Earlier this week, Byron Cage took a minute to chat with me to discuss his upcoming LIVE recording in Detroit on March 13th!
We had a great convo about what folks can expect from this new album, how he’s developed as an artist, and I even got a couple of tidbits of random trivia about him. He’s a personable and friendly guy… I rather enjoyed him. I hope you enjoy the interview…. Here’s Byron Cage.
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EJ: How are you?
BC: I’m good, how about you?
EJ: I’m great. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me. I really appreciate it.
BC: Oh yeah, thank you.
EJ: I wanna jump right in and talk about this upcoming recording that’s got everybody buzzing. I wanna know what you’ve got planned for the people! You’re going to Detroit, March 13th…
BC: Yes! March 13th.
EJ: Talk to me about returning back there.
BC: Oh man, you know, that’s my hometown. I was born in Grand Rapids, but Detroit is where I consider home. I was there for junior high school, high school, college… and I grew up in Detroit during the “golden era” of gospel music. You had people like Donald Vails, Thomas Whitfield… I sang background for Thomas Whitfield. Donald Vails was the minister of music at my church, Fred Hammond played the bass guitar there, I directed the choir. Then, you have the Clark Sisters, the Winans, Rudolph Stanfield, Esther Smith, so many incredible artists… Rance Allen. The concerts used to be amazing!
EJ: I can only imagine!
BC: Yeah, I grew up in that. And even once I started in the industry… a lot of people don’t know that I sang background vocals on one of Commissioned’s albums, Will You Be Ready?
So, I look at the history of all of that, you know, the whole Detroit connection… and now I’m going back home to do my 6th recording. I’m just so thankful that I’ve lasted in this time and people still wanna hear the ministry.
EJ: What’s the direction of this album?
BC: It’s a hard-hitting, praise and worship, Sunday morning, Wednesday night Bible Study, revival, on the treadmill, in your car… it’s all of that.
EJ: I love it!
BC: Yeah, it’s gonna be one of those CDs that you’re going to want to just get your groove on, get your worship on… there’s just such a wide variety of music on this one.
EJ: Awesome. Do you have any guest artists coming?
BC: I do, indeed. One, I can’t name yet. We were trying to work out Pastor Marvin Sapp, but it didn’t work out for this one. But, thank God, Pastor Marvin Winans is doing a song with me, my boy Tye Tribbett is coming to do a song I wrote called “In The Midst” with me… it’s gonna be a great time.
It’s being produced by the 2009 Stellar Award Producer of the Year, Aaron Lindsey.
EJ: Well, we KNOW that’s gonna be hot.
BC: Yeah, and we’ve got some great writers. And the songs are just phenomenal. I believe it’s gonna touch the lives of people in a special way.
EJ: Nice, do you have background singers already lined-up?
BC: Yeah, I’m using 3 of my background singers and I’m pulling 9 singers from Detroit. You know, they say “it’s in the water in Detroit,” *laughs* so if I’m going home, there’s no sense in me bringing a whole aggregation of singers with me, ’cause there are so many great singers there in Detroit.
It’s gonna be like a big homecoming there, you know? On March 13th, all roads are leading to Second Ebenezer Baptist Church and we’re just looking forward to the Lord doing something magnificent through the praise and worship that evening.
EJ: You have a title yet?
BC: You know, we’re teeter-tottering. I was thinking about calling it ”In The Midst,” but then I wrote this song with Aaron Lindsey… I just wanna do cartwheels when I hear that song! So, I don’t know.
EJ: *laughs*
BC: *laughing* I’m just grateful that it’s on MY record, you know what I’m saying? Because if I heard it on someone else’s record, I’d be like “maaan…” *laughs*
EJ: Right!
BC: But, I’m really looking forward to it.
EJ: That’s great, man. Tell me: how do you feel that you have evolved as an artist? What, if anything, is different about you on this album, musically or ministry-wise?
BC: Well, you know, I started out in the industry pretty much as a very creative artist. I produced my first two records and I thank God for them because they kind of established me as an artist. Both projects were nominated for Stellars, though neither of them won. But when I got to GospoCentric, Vicki Mack Lataillade wanted to move me out of the “Byron Cage & Purpose” era and she just wanted to sign me as a solo artist, a praise and worship leader. I said, “I don’t know if the church is ready for praise and worship,” and she was like “are you kidding me? Did you see what happened when you did ‘Shabach’ with Full Gospel Baptist? All the Baptist churches had praise teams the next year!”
