On the road again: Drive-in tour is a return to live music for Christian artist Zach Williams

Apr. 29—Zach Williams was never much of a drive-in person.

"There was a drive-in in our hometown that had been shut down for like 10 or 15 years, so I can remember driving by and seeing it out in this field," said Williams, who grew up in Jonesboro, Ark. "And my parents would always say, 'We used to go watch movies there.' I really didn't understand what it was as a kid."

A couple of decades and a global pandemic later, Williams is well acquainted with the theaters that last year began to ride a surge in interest. That's not just as a nostalgic place to catch a movie but also as a socially distant venue for worship services, graduation ceremonies, and live concerts like the tour that he's currently headlining alongside Mac Powell and CAIN.

IF YOU GO:

What: Drive-In Theater Tour featuring Zach Williams and CAIN

When: Saturday at dusk

Where: Sundance Kid Drive-In, 4500 Navarre Ave., Oregon

Admission: Value parking begins at $88; limit six patrons per car

Information: driveintheatertour.com/zachwilliams

Williams and CAIN perform at Oregon's Sundance Kid Drive-In at dusk on Saturday.

"It feels a lot like you're playing summer festivals," Williams said of the energy at the drive-ins, admittedly not the typical venue for the artist who's been among the most prominent names in Christian music since the release of his debut album, Chain Breaker, in late 2016. "You're seeing a lot of cars, but people are still bringing their lawn chairs and blankets. They're getting out and setting their chairs in front of their cars every night."

"We're having a blast," he continued. "I think the biggest thing is that we're getting together and playing live music and getting to see our fans. It's been awesome."

The drive-in tour is a response to the pandemic, and one that the local venue is welcoming. Kim Walter, marketing director for Great Eastern Theatres, said they're expecting a good turnout for the concert, which follows in the vein of other live and pre-recorded shows the venue began experimenting with last year in response to the shifts in the movie industry.

"We had quite a few special events out there last summer, and we're doing more this summer as well — in between movies as well," Walter said.

It's also a welcome return to the tour bus for Williams, who's been riding a wave of success in his corner of the music industry since he exploded onto the scene with Chain Breaker. The Gospel Music Association named him its new artist of the year in 2017, and awarded him separate honors in a tie for pop/contemporary recorded song of the year in "Chain Breaker"; in the same year the Recording Academy handed him a Grammy Award for best contemporary Christian music album — to be followed by another just earlier this year for best contemporary Christian music performance/song in "There Was Jesus," a duet with Dolly Parton.

The latter track was included in his second album, Rescue Story, which he released in 2019. Its tour was cut short by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, and Williams expects to resume it, in some cases in larger venues that allow for a greater degree of social distance, in September.

And there's new music in the works, Williams said in an interview with The Blade. He recorded a Christmas album this summer, with plans to release it later this year. He's releasing singles recorded in the course of Rescue Story, with an eye toward a deluxe version of that album. And he's been tinkering with songs for a third album, especially as he waited for the drive-in tour to take off earlier this year.

Is there a lot of pressure on an artist who's taking home top honors so early into his career?

"If anybody puts the pressure on, it's on me," Williams said. "My record label has been great about not putting pressure on me to duplicate anything I've done in the past, but I think it's always there in the back of your head, to be better than your last record or your last song.

"I think for me, I'm in my 40s now, I think a lot of it is just that I've learned to be comfortable in who I am, and I feel like as a Christian artist, I have a lot to say about where I am in my life."

Where he is in life is an integral part of his story and his sound, as he's explored in his albums. Williams was fronting a rock band, Zach Williams and the Reformation, and living the fast-paced lifestyle that tends to go along with it when he realized things needed to change.

He quit the band in 2012, returned home and reconnected with the faith that his parents had instilled in him from an early age. A worship service ultimately brought him back into the music industry, by way of producer and songwriter Jonathan Smith, who happened to be the congregation during a service Williams was leading. He took an interest, then extended an invitation to Nashville, where Williams, Smith, and Mia Fieldes penned "Chain Breaker."

On the drive-in tour these days, Williams said he feels like he's in a healthier space than he was during his earlier run on the secular side of the music industry, the biggest change that he's now "living for Christ," as he phrases it. He's no longer playing shows where he wouldn't feel comfortable bringing his children.

Where he is professionally, he said, feels like where he was meant to be.

"I knew God had something bigger for my life, even when I was traveling with my rock band," he said. "From really growing up in the church and having that seed planted at such an early age, I felt like there was something different and better that I was supposed to be doing.

"I feel like God kept me out of harm's way in a lot of different ways, through my crazy past," he continued. "He allowed me to walk through a lot of those situations so I could stand on this platform now and tell the world who he is and what he's done, and know that, hey, if he can do it for me, he can do it for anybody.

"I don't think I really would have had this kind of success in the secular world."