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Zach Williams is coming back to Canada for the first time in years to help Providence University College and Theological Seminary celebrate its centennial with a concert.
"It's been at least five years," says Williams about the last time he was in Canada. "We played a festival and stayed in Canmore. It was awesome. We'd been there twice. We're excited to come back and celebrate the 100th anniversary."
The concert is being held at Steinbach's brand new building, the Southeast Event Centre, on Sept. 6, at 7:00 p.m. Former Manitoban Jordan St. Cyr, who now lives in Tennessee, will be opening up for Williams. Tickets are still available.
"It should be fun. We'll have some new music to play as I've got a new record coming out this fall."
Christian Country Music
In January this year, Williams released a new single, "Jesus Loves."
"Almost everything that I write is inspired by life, or things that I've gone through. I think this is a song everyone can relate to, whether you've grown up in church or whether you've been the prodigal that's run away. It's a reminder that no matter where you are or what you've done in your life, Jesus loves you."
Williams collaborated with the infamous Dolly Parton on two singles. The first one, "There Was Jesus," won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song in 2021.
"She's awesome," Williams says, referring to working with Parton. "She's one of the most down-to-earth people I've ever met. She's the real deal. It was fun getting to know her and becoming friends."
Becoming an Author
Last August, Williams published his first children's book, A Little More Like Jesus.
"I have this song called "Less Like Me" and it's loosly based on the fruits of the spirit. I thought, what does a book like that look like for young kids who are dealing with all kinds of emotions and things that they go through. How do we share the gospel with them at an early age? This book was that idea and it turned out to be fun seeing myself as a cartoon character driving a bus."
Williams also released his own story through writing, a book named after one of his hit singles, Rescue Story.
"Writing Rescue Story was a lot longer process. It took about a year to write that book. It took a few sessions of talking for about 2-3 hours, what you remember about your life. Digging through that. It was honestly like a big therapy session."
The singer shares that he and his wife had talked about writing a book for years before they actually did it.
"Hopefully somebody can read that book and whatever they're going through their life, if they're struggling with something like I did, they can find hope in those pages."
A Long and Winding Road
Willliams has been in the music industry for a few decades and he's learned a lot along the way.
"Probably for the first ten years, I didn't want to try anything different or look goofy. I was discovering my voice. I started writing songs in college, and everything I sang was almost just like you're reading lyrics."
The Christian artist says he was initially filled with fear when trying to find his voice in front of a crowd.
"I think I would go back and throw all that out the window. Just say, 'Go for it. Don't be worried about what you look like or sound like. Discover your true self.' It took me ten years to do that, and I think I could have done that a lot sooner had I not been worried about what everyone else thought about."
Listen to the entire interview with Zach Williams below.