Christian singer-songwriter Rick Lee James premieres the music video for "Up on the Mountain," which features him playing six different instruments on a track he recorded himself. The song draws from 1 Kings 19, the story of Elijah hearing God in silence rather than in wind, earthquake, or fire, and has already hit the top 5 most-streamed Christian radio songs internationally.
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Well, "Up on the Mountain" is a new single from Christian singer and songwriter Rick Lee James and the new, the brand new Rick Lee James Band. Now Rick is debuting his new music video right here, right now on CFN Live. Take a look.
♪ He said Jezebel is after me and won't rest until I'm dead. ♪ ♪ Whoa, whoa, up on the mountain. ♪ ♪ Whoa, whoa, up on the mountain of the Lord.
♪ That is "Up on the Mountain," which releases tomorrow. Rick Lee James joining us now from Springfield, Ohio. That's the first time anybody has seen that video, Rick. Thank you so much for showing us that and that really good-looking Rick Lee James band. Wow.
Well, thank you very much. My pleasure. So good to be back with you today, Colleen.
Wow. Very— you got to tell me about the video. What a great idea. But that's you playing 6 instruments there?
Yeah. That's actually how I recorded the song. I didn't bring a band in for this one except for the drums, which, just to be fair, Steven Puckett did a wonderful job playing drums in the background, but everything else, all the vocals, all the instruments and things on the track in the studio were me. I had an idea of, "I wonder if we could—" since I played all the tracks on the recording, I wonder if we could figure out how to do it live. I got with a friend of mine who runs a company called Media Explosion. Rick Stull is his name. He had this idea when I told him what I wanted, and he said, "Yeah, I think we can do that." Just did an amazing job. I had to play that song. I don't know how many times. It was about 8 hours of recording time. All the wardrobe changes, playing on every instrument several times. So probably throughout the day, I probably played it between 30 and 40 times. Wow. Given instruments and singing it and singing different parts during the day. But I really like how it turned out and kind of gave a taste of kind of what I do musically, because I try to play a lot of different things and a lot of different styles. And it just very much the joke being the Rick Lee James Band, because it's all Rick Lee James for sure.
It sure is. That took you just one day to do?
One day. It took much longer to edit. Rick did a great job, the other Rick, Rick Stahl. He did a great job editing all those parts together to get what you see now. And even when I watch the video, I think, well, the guitar player's doing this, and then I have to think, oh wait, that's me doing that too. It's fun because I was trying to be a different character for each part, 'cause every instrument, when you see someone playing it, it seems like there's different ways that each instrument, they kind of all have their own personality. So it was fun to get to do all of them at once.
And it was fun that we got to see it right here, you know, for the first time ever. I just love it. Now the song actually releases tomorrow, but it's already doing really well on Christian radio streams and downloads, right?
Yes, we released it to radio stations maybe a week and a half ago, I think, and it started charting within a couple days as far as radio stations that were streaming and downloading it. And at one point, I'm not sure where it is today, I haven't looked in a while, but it was in the top 5 of most streamed songs for radio internationally on Christian stations. So I hope that means that a lot of stations are adding it. So I'm grateful, and they certainly can continue to add that, but it'll officially release tomorrow on all streaming platforms. So if you listen on Spotify or Apple Music or YouTube, all those type things, wherever you listen, it'll be available on Friday, July 12th.
That's great. Tell us about it. Tell us, I know it's inspired by the Old Testament story of Elijah, right?
Mm-hmm. Yeah, it actually comes from 1 Kings 19, the story of Elijah in Mount Horeb, where, He is downhearted. He really, he's running for his life. And the song is about when God says, "Stand before me on the mountain and I will pass in front of you." And then as we know from the story, if you've read it, there is a great wind, a tornado-type wind that comes through, maybe even like a hurricane, and the Lord is not in that. And then there's an earthquake and the Lord is not in that. And then there's fire. And I love how Eugene Peterson actually translates it. He says, and then came utter silence, or what often is translated as a gentle whisper. And it's there that the Lord shows up. And that's really what the song is about, just reminding us that even though it seems like all of the chaos around us is ruling, the Lord shows up and he's not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire, but God shows up not as chaos, but God shows up in the chaos as this gentle whisper that calms and brings order to it. So that's really what the song is about. And I love how, um, It goes from a minor key to the end, the music broadens out a little bit and then it becomes major and it's just to kind of almost chants it out as I sing, "You're not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire." And so I really think, I hope it'll be a good reminder to us, especially in this chaotic season that we're in with elections and everything else that's going on, a reminder to step back and listen for that utter silent whisper of God that comes to us in the midst of all the wind and the earthquakes and the fire.
You're right. We do need that now, just that reminder, yes, he's in the very quiet, gentle moments. I love that, that is so great. You have been using your music forever, really, to spread the gospel, but how long have you been, obviously you're very talented with all those instruments, how long have you been playing?
Oh my goodness, I really started taking guitar lessons when I was about 15 years old, and let's see, how old am I? I'm 46 now, so it's been quite a few years, and then after learning guitar, I started teaching teaching myself other instruments along the way. And so it's— I've been doing it quite a while now, um, professionally for about the last probably 15 years or so. But yeah, I've been playing for, for quite some time. It's, it's something that really gives me a lot of life and purpose and meaning, for sure.
You know, last time we talked, you're a hospital chaplain, and you— a lot of your music inspired by what you see in the hospital. This beautiful song inspired obviously by the Bible, giving us such a great reminder to really sit down and listen to God in those quiet moments. I am— we are just so happy that we got to debut your video, which will make so many people smile out there on our show. And we want to make sure everybody knows the song is out tomorrow on all streaming services. It is "Up on the Mountain." Again, releases tomorrow. And tell us where our viewers can go to find out everything you are doing. You are such a busy person and doing wonderful things.
Well, thank you so much. And in fact, I'm heading to the hospital right after this to do some chaplain work today. So thank you for mentioning that. Mentioning that. RickLeeJames.com is probably the easiest place. If you just remember my name, Rick Lee James, and put .com after it— there it is on the screen— you'll be able to find out all kinds of information. It should be able to have a link to anything you want to know about me and the music I make and the ministry I do. So thank you very much for letting me debut the, the music video today here. It's so wonderful to be back on your show today.
Well, wonderful to have you. You made our day. Thank you so much. Thank you. All
