that, you know, either they got started a little bit later or they came back to music and that was some inspiration to me. But I found that a lot of the, the place where I left off and the skills that I learned in your running a small business, uh, it applied, uh, so well and kind of jumping back into the saddle as, as a violinist. Now I'm not a very shy person. I'm not shy to ask people for things. And that was something that I decided coming back into music that I wanted to do a lot of collaborations.

It's kind of funny. Uh, you know, Mike, who was just on a minute ago, he was referencing a song, uh, by, uh, a band sanctus real, the song is confidence. And, um, it's my son's favorite song.

Really? And he was scared of the dark and my, um, mother, when we would visit, my parents would play that song for him and it would help him be brave that night. And as part of that story, I thought to myself, I would like to meet them.

I would like to perform a song with them. So I called them and this tour is with, together and performing that song. And so to answer your question, I think I found with that in, I think so many things in life, it's, it's about asking, it's about, um, I tell my kids, you'll be gutsy enough to ask the question, you know, maybe it's no, but maybe it's yes. And that has, I think, served me well.

And it's been a lesson. I think God reminds me of frequently just asked the question, right? Where you have not, because we asked not, and you know, that is, that is so cool that Mike called, I hate, I didn't go back to you, Chris, before we left. And that song is sanctus real, isn't it? And this whole concert is with sanctus real, but you've had a chance to perform with a lot of amazing, um, performers, right? I have.

Yes. And, and so, you know, as those, as those experiences come on, Anthony, you can imagine, um, you know, when those collaborations, who wouldn't want to come see that. So I can see, so Anthony, that's beautiful. You got any other thoughts?

No, that was it. I really, uh, love seeing how, you know, he went from not doing anything to now, you know, touring and that, that, and just think about what the world would have missed and what the kingdom would have missed if he had just settled in and what he was doing. So it says a lot to everybody. It really does.

It's a real testimony. I appreciate your, your observation, Anthony. That's awesome, man. I appreciate you calling very, very much. God bless you. All right. Thanks.

Bye bye. So, you know, the, the, the other, as we were talking about it, Chris, that, um, you know, when you're playing, you know, it's kind of like we were talking about that, that it's almost like you have this freedom to, to kind of dance with God and the violin, um, has no frets, which makes it a very difficult instrument for a lot of people to play, but it allows you freedom that a guitar doesn't even come close to have it in that, right? Yeah, no, we have the ability to do a lot of very unique things on the instrument, you know, sliding up and down the instrument we call a glissandi, um, is something that very few instruments really can do in the same way as a string instrument. And, and the, and the cool thing is if you listen to those tracks and the reason I know is actually, um, my whole family played the violin prior to me. My grandfather had this really cool violin that was handed down from generation to generation.

It was from the 1700s. It was not a Stradivarius, but it was a, it was an Italian violin. And so my uncle was a conductor of the London, um, London, Ontario symphony orchestra and he taught Suzuki by the way. Um, and my father played and my sister played and, uh, and so I had all those years and I played the guitar, so I watched what they did and I just marveled at, um, at what that, what that was. And so when I listened to your work and you hear those different tracks, you know, some of the times you're plucking the strings and some of the times you're actually making percussion with the violin, right?

Yep. And so with an electric violin, how is that different than using a wooden one when it comes to those other techniques? Well, I think the reason I started playing the electric was really to cut through in a ensemble setting. Something that violinists struggle a lot with is we get buried. Uh, I used to play a lot of acoustic violin in worship bands since I was a child and I remember playing and thinking, wow, I'm just, I'm crushing it.

I'm playing so well. And then either my parents or later on in life, my wife would say, oh, I couldn't hear you. And, oh, so depressing to hear that when you put so much into it and you're playing into the microphone, but sometimes the drums just cover you right up as a violinist. So the electric violin doesn't have that problem. And nowadays you can get much better pickups for an acoustic instrument, but I found that the color of the instrument, I think combined with some of the, just the inherent structure, I play a lot with a loop pedal and you're plugging that instrument into my loop pedal. I can put a lot of different effects from very long delays to distortion, to phasers and chorus effects.

And I do a tremendous lot of looping, uh, in, in my shows, you know, I might play a song with 10 or 12 loops in it and the electric violin, I think makes that a lot easier, uh, in an acoustic violin. So I don't know about you, but I bet you your appetite is wedded for listening to Chris, uh, the blue violin with Sanctus Real. And again, Mike, you might want to make the trip down here to the Carolina theater, uh, to hear him on May the sixth.

