Who You Are to Me
by Chris Tomlin (featuring Lady A)

Album: Chris Tomlin & Friends (2020)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • After relocating to Nashville, Chris Tomlin became friendly with many country artists there. He found that many of his new singing and songwriting pals from Music City shared his worship-leading background. A chance meeting with Florida Georgia Line's Tyler Hubbard in a gym led to the Chris Tomlin & Friends album, which features faith-based collaborations with a selection of country A-listers. Tyler Hubbard and his FGL partner Brian Kelley are credited as executive producers.
  • Tomlin knew Lady A's Dave Haywood and Hillary Scott well and had also previously met Charles Kelley too, so when the project started coming together he booked the trio in for a writing session. They came up with this song about the difference between having knowledge of God and experiencing a relationship with Him.
  • Charles Kelley was in a vulnerable stage of his life when they wrote this song (he details it on the Lady A track "Be Patient With My Love"). Tomlin recalled to Apple Music how the session started with Kelley sharing his own spiritual journey after a few aimless years. "When I think about my faith and the faith of so many, for so many of us, it is just these Sunday school stories when we were growing up, these Bible stories, these crazy stories, Noah and the Ark and David and Goliath," Kelley said. "Yet, in these last years, I've been in a really hard place, and it's amazing to see God meet you in a very personal way.'"

    Kelley's openness led to the song's first lines.

    Some people think You're distant, just some words on a page
    That You're nothing more than fables, handed down along the way
    But I've seen You part the waters
    When no one else could pull me from, the deep
    That's who You are to me


    The rest of the song carries on in the same vein as Tomlin and Lady A talk about God being more than just someone who lives "in cathedrals made of stone." Instead, He is their forgiveness, healer, Messiah and redeemer who lives inside their hearts.
  • The song topped the Christian Airplay chart, becoming Tomlin's 10th and Lady A's first to reach #1 on the tally. Lady A were just the second act to top both the Country Airplay and Christian Airplay charts, following Dolly Parton's footsteps. Dolly became the first artist to reach the summit of both listings when her Zach Williams duet "There Was Jesus" topped Christian Airplay in September 2020.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Chris Frantz of Talking Heads

Chris Frantz of Talking HeadsSongwriter Interviews

Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz on where the term "new wave" originated, the story of "Naive Melody," and why they never recorded another cover song after "Take Me To The River."

Into The Great Wide Open: Made-up Musicians

Into The Great Wide Open: Made-up MusiciansSong Writing

Eddie (played by Johnny Depp in the video) found fame fleeting, but Chuck Berry's made-up musician fared better.

Facebook, Bromance and Email - The First Songs To Use New Words

Facebook, Bromance and Email - The First Songs To Use New WordsSong Writing

Where words like "email," "thirsty," "Twitter" and "gangsta" first showed up in songs, and which songs popularized them.

N.W.A vs. the World

N.W.A vs. the WorldSong Writing

How the American gangsta rappers made history by getting banned in the UK.

Ian Astbury of The Cult

Ian Astbury of The CultSongwriter Interviews

The Cult frontman tells who the "Fire Woman" is, and talks about performing with the new version of The Doors.

Little Richard

Little RichardFact or Fiction

Was Long Tall Sally a cross-dresser? Did he really set his piano on fire? See if you know the real stories about one of rock's greatest innovators.