Country-hip-hop star Shaboozey’s new album is all about “bringing your life to God.”
During a recent stop on his Outlaw Tour, the artist explained the story line for a character he had been writing from the perspective of on The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales, which dropped earlier this summer.
“I’m like, oh — this outlaw who started off robbing banks and killed the sheriff is reading Romans chapter six — ‘For the wages of sin you die’ — but he’s reading the whole entire chapter. And after that it says, ‘but the free gift of God is eternal life,’” Shaboozey explained, adding that it’s “one of my favorite verses in the Bible…and I didn’t realize that when I was just writing.”
The artist said that coming to that realization changed his understanding of the whole album.
“Sometimes, you know, ‘meet at high noon,’ it’s got all the cool stuff. It’s got ‘Cowgirl,’ we got Cherie Lee, we got all these people. But it’s really a story about bringing your life to God, and that the best revenge is forgiveness,” he said. “Because at the end of the day, the people that wronged you, the people that hurt you — it’s what made you, you know. Sometimes evil exists for good to be more powerful, to show what evil cannot do and overcome.”
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Speaking to NPR about The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales, Shaboozey said the character of Cherie Lee “kind of birthed in my brain, it was like a character that just hit me out of nowhere that needed to just be brought to life.”
“You know, when I write stories, sometimes these characters just sometimes just birth out of nowhere, and then they take on a life of their own and then I just start following their journey, and I just document what I’m seeing,” he continued.
Shaboozey has previously recorded faith-filled songs; earlier this year, he and Jelly Roll took home the trophy for Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the Grammy Awards for “Amen.”
“Dear God, I just wanna say thank You. Nothing is possible without You,” Shaboozey said in his acceptance speech. “I want to also thank my mother, who as of today has retired from her job of 30 years, working in the medical field as a registered nurse in the psych ward. She worked 3 to 4 jobs just to provide for me and my four siblings, the children of immigrants…I have the greatest team in the world, thank you so much. And the last thing I want to say is immigrants built this country, literally. So this is for them, for all children of immigrants. This is also for those who came to this country for better opportunities…Thank you for all your stories…you’ve given America color. Thank you.”
Shaboozey’s thoughts on his album elevate the collection of songs from a Wild West outlaw tale to a story of faith and forgiveness.
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