Interview with Myron Butler
January 2007, BlackGospel.com by Christopher Heron

Saturday, January 13, 2007 will be forever etched in Myron Butler’s memory banks.  This seemingly normal day in mid-January stands out as the defining turning point when the Gospel industry unanimously lauded Myron Butler for a job well done.  In the recent 22^nd Annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards, Myron Butler walked away with an impressive 4 Stellar Awards for his dynamite debut release – Set Me Free - including New Artist Of The Year. 

It’s been a tall and telling journey for this Dallas-native, whose eye-opening, heart-shattering experiences have not only prepared Myron for such a season as this, but have also given him, his talented troupe of singers – Levi – and others the kind of life-lessons the entire body of Christ could gain from.

Rewind back to the mid ‘90’s in the Big D.  By then, DFW Mass Choir appeared to have the city on lockdown, but a change was already underway.  The Trinity Temple Full Gospel Mass Choir was making noise with two terrific releases (Holy One & God’s Way), Kirk Franklin had already dropped 2 platinum-selling albums (Kirk Franklin & The Family and Watcha Lookin’ 4) and a hot new community choir that was already the rave in Dallas (God’s Property) was getting ready to ‘stomp’ its way on to the national scene. 

In the middle of this music was singer, songwriter (Up Above My Head) and soldier for Christ, Myron Butler, a humble servant. Back then, Myron was like the rest of the GP stompers…just having fun, listening, learning and loving God.  But when success for the local frontier turned a sweet situation into a sour scandal, soul-searching and contrition was the route Brother Butler chose.

Ten years later, Myron Butler is no longer the quiet and content adolescent.  Butler’s experiences and patient preparation have gainfully groomed him for artistic leadership.  The award-winning group – Myron Butler & Levi – is a testament to that fact. 

But Myron is not only sharper and shrewder as an artist, a decade later, but more candid and courageous as a music minister.  His ability to address relevant issues in his special compositions on Set Me Free (You Will Survive, Heal The Land) are living proof of his steady maturation as a modern-day disciple of the Gospel.

BlackGospel.com recently spoke with this vivacious personality in his hometown of Dallas, Texas about his impressionable upbringing in the church, his special relationship with Kirk Franklin and the experience that ultimately set in motion the launch of Myron Butler & Levi. It’s a fascinating story that’s best told through the words and spirit that only Myron Butler could provide.

Christopher Heron: Myron, let’s take it back to your days as a child. You’ve mentioned, on many occasions, that you’re a product of the church.  You’ve always been in the church, as a child and teenager. Share with us how your time and dedication to your God and His church helped groom and cultivate your skills as a singer, songwriter, and musician in those formative years.

Myron Butler: I think my church was very instrumental in my formation as an artist, a musician, a singer, and a songwriter because I was part of a church that had a wide demographic, a church that taught me that I can’t do just one style of music. So, I had to do music that would feed the whole church body, ever since I started playing in church when I was thirteen; directing choirs, stuff like that. I couldn’t just bring songs that I liked.  I had to bring songs that the elders and some that the young people in church would like as well.

That really shaped my approach on recording and on how I approached production, songwriting, and even singing, especially if you know your audience. The church was very instrumental in that. It was the one place where I could kind of explore my skills and find out what does and doesn’t work as a music minister.

CH: Your skills were in full bloom by the time you became an intricate part of the Dallas-Fort Worth Mass Choir during those earlier years featuring releases as such as “Another Chance” and earlier still, “Believe Me”, “I Will Let Nothing Separate Me” and “For His Glory”. Tell us what those days were like as you, Kirk Franklin and others were honing your skills in the church and in the mass choir.

MB: I don’t even know the words to describe it. It was just like this mass amount of creativity. Before that, there was only one choir out of our area that had ever recorded anything of national attention and that was Trinity Temple Full Gospel Mass Choir. So at that point, there is this kind of untapped region here in Dallas, with all of this untapped talent. When everyone comes together, it’s like there was this huge amount of energy. And there was a lot of sharing and learning from the next person. I want to talk about the showcases that they would have during the mass choir rehearsals and practices. That’s when people would come and display their song, their gift and their talent.