EJ: *laughing*
BC: So, the next song I wrote was “Yet Praise Him,” and she signed me. We were having creative battles at first because I wanted to stay in that group setting and she didn’t want that. She brought in Kurt Carr, a phenomenal writer and great producer, and he wrote “The Presence of the Lord Is Here” for me and the rest is history.
The next record had “I Will Bless The Lord” and, though that record was wonderful and it was a blessing, it was somewhat hurtful to me as well. Brother Isaiah Thomas, who is a very talented writer, his original form of that song had different words. I wrote all the words over because I wanted to add more scripture to it. And when it won “Song of the Year,” of course I didn’t get any accolade as being co-writer of the song. But the Lord showed me something, as I evolved in the music business of what we do, and I understood that there are just certain things that you don’t do. If you wanna change the words to a song, you gotta let people know, you gotta sign agreements… so that was something that I learned from it.
With The Proclamation, I wrote the majority of the songs on that one and I’ve just watched this whole musical ministry go from writing for a group to praise and worship… For this upcoming album, I wrote a song called “Goodbye,” which just deals with relationships and people and strongholds that have tried to hinder you… I’m saying ”Goodbye” to them in 2009. And that’s a growth for me, because I’ve never written a song like that.
EJ: Wow. That’s awesome. You’ve also managed to feature a bunch of incredible guest artists on your albums. Who have you NOT yet worked with that you are dying to have on one of your albums?
BC: Hmmm… Man, I have so many favorites. Of course, Karen Clark-Sheard has been one of my favorites of all time.
EJ: Absolutely!
BC: I love her ministry. I think if there was someone I would have loved to have on this upcoming record, it would have been… like, Vanessa Bell Armstrong. Some of these up-and-coming singers are really incredible, too, like Nikki Ross. Oh, and I would love to get up there and go toe-to-toe, although I couldn’t, with Kierra Sheard! *laughs*
EJ: Oh, she’s ridiculous. I just saw her on the BMI Trailblazers thing and I just had to stare at the screen, like “this is unreal.”
BC: Yeah, and she did a hard song. I think she did “Jesus Is A Love Song,” right?
EJ: Yeah, man. It was incredible.
BC: Oh, she ABSOLUTELY tore it up.
EJ: Most definitely. After your break-out hit, “The Presence of the Lord Is Here,” you were practically swept up into a whirlwind of success– tons of performance spots, a bunch of awards. On the more personal side, how do you stay grounded? Are you the same “Byron”?
BC: You know what? I stay grounded because I’m a minister of music of a church. I’ve been here at Ebenezer AME, in Fort Washington, Maryland, for 11 years and these jokers know how to keep me grounded!
EJ: *laughs* It’s like THAT?!
BC: *laughing* They don’t consider me “The Prince of Praise,” or “Byron Cage the Artist.” Some visitors come to church and they want to take pictures or get autographs, but for the most part, like… I’m at church now and getting ready to go to choir rehearsal in a few hours.
EJ: Really?
BC: Yeah, my Male Chorus rehearsal is tonight and those brothers, they don’t even consider me an artist. They just consider me “Byron” and we have a blast. So, I think that having pastors and a church where I can stay grounded, work, and be connected while serving God’s people, it all helps me to be appreciative when I can go out and do concerts and meet people.
That’s what keeps me humble. And to know… first of all, I didn’t record “The Presence of the Lord Is Here” until I was 41.
EJ: What?!
BC: Yeah, man. So to know that the Lord can bring you to a place, after holding you back in a certain area… when it was His time to really bring me forth, it took no time at all.
EJ: That’s the truth.
BC: And you sit there and it becomes surreal. You just say “God, thank you so much because I don’t know that I could have handled it in my twenties.”
EJ: That’s incredible. I had no idea that you were 41 when that song took off. That means you’ve been doing this for a while now.
BC: Absolutely. People don’t understand that I was a background singer first. I was in Michael Matthews’ first play back in 1984, I was in Tyler Perry’s very first play, “I Know I’ve Been Changed.”
EJ: No way!
BC: Yeah, man. It was starring me, Shun Pace and Ann Nesby.
EJ: You know, it’s funny that you mention stuff from back in the day cuz I VIVIDLY remember a certain episode of The Cosby Show…
BC: *laughing* Yep!
EJ: And I’ve got proof of it on my DVD box set, where you were singing in a choir behind good ol’ Claire Huxtable!
