BY  :  Michael Foust | ChristianHeadlines.com Contributor 

TobyMac has collaborated with other artists during his career, but never as much as on his newest album, Life After Death.

All total, 11 of the 15 tracks are collaborations. Life After Death was the first album for TobyMac since the death of his son, Truett McKeehan, in 2019.

“I’ve always dreamed of doing a collaborative record – a record of collaborations,” TobyMac told Christian Headlines. “And I thought this would be a better time than any because I feel like maybe I needed a little help from my friends to make it through it. After what I’ve experienced and losing my firstborn, I just think people came alongside me and helped me – helped me maybe sing some of the things that were hard for me to sing, and maybe made me a little stronger. So I’m grateful.”

Perhaps the most surprising collaboration was the one with Sheryl Crow, a mainstream artist who has won nine Grammys.

“Our kids were both going to a small Christian elementary school,” he told Christian Headlines. “… And when I met her, I honestly didn’t know who she was at first. It took me a second. She was a mom there. … And I just met her in the hallway. But I’ve been a big fan of hers since I was young, and just loved her vocal – the passion she sings with. And she seems to be a woman that keeps it real. Some people think it’s a controversial choice. [But] I think it’s amazing. I think that we’re supposed to be together in things. And I know her heart, because I’ve talked to her.”

Touring, he said, is one of his passions.

“I think it’s the ultimate moment for a songwriter. It’s fun to write a song and record a song. It’s fulfilling,” he said.

It’s even more fulfilling, he said, to sing the song “with the actual people that you’re praying it would resonate with.”

“When that song and that artist and those people come together,” he said, “it’s a special moment.”

Photo courtesy: ©Blue Amber/Dove Awards, used with permission.

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Heinrich Manoah

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