Excuse me, he's going to be at the Carolina Thea on Wednesday, May the seventh, and he's going to be in New berry, uh, South Carolina on May the sixth. And what an opportunity. So Nick, what are you thinking? It's crazy. I love a lot of things he's saying because the people who, uh, don't know music, they're kind of like talking like, you know, phasers and delays.

It's like a whole nother language. But Chris, I get you, I know exactly what you are talking about. My, my background is, um, I, I was, I was a little brass, so I was a little brass and then I went to college, I did music production. So I understand what you mean by, you know, doing loops and doing live performances. And it's just really incredible and how, um, just hearing other people's stories and how other people, you know, what, what they, what they bring to their show, their unique show. And, you know, I, I'm just happy that you're here, Chris. I really am.

I could see that. And so we've got another whole segment for you to call in and ask or tell us how music affects you. We would love to hear it.

866-348-7884. Experience the presence of God through music. We'll be right back. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. Today is experiencing God through music.

Maybe you play music and you have a chance to, to reflect that and you've experienced God while you were playing or something along those lines. You got to correct a question for, uh, Chris Vook who we have here. He's the blue violin, uh, amazing concerts coming up again in New berry, South Carolina at the Carolina theater here in Greensboro. That's on May the sixth in South Carolina on May the seventh. He will be here in Greensboro. Maybe Nick, you can get out there, buddy. I bet you Tom could hook you up with a ticket.

The Junction Center in Mani, Pennsylvania, uh, on Thursday, May the eighth and then Friday, May the ninth in Knoxville, Tennessee. And so it's so amazing. You know, Chris, as I was thinking about this, I know that, you know, everybody's reflects God in a different way. Like everybody has a unique individual and, and it's like, if you don't reflect God the way that God designed you, nobody else will. Uh, and so you almost have this like unbelievable opportunity and it seems like once you start to walk in that and you get more freedom as you see, or could you, I'm sure you feel God's pleasure when you're playing at this point in time, right? Just that, um, you know, your experience brings it out in Nick or it brings out an Anthony. In other words, all these people are listening that, that, um, also they may do it through writing.

They may do it through because God's a creative God. And so as you're creating all this music through the studio or live performances, what would you say to encourage other aspiring artists out there? Well, I think kind of going back to Anthony's question, this is something that my wife and I talk a lot about. And, uh, we did a, uh, we wrote a book together, um, about five, six years ago.

We called it, why not? And that's kind of our, our life model. If there's something presented an opportunity, um, or something wild and crazy when we ask each other, should we do that? You know, as long as it's not damaging to our, our family or our persons, our answer is mostly why not? Um, and I think is, you know, I had my 40th birthday, uh, a couple of weeks ago and I kind of came back to music thinking, okay, if I'm going to do this again, I really want to try those why not that I was afraid of before.

Um, like touring, I'm going on a world tour with a variety of symphony orchestras as the soloist, um, next year, uh, performing with, you know, thank this real is, you know, um, super exciting opportunity and performing with, um, the, uh, winner of one of the past American idols, um, in December. And so I think coming from my own experience and sharing with those listening is, you know, follow your dreams, follow your passions, and maybe it's time to, you look at some of those, those goals, those ideas, those dreams, maybe they've been sitting on the shelf for a while. Maybe they're a little dusty, maybe it's time to take them off and, you know, blow the dust off them a little bit and give them a new chance at life and experiencing that, that joy of something that you've been holding onto for a long time. And maybe there's been fear around it. Um, but you know, letting God lead you through that process and you're sharing that with someone and just having the joy of doing it. I think there's a lot of fear that we often have like, what will people think? Oh, I screw up or I was going to be nervous doing this. And I think when we start stepping into those things that God has put in us, that's such a sense of joy and satisfaction.

And I think there's a delight that God gives us when we step into those things that they were meant for. Oh, I can, I couldn't agree with you more. I was absolutely terrified, terrified to be on the radio. I can assure you.

Um, the first few times when they pointed at me, I know I stuttered and stammered and whatever. And the joy that I get out of being able to create radio shows now is amazing. And like you say, you get to walk with God in a very unique way. Like you were, you know, He kind of designed, here you go, this is what you get a chance to do. And you do, the collaboration part is like, I never would have dreamed that I would get to talk to people like you or, you know, and many other artists that I've had a chance to interview over the years and actors. And you know, when you're talking about studio work, Nick, I couldn't help but remember Robert Guillon was a tremendous actor and a lot bigger probably in my generation than in yours, Nick. But anyway, the part that most people know he played was Rafiki in The Lion King.