BC: You know what’s so funny about that, man? It took us all day to film that scene and they originally had me in the last row to the right. They dismissed everyone but the choir because they wanted to do the song over again, I was the only person they moved and they moved me right behind Phylicia Rashad! I just think that was the favor of the Lord because even back then, and that was back in 1986 *screams*, but I think “God, Almighty!”
The journey that I have had to go has not always been easy. But I am so thankful to God that I stayed and I didn’t lose heart when everybody else counted me out and said “he’s not this, he’s not that,” and… just know that if you’re faithful to the Lord, He will make you the ruler over many so that no one else can take credit for what God does.
EJ: That’s great stuff, man. I’m trying to be mindful of your time… do we have time for some quick getting-to-know-you questions?
BC: Yeah, sure!
EJ: Okay, fill in the blanks. Many folks would be surprised to learn that Byron Cage loves __________________.
BC: to ride my motorcycle.
EJ: Seriously?
BC: Yeah, I’ve got a Harley Davidson Soft Tail Classic.
EJ: Ok, that’s dangerous…
BC: *laughing*
EJ: What’s with the Detroit people and motorcycles? You, Fred Hammond…
BC: Yeah, but he’s got more than I have. I’ve just got that one big hog. He’s got like four or five.
EJ: Okay, next one. Byron Cage is at the airport, on his way to his dream vacation. He’s on a direct flight to __________________.
BC: Whoooooo! TAHITI!
EJ: *laughs* Yeah?
BC: Mmm-hmmm! Never been.
EJ: Ok. When the dessert menu comes around, Byron Cage hopes it’ll have __________________ on it.
BC: *quickly* ICE WATER cuz I don’t need the carbs, or the sugar, or the fat grams!
EJ: What?! No. That’s not dessert!
BC: *laughing* I am just not a “sweets” person anymore. Sweets don’t agree with me– they cut off the blood circulation to my belly button when I put my belt on, so I had to let it go. If it’s Thanksgiving or Christmas, I might do some red velvet cake or peach cobbler. But for the most part, I’m not a “sweet” person.
EJ: I hear you. I wish more gospel artists would preach THAT!
BC: Right, exactly.
EJ: Ok, last one. Let Byron Cage loose in a shopping mall and the first place he’ll be is __________________.
BC: Oooh. The first place I’ll be in a shopping mall will be Neiman Marcus.
EJ: They’re kinda expensive aren’t they? Their catalog has, like… cars for $50,000 in it.
BC: I know, they’re crazy but you can catch them on some good days, too. Catch the “20 or 30 percent off” sales. I paid full price for a couple of Paul Smith jackets that were kind of expensive, but for the most part… yeah, man… I’m a sales king. I don’t like payin’ full price!
EJ: I ain’t mad at that. One last question, on a more serious note, what is your message as an artist? At the end of the concert, or when the last track on the iPod is over, what do you hope people will know about you as it relates to your ministry?
BC: I pray that, when it’s over, people will know that I am a man of God who loves to worship the Lord, and my heart’s desire is that whatever has been given to me, I want to be a blessing to God’s people. Whether that’s through salvation, healing, encouragement, I want people to leave with the authentic feeling that God has spoken to them right where they need it. And they’re encouraged to go on in the journey.
EJ: Sounds good to me. Man, I’m excited for this album. I think it’s going to be good and I hope the recording goes well.
BC: I appreciate it, EJ. And I appreciate you for doing this for me.
EJ: It was my pleasure and, hopefully, we’ll talk soon.
BC: Okay.
EJ: Take care.
BC: Alright, bye-bye.
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Click here for more information about Byron’s upcoming recording.
Sooooooo? You liiiiiike???? 
Lemme know your thoughts!
Jesus said we should forgive 77 times. But at $10 each, I can’t afford to forgive $770 worth of disappointing CDs! Once I hit $20, you’re CUT from my “MUST BUY” list. My most common disappointment is unmet expectations…and my most recent encounter with it involves Byron Cage.
So, this time, my good friend, Cynthia Jones (make-up artist extraordinaire), had to convince me to give Bryon’s most recent release, Faithful to Believe (produced by Aaron Lindsey), a listen. She said that she shared my reservations initially, gave it a shot anyway and was pleased with the CD.
First, I need to say that 2008 has been a REALLY good year for Habakkuk Music. Their artists collectively got a truckload of Stellar Award nominations (particularly Isaiah D. Thomas & Elements of Praise and Jessica Greene)… they’re pummeling through a bunch of the other indie gospel labels and firmly placing themselves in the game.
