TobyMac Releases First Album After Son’s Death, ‘Thankful That God Is In The Hardest Places’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Christian artist TobyMac is sharing the personal inspirations behind his latest album, Life After Death.
“This one was hard,” he told CBN News. Life After Death was his first album in three years.
“I [took] three years because I like to live a little bit of life and experience some things,” TobyMac — real name: Toby McKeehan — explained of his hiatus. “That’s about when I live enough life to write a record about it.”
Life After Death was also a way for TobyMac to process the 2019 death of his son, Truett Foster McKeehan, who passed away after an accidental overdose of fentanyl and amphetamines.
“Most of the songs are about the journey from losing him, to where I am today,” McKeehan explained. “I’m thankful that God is in the hardest places and that He meets us in the deepest valleys.”
He shared that it was initially difficult for him to return to the studio.
“I remember driving to the session, maybe it was four months after, and I was like, I felt so strange,” McKeehan explained. “I was like, ‘Am I actually going to just write a song like everything’s normal?’ I pressed on and I walked in and there’s this one guy there, Kyle Williams. I remember he was just so warm. He was just so tender with me, you know, and so kind.”
One single, “Cornerstone,” was directly inspired by McKeehan’s feelings at his son’s funeral.
“That song comes from a heavy place,” he shared. “I stood in front of people at a park in Franklin, Tennessee, in a field at my son’s funeral service. I thought I knew what I wanted to say, you know, but something different came out, and it was the beginning of that song.”
As McKeehan looked at his grieving family, he realized they needed to rebuild.
“We’re not going to build on the promises of this world. We’re going to build on the solid rock. We’re going to build on the cornerstone,” he said of the song’s title.
Movieguide® previously reported on Life After Death:
Christian hip-hop artist TobyMac’s upcoming project will be his most personal yet, after losing his 21-year-old son, Truett, to a drug overdose in 2019. …
“The pain and anguish was just killing us. I never thought I would ever have it together again,” he said. “I want to write songs that resonate. It’s amazing how many people have experienced loss and how a song just loves them well, wherever they are. I’m so grateful for that.”
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