nathan walters | escape

The music industry is notorious for shattering the hopes and dreams of young artists. For every overnight superstar success story, there are thousands of equally talented singer/songwriters asking, ‘Do you want fries with that?’ Most working musicians have spent countless hours pounding the pavement and playing countless living rooms, basements, clubs and showcases hoping to make just the right connection with just the right industry bigwig to score that elusive recording contract. Others, like Nathan Walters, were dragged kicking and screaming into the limelight.

It’s not that Nathan didn’t want to be a recording artist. On the contrary, the piano prodigy chucked his college music scholarship and headed to Nashville when he was 20 years old to chase the dream. He ended up selling shoes at a local department store to pay the rent. But a man’s gift makes room for him, the Good Book says, and Nathan’s talent and persistence soon paid off when he was given the opportunity to audition as the new pianist for Southern Gospel icon, Janet Paschal.

“I had worked as a DJ at a Southern Gospel radio station while I was in high school so I was familiar with Janet’s music,” Nathan recalls. “The problem was, while I was an accomplished classical pianist, I still couldn’t play by ear very well. It wasn’t a disaster, but it was pretty close. Instead of playing piano for Janet Paschal, I ended up manning her merchandise booth for the next three months.”

While on the road with Janet, Nathan’s roommate told him about a new Christian boy band that heavyweight producer David Foster (Josh Grobin, Richard Marx) was putting together and encouraged him to audition. Nathan blew it off. “I was more of a musician than a singer and dancer,” he explained. “And I wasn’t too sure about the whole ‘boy band’ thing.”

The friend persisted and even submitted Nathan’s name over his objections. Nathan soon got the call to fly to San Francisco for an audition. He turned it down. When Janet Paschal heard about it she took Nathan to task. “’Never turn down an audition! You always gain experience and you never know who you might meet or what relationships you may form,’ she told me,” Nathan laughs. “I felt like such an amateur. I prayed, ‘Lord, if You want me in this band, have them call me back.’ The next week they called and said they were still looking for the last guy. I auditioned and the rest, as they say, is history.”

That history includes the heady days of performing with bona fide Christian music phenomenon, Plus One. The five-member boy band sold more than 1.2 million copies of their first two albums, shared the stage with the biggest names in the industry, graced the covers of popular teen magazines and was featured on television shows from “Entertainment Tonight” to “The CBS Evening News.” But as successful as the band was, there was a nagging sense among its members that everything about their career was pre-fabbed, commercial, someone else’s vision. Eventually the time came when Plus One would have to re-invent itself. The band evolved into a trio and emerged with a strong new vision – and a bold, new rock ‘n’ roll sound.

“I had a deal to do a solo project, but I was already committed to the band so the solo thing kept getting pushed back,” Nathan muses. “We did the rock band thing for a little over a year and then decided to take a break. I have my own studio in my home so I started producing other artists. I had dabbled in producing and songwriting long before the Plus One thing ever happened, but I wasn’t proficient back then. Being in Plus One was really like going to school. I got to work with A-list writers and producers and I took advantage of every opportunity to learn the craft.”

Eight different producers worked on Plus One’s gold selling debut project including David Foster, Eric Foster White (Britney Spears) and Rodney Jerkins (Destiny’s Child). “I asked a million questions and really latched onto what they were doing. Each one had their own style but the common thread that ran through all of them was their commitment to excellence. ‘Good enough’ was never good enough. I incorporated a lot of what they do when I started producing other artists.”

When it came time for Nathan to find a producer for his own, long-delayed, solo project he realized that he could do it himself after having produced other bands and artists for a few years. He called on long-time songwriting buddy, Jeremy Bose, for inspiration and co-wrote several of the songs with Nathan’s wife, Inna. After crafting eleven fresh new songs, Nathan laid down the keyboards then brought in first call players like Lynn Nichols (Phil Keaggy, Ashley Cleveland) on guitar, Mark Childs (Carrie Underwood) on bass, and drummer Jason Collum (Brian Littrell) to flesh out the sound.

“The music has grown up,” Nathan says. “It’s gone from boy band to rock ‘n’ roll, and this is the next logical step. It’s atmospheric, kind of like you are outside and it’s raining, but it feels good that it is raining.”

The resulting album, “Escape,” is a journey of sorts – spiritual, but also physical. “It’s about heartache. It’s about God. It’s about my life during the past five years,” Nathan ponders. “A lot of people are walking through difficult times. They need to know that other people have walked there before.”

The song, “Universe,” is a classic example of the introspective and vulnerable nature of the album, which is more about sharing thoughts than preaching doctrine. “I used to want to be an astronaut,” Nathan confesses. “When I look at the stars it makes me wonder if we really might be the only sentient creatures in the universe, and God made all this just for us. Could it be possible that God put all that space up there purely for our enjoyment? It’s romantic overkill, like a guy sending dozens of roses to his girlfriend - just because.”

Although Nathan has seen his share of mainstream success his focus remains in the Christian market. “I grew up leading worship in church youth group before the Plus One days,” he explains. “I still want to have that outlet. When you focus on the mainstream there is a whole other mentality, a whole other expectation from the people around you. If the mainstream thing happens that’s great, but I don’t want to have to try to figure out what I have to do to get radio air play. I don’t want to be a slave to that market. I want to be able to go to churches and minister there. That’s what I want to do for the rest of my career.”