Throughout a fertile decade-and-a-half worth of studio recordings, songwriting, worship leading,
vocal arranging, touring, acting, and most recently, becoming an author, Anthony Evans’ creative
pursuits have maintained an unflinching authenticity. Yet for all the times he rode high atop the
gospel charts, crossed over into pop, worked on Grammy-winning projects, stepped out on the
world’s most hallowed stages such as the Hollywood Bowl and even won the ear of Christina
Aguilera for a remarkable run on NBC’s “The Voice,” the multi-faceted artist was perpetually in
the process of finding an inner spiritual and personal peace.
After some serious soul-searching, sparked by the challenging but cathartic experience of writing
his highly-anticipated memoir, Unexpected Places: Thoughts On God, Faith, And Finding Your
Voice, Evans finally reached that point of shifting his perspective toward true inner peace. This is
further reflected throughout his aptly named 2019 album, Altered (releasing May 17 on Sherman
James Productions). And in keeping with his tradition of putting a clever twist on a theme, the title
also refers to the fact that several of the songs are completely re-worked covers. These, along with
a handful of heartfelt originals, are integral to shaping what’s sure to be a landmark season.
“Altered, is me staying true to my new vision, which is pursuing peace as a person,” Evans
confirms. “Peace is what defines my success in my life now, not just ‘projects’. I felt at peace
making this project. It’s also me stepping out into my own individual calling and being confident
in what I know God wants my life to sound like.
This confidence, combined with his newer Los Angeles “A” game influences, led to his inventive
reworking of several modern church staples, not only in a way that can minister to fellow believers,
but simultaneously tap into the spiritual yearnings of absolutely anyone who comes in contact with
his extraordinary and unmistakable abilities. In addition to the powerhouse singer, his ability to
select an all-star supporting cast is just as significant in shaping the sounds, starting with longtime
producer Max Stark, who Evans was introduced to and began using when he was just a student.
Stark, who has since gone on to become a Grammy winner, specifically steers his listening palette
completely clear of Christian music. As a result, his work on standouts such as, “So Will I” and
“Do It Again,” sound fresh and original.
In the specific case of “What A Beautiful Name” combined with “King Of My Heart,” the
background vocals consist of not only LA’s finest session singers (who just so happened to be
church kids who never forgot their roots), but vocalists who’ve traveled the world with the likes
of Barbra Streisand, Stevie Wonder, Janet Jackson, Patti LaBelle, Justin Bieber, John Mayer, Tyler
Perry, and the list goes on and on. A medley of “Great Are You Lord” and “Who You Say I Am,”
is just as distinctive, and came in the wake of Evans suddenly losing his cousin at only 38-yearsold.
“That has been a standout as having the most meaning to me, because I’m singing it in a place of a great
loss and a great tragedy in my family. But the legacy that my cousin left is reminding me that even in our
darkest moments, He’s still great.”
Then there’s the lead single “Fighting For Us,” a future classic from the pens of frequent
collaborator, Krissy Nordhoff (Your Great Name) and Michael Farren (Let It Rain). “I always have
to be reminded that Jesus is not necessarily standing at the finish line with a stopwatch like, ‘hurry
up and get here. ‘Fighting For Us’ reminds me and all the listeners that He is on your journey with
you daily.”
Along the way to selecting the anthemic song, Evans began on a road to this realization during
some spiritually-centered therapy sessions which helped, as he puts it, “resituate the way I see God
in my head. He explained, “I always felt a self-imposed pressure on me of like, ‘Get it together,’
since I was the preacher’s kid: Tony Evans Jr. That kind of pressure became the way I viewed
God. ‘Perform well and then I’ll love you.’ I had to literally go to therapy to reset my mind on who
God is to me and that is what altered the way I viewed him.”
Rather than strategizing a specific plan of getting all of the above into the marketplace, Evans
changed lanes completely with his behind-the-scenes approach to Altared, letting his listeners
inform and direct the entire process. “A lot of these songs are covers, but even with the original
ones, I do it backwards now. I perform them before I record them. I take what works for the listener
and then I record them. A lot of times we record songs and then try to convince an audience that
they like them. But I can see my audience, and I make the record for the people in the room.”
One final component of his current calling is making his ministry mobile, which will once again
be in tandem with his sister and best-selling author/actress Priscilla Shirer. The siblings will set
out on the “FerVent 2.0” outing, bringing together faithful expressions from Anthony’s Altared
with messages from Priscilla’s upcoming movie Overcomer These tours have the undeniable
synergy that can only exist between siblings, and certainly can’t be manufactured.
And speaking of something that can’t be manufactured, Evans continues being open to “absolutely
whatever” God has in store for his talents. Opportunities sometimes come in somewhat
Unexpected Places, such as putting together vocals for Tori Kelly’s double Grammy-winning
album Hiding Place, a Grammy-nominated episode of Black-ish, vocal contracting for the rap and
hip-hop communities, or stepping out onto the revered Hollywood Bowl stage for a co-starring
role as The Beast in Disney’s star-studded Beauty And The Beast concert series. This amazing
experience paired Anthony with Emmy nominee Zooey Deschanel (New Girl) as Belle, plus Tony
Award winner Jane Krakowski (30 Rock, Ally McBeal), Golden Globe and Tony winner Kelsey
Grammer (Cheers, Frasier), Taye Diggs (Rent, Hedwig And The Angry Inch) and Rebel Wilson
(Bridesmaids, Pitch Perfect).
Of the Hollywood Bowl experience, Evans recalls, “Standing on the side of the stage with 18,000
people in the audience, I started to put this expectation on myself like ‘you better perform.’ And
then I thought to myself, ‘Anthony, this is what will make you crash. What you have to realize, is
that you have been taking steps towards this moment for 15 years. I walked up confident because
I acknowledged the fact that I’ve been taking daily steps towards becoming who I needed to be for
the stage. It came from being faithful in the little, and eventually a lot will come out of the future
moments. I don’t mean a lot in the sense of Hollywood. I mean a lot in the sense of impacting
people’s lives.”