And so, but he also played Shakespeare on Broadway and he had a TV show called Benson and he was a very accomplished actor. And I had this chance to interview him and I asked him, of all the parts you ever played, you know, what was your favorite? And it was funny because his name was Robert, but he said, my grandmother always called me Robbie, so I really like your name.

I always thought that was funny. But anyway, and he said, you know, Robbie, my favorite part that I ever played in anything was The Lion King. He said, but actually I think he said Walt Disney only paid me like $1,800 to play that part. He said, but I could just sit in front of the microphone and do the lines until I knew they were what they were supposed to be. And I loved being able to perform it the way it was supposed to be, no matter how long it took.

I just worked on it until it was what it was supposed to be. And when you see that performance in The Lion King or, you know, when he says, look closer, you know, it just shows that, you know, that ability to be an artist is really going deep in the vision that what God has given you to do as you lay down all that stuff. Mm hmm. Absolutely. Yeah, that was a good Rafiki there.

Oh, he was a good Rafiki. So, Nick, you got other questions? Well, if Chris, if you're up for it, how about some quick rapid fire questions? You know, just the first thing that comes into your mind. That sounds good?

Let's do it. So, your favorite key to composing? Oh, B. B? B major.

OK, B major. All right. I like that.

I like that. Would you prefer morning sessions or late night sessions? Oh, super late night. I'm the same way.

Late night sessions are just, they just, I don't know how to describe it, but just late night sessions are just better, in my opinion. I got kids. Oh, yeah. Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. What is a song that you wish you wrote or were a part of writing? Viva La Vida.

I'm sorry? Viva La Vida by Coldplay. Oh, OK. Gotcha. Yeah.

That's a very classic song. I like that. I like that. All right. What is, what is your, what's a hidden talent that you don't have, that a lot of people know about?

Hidden talent. Oh, man. Wow. I'm not too fast on this. It's all right. I'm a speed reader. I read very fast. OK. Are you good at sight reading?

Yeah. Yeah, I used to be really good at sight reading. I am terrible at it now. That's one thing that I wish I kept up with, for sure.

Oh, it takes practice. Yeah, drilling that. Yeah, for sure.

For sure. But, and last question, last question. If you didn't choose the violin, what is another instrument that you would play? Or has there been another instrument that, you know, God, you know, he was like, hey, you know, maybe give this a try if you're not feeling violin, but has there been another instrument that in your life that you've thought about maybe?

Yes. So I started playing violin when I was six. I started playing the French horn when I was maybe 10. And I actually was a, I won a lot of contests on the French horn. And I auditioned for college on the French horn and the violin, fully expecting to become a French horn performance major.

And then I got a full ride on the violin. And that was the last I played the French horn. I don't blame you on the French horn part. I tried French horn maybe a couple of times. It's so awkward with the hand situation and you got to put in the whole and I just, yeah, I'm glad I stuck with the tuba because earlier in the interview, you said, you know, sometimes the violin, the orchestra violin, it gets, you know, drowned out with the percussion. But, you know, with low brass, you can sometimes play as loud as you want. Oh yeah.

Gotcha, gotcha. Well, Chris, anything you are excited for these upcoming shows, these upcoming live shows that you kind of want other people, our listeners to be on the lookout for or any kind of last in the last thoughts about your live shows? Yeah, well, this is a real treat to have the chance to do this tour with Sanctus Reel. And we're recording a single together as part of this. And, you know, for fans of them, myself, it's going to be a fun show. We've, I had convinced them to join me for some rather silly gimmicks in the show. So if you're looking to see Sanctus Reel and me do something a little bit that you've probably never seen before, then these are the shows to come for. Oh man. Yeah, I'm definitely going to have to like, definitely try to come and see you for sure. There you go.

And again, I know a guy. All right. So Tuesday, May the 6th in Newberry, South Carolina. Wednesday, May the 7th in Greensboro at 7 p.m. at the Carolina Theater. All these look like they're at 7 p.m. at the Junction Center in Mannheim, Pennsylvania.

And again, on May the 9th, the historic Bayou Theater in Knoxville, Tennessee. Chris, what an honor it is to have you on to hear how God's worked in your life. We really, really had fun today. Thank you. Thanks, guys. This was a delight. Thank you. We'll be back tomorrow with a whole lot more.