Jason Parten Speaks About the Importance of Fasting & How that Has Inspired His New Album "41 Days"

Singer/songwriter Jason Parten learned firsthand about trusting God with the battles often experienced in life during a 41-day fast.And he sings about that faith and trusting God through the battles many face with the likes of cancer, addiction, and depression on his new single, "Way Too Long Along." 

"Way Too Long Alone" is the second single from Parten's debut CD, "41 Days." The first single, "I Can Change," currently is airing on more than 100 radio outlets. Recording and releasing "41 Days" completes a lifelong dream for Parten, who wrote all ten of the songs on the project.

We are so honored to catch up with him for this exclusive Hallels' interview. 

Hallels:  Thank you Jason for your time.  Why did you entitle your latest album "41 Days"?

It's my pleasure. Thank you for the interview.

'41 Days' got it's title from a 41 day, water only, fast I completed during March and April of 2003. It was the most impactful, yet intimate experience I had in my walk with Christ, to date. The songs I wrote, and chose for '41 Days' mirror those components.

As a songwriter, I think it's important to create an intimate space with certain songs and / or projects. I wanted these songs to feel intimate, but not so exclusive that I left people out of the conversation. It would be like having an inside joke with someone. Typically, the joke is only funny to the other person, because of the story behind the joke.I feel as if the themes behind these songs are wide scale, but the stories become intimate because the door is open for the listener to insert themselves into the story.

When Christ taught he used stories, parables. These parables were put in a context where a group or individual could understand them. Yet, the individual could see themselves in the story. In doing so, he made in impact with his message. In the same way, I want these songs to touch people. To let them know they're not alone.To let them know love, hope and faith are universal elements we all seek on an intimate level.

 Hallels:  For readers who may not have heard your music yet, how would you describe your style?  Who would you say influence your sound?

I will have to borrow a phrase from the culinary world here. Many people have heard of "Fusion Cooking." Where you take two or more styles of cuisine and mix components together to make something new. That would be the best way to describe my style. As a Singer / Songwriter, I take elements from Contemporary Christian, Indie, Alt-Rock, Country, Folk, Funk, etcetera, and mold them together into a cohesive sound. Call it "Contemporary Fusion" or "Acoustic Fusion." Each song I write isn't written with a set genre, or style in mind.It is written to convey a message. The feel or tonality of the song plays off of the setting laid out in the lyrical content. Songs on '41 Days' touch on all of the genres I just mentioned, but not in a jumbled or messy way. All elements are blended well. It's like mixing red and blue to get purple. On their own these colors work apart, but mix them together and you have something new to work with.

Being as I just described the eclectic style of my music, my influences are eclectic too. However, I would say the one person that has influenced me the most would be Jon Foreman. People are more familiar with Jon as the frontman of Switchfoot, but it's Jon's solo work that's had the greatest impact on me as a singer / songwriter. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Switchfoot fan. I've seen them nearly a dozen times, but Jon's four EP set 'Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer' were so eye opening to me as a story teller. To me, his song "Equally Skilled" is one of the best songs ever written.

Other artist that have influenced are NEEDTOBREATHE, Chris Tomlin, Brandon Heath, Jason Crabb, George Strait, David Gray, Johny Lang, Andrew Belle, Dave Barnes, John Mayer, Ray LaMontagne... and the list goes on.

Hallels:  Fasting is something very important to you and also in the making of this new record.  What are your theological convictions behind fasting?

Wow... this could open up a book long response, so I'll do my best to keep it short. Fasting is about surrendering. It's about obedience. It's about faith. It's about building a stronger relationship with the Lord. Fasting should be done with a personal conviction. It is a time where you are giving up one thing to gain another. When I fast I look to gain a closer relationship with Christ, to gain a higher level of understanding my faith, to gain intimacy. How do you know what faith and trust are until you experience them firsthand?

When I fast, I read my Bible more. It becomes the sustenance I need to fuel me through the day. I pray more. I really try to go into a deeper lever of communication, and build a closer, more personal relationship with my Heavenly Father. It is this depth of love, and faith, and trust that helps bring me through the best and worst of times with a different perspective.

 Hallels:  You said in your press release that your latest single  "Way Too Long Along" is very personal to you.  In what ways is it personal to you?

