Byron Cage is known as the “Prince of Praise” and has been lighting up the gospel charts for years. After a seven year break, the “Presence of the Lord” singer is back with another praise anthem, “Oh How Good It Is,” that’s sure to be heard worldwide. He’s also releasing a full album that’s dropping in September of this year, and is entering uncharted territory by writing a new book: “I Do: The Marriage of Ministry in Music.”
We sat down with Cage to learn more about all of his exciting projects.
Tell us about “Oh How Good It Is.”
A friend of mine wrote that song. His name is Chris Bird. I hadn’t seen him in a while, but I was invited to his church to be the special psalmist for a conference. He sang that song and I said, ‘Oh my Lord, this is an incredible song!’, and so I talked to him afterwards and I said want to record that. I wrote most of the songs on the album, but I know a hit when I hear one. So, we went ahead and made “Oh, How Good It Is” the first single.
There’s a video that dropped for the song as well. What can fans expect?
Since the song is a praise anthem, and people are going to be singing it all over the world, I wanted to create a concert type of vibe; so, I went to three separate churches to do it. We had a concept portion of the video in the beginning as well, where I’m in the presence of the Lord in a dark room with candles around me, and the lyrics are being flashed across the screen. By the time I get to the concert part of the video, I start out at a church in Lilburn, Georgia called New Mercies, where I served as minister of music for four years. Then we leave there and go to New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia, which is where Jamal Bryant is now. I finish in Ebenezer A.M.E. in Fort Washington, Maryland. So I’m in three different services singing the song. It’s high energy, everybody’s having a great time, the dancers are dancing and people are clapping. It’s a big praise party.
You have a lot of great things going on, with the new single, new video and now a new book, “I Do: The Marriage of Ministry in Music.” Tell us about that.
I wrote a book after retiring from 30 years of being a full time minister of music. What I’ve done is chronicled my life in the 30 years of the ministries that I’ve served. I tell everybody about what I’ve learned and the examples that I set for people who really desire to do what I do, especially in the area of being a minister of music. There has to be a relationship, almost like a husband and a wife. You have to marry in ministry because it’s important if you don’t understand each other, and if the communication isn’t good, there will always be problems. All over the world, pastors and ministers of music and musicians are at odds with each other a lot of the times because nobody wants to have a courageous conversation. And in that conversation, as pastors, be clear about what you want. And musical people, make sure that you can give [them what they want]. If you can’t, you’re going to always have friction.
So, the book is a “how-to” book, but there’s also funny things and stories that I talk about that have happened in my thirty years. I’m looking forward to sharing that, hopefully as almost a bible, for people, pastors and for music people to understand each other. And I hope we can coexist together, give God glory and maximize the moment during our worship service experiences.
When does the book come out?
The book is going to be out in August, so it’s going to be very soon. You’ll be able to get it online and you’ll be able to get hard copies as well. We’re looking forward to it.
Wonderful to hear. Going back to your music, you’re dropping an entire album soon too. Tell us more.
The album is completely finished. The release date is actually September 20. So, the full project will be out in just a couple of months.
What can we expect from the album?
You know, I haven’t done a new record in seven years. I dropped the two singles, “Like No Other” and another song called “Good to Me”, but this time around I wanted to show you where I’ve been in my process and in my time spending with the Lord. I also wanted to incorporate a younger generation of worshipers with my music. I’ve got younger producers and some of the songs that I’ve done sounds like the young people today, but I’ll never get far away from church. You’re still going to have a good time. I just wanted to make sure that I reached everyone, the masses, and no one feels like they can listen to a Byron Cage record and say, “I can’t relate to anything on that record.” So, there’s a little bit of everything on there. I’m really excited to get back to it, and travel the world, and share this gospel music that I Iove.
Take a look at his inspiring video here.