There were two particular men in my life going through cancer at the time this song was inspired. One was my uncle, my mom's brother. The other is a life long friend of my dad's. These men are tough men, a man's man. These are guys that work with their hands. They've always been able to tackle life, and work, and issues with a certain confidence or tenacity. If they wanted something done, they did it. They knew how to make it happen. Cancer isn't this way, necessarily. 

My mom is a cancer survivor. I remember the times she was weak, the times my dad took her to the hospital for chemo and radiation. How it nearly killed her. I also remember how my mom and dad rededicated their lives to Christ during this time. How they looked to him for the victory in this battle that was raging in my mom's body, in our family. These men reminded me of those times with my mom. They reminded me of my time going through my 41 day fast. They made me think of all of the other issues people deal with everyday.

We all have our struggles in this life. Health issues, depression, addiction, these are and so many other issues are intertwined in our daily lives. But... there is victory in Jesus! When we realize He is capable, willing, and able to fight our battles and win our wars, we become victorious through surrendering. Sometimes this process takes too long to realize, and we fight way too long alone.

Hallels:  I really like "Beautiful Scars," which has such an ironic title.  We don't normally think of scars as beautiful.  What's the inspiration behind this song?

This is my favorite question you've asked so far. This song is the heartbeat of this album. "Beautiful Scars" is a song that was inspired by, and written for my two boys. My wife and I have been blessed with two wonder boys. Both of our boys had minor abnormalities when they were born.

Our oldest son was born with a partially cleft lip. It was minor, and his surgeons were able to repair his lip and bottom portion of his left nostril. Today he looks as if he was never born any other way than how he looks now. He is a very handsome young man. Our youngest son was born with a partially clubbed right foot. Apparently, this was due to how he was positioned in the womb. Something about not getting enough blood flow to that area during development. Therefore, his right foot is slightly kicked in, and his right calf is a little smaller than his left one. As my boys got older, and went to school, other kids would notice the scar on my oldest son's lip, or the way my youngest son's foot turned in a little.

One day our oldest son came home, and was pretty upset. One of the kids at his school had said some really hurtful things to him concerning his scar. My wife and I sat down to talk to him and our youngest son about these types of confrontations at school.During the conversation, I told my boys everyone has scars. Some people have scars on the outside for everyone to see, while other people have scars on the inside. Sometimes the inside scars are the hardest to deal with. Many times an internal, or emotional, scar is only something that person or a few others know about.We cannot see the internal scars of another person, but they're there none the less. I told them Jesus was beaten and his body was scarred before dying on the cross for our sins.
Through salvation, through the cross, Christ made a way for our sins and imperfections to removed, to be forgotten.

A scar is a mark of something that happened to a person at some point during their life. It may fade, but it stays with us.When God looks at us, He doesn't see these things. He doesn't see the scars. He sees His child. He sees the beauty of His child, not the scars everyone else sees. I told our boys in this same way, this how we see the both of you. We see our beautiful children and nothing else. It was through this conversation, and these things I just mentioned that became the inspiration for this song.

Hallels:  I saw on your facebook that you recently ran the marathon, tell us more about that.

It had been six years since I ran a marathon. A large part of that was due to an injury I had two years ago with my right leg. One of my closest friends is very much into fitness, like me, so I called him up one day last year and said I had a great idea... we often laugh about that phone call, now! He had turned 40 earlier that year, and I was going to be turning 40 before the race, so we should run this marathon at 40 to show we still had plenty of fuel in the tank. 

We trained 18 weeks in the hopes of completing the marathon in under 4 hours. It was one of the hardest things I've done since completing the 41 day fast, but I completed the marathon with a personal record of 3 hour, 57 minutes, and 58.1 seconds. I made my goal. I was extremely pleased. Now, I don't know if I ever want to run another one again! HAHA!!!

Hallels:  For our readers who would like to purchase "41 Days" and/or find out more about you, where can they go? 

Thank you for asking. Your readers and others can go to my fan page on Facebook for more info on me and my music.

There they can buy a physical CD or digitally download from my Music Store.They can also read my bio, get lyrics to '41 Days,' see pictures, posts, and keep up with information concerning my next album.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jason.Parten.Music

People can also go to iTunes to digitally download the album, or to Amazon for a physical CD or to digital download it.
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/41-days/id744937195
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GMKNU86/ref=sr_1_1_rd?ie=UTF8&child=B00GMKNXII&qid=1384870594&sr=1-1%3C%2Fa%3E

For those that utilize Twitter and / or Instagram, I can be followed: @jasonparten 

 

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