So, you’re bombarded by so much creative energy that it would propel you into a kind of, “OK, well let me go see what I can come up with”. It was really an exciting time. High School was the best. I went to a school called Arts Magnet which was right around the corner. That was the absolute best time of my life because it was a smorgasbord of talent. Roy Hargrove graduated from there. Erykah Badu graduated from there. Nora Jones graduated from there. It was just this wellspring of creative talent. That was what, at that time, DFW days were really like.

CH: Let’s fast forward to the days where you played a leadership role, both with God’s Property. What were your range of emotions during that season watching the emergence of GP to national promise and the subsequent drama and ultimate disintegration of the group? And, how did you cope with all that was going on? How did it affect your relationship with all of God’s people? If I might extend the question - what was the long term impact it had on your ministry when you think back on it today?

MB: In my limited capacity with those groups, that really was something that, to be honest, if I’m forthright with myself, I must say I now know that I am called to be a leader. But it is something that I was kind of pushing away back then because I was young. I was immature and I wanted to have fun. And that’s what it really was for us. Everyone just wanted to have fun. We were so ignorant about the business. We knew nothing.  We didn’t even know what “Platinum-selling” meant.  We had no idea. All we knew was that, now we have an album, so when we travel to concerts around town, we can sing our own songs. All the other stuff made us feel like, “Wow!” I mean MTV was there, filming us, as we performed.  We were so young.  We didn’t have anything to compare to it. So, we thought, “Ok we’ll just have fun in the moment.”

But, I think that ignorance was part of the demise because in the music business that’s detrimental. If you do not know how to handle that amount of success, then it will ultimately be your demise. I think not knowing what the right questions are to ask and not knowing how to put the questions that are asked of you in the right perspective, as a young person, can cause things to rotate in your mind. And when those kinds of questions start circling “Why don’t you have more money?” or “Why don’t you have this?” and “Who is this?”  If you don’t know how to put those questions in the right place then you begin to ask, “What is going on?” That’s ultimately what happened.

At one point, we were these young kids, aged nineteen, twenty, and twenty-one, and we were thinking we don’t know how to handle this. That was such a rollercoaster ride.  And I can vividly remember saying, “What next?” We started out on the Essence Awards, The Grammy’s, MTV, on the cover of Vibe. It just kept coming. What else do you do? At that point, I remember thinking, “What next?” And then things began to go sour. I think at that point, my mindset was that I couldn’t keep on the same page if there is not going to be any resolution.  I’d have to withdraw myself and move on to the next thing. But what remained was to love one another, as did all the members of Levi, and the original members of God’s Property - all twelve; every last one of them.

My ulterior motive, at this stage, is to be a tangible example of reconciliation to the body. We can disagree, but can they say, we truly still love each other. People talk about the sound of our group, the sound of our voices, and we realize that there is some amount of predestination about us being together for this time and at this point, we know that supersedes any disagreement we may have had in the past.

CH: A keen listener and observer would detect something familiar in Myron Butler & Levi’s sound that is reminiscent of God’s Property. How much of your talent and skills once invested in those groups has now found a voice and spirit in Levi?

MB: I invested everything, I mean, myself along with Mrs. Linda Searight, her son Robert Searight. I was more of the vocal guy and he was the music. At that point, we were the team. Now he’s the musical director for Levi. The word ‘Levi’ really means ‘attached to’ and I realized that we are attached to each other. It is so much more of a cohesive thing.  People ask, “How do you come up with this?” I really can’t explain it. It’s just what comes out when we get together.

I think there were about maybe fifty members of God’s Property - not who traveled - but were part of the group. So you have maybe fifty different ways. This answers the question, “How do you deal with it?” There were about fifty different ways of how we dealt with it. Some were introverts, some got angry, and some just tried to keep the ball rolling. I was one who tried to keep the ball rolling.

I think some are still dealing with it. There are times when I called the group together and said, “Let’s talk about it”, and, “How did this affect you?” Some would say that, “It made me mistrust people to a certain degree.” Some people said “It kind of made me put up walls and let people in.” Can I be completely transparent?  We (God’s Property) invested everything.  When the record first came out back in ‘97, we did a promotional tour, just the traveling members on the tour.  It got better over time but in the beginning, we were on a promotional tour getting $127 a week but we loved to do it so the excitement or the zeal was what sustained us.

So it really taught me to keep things in their proper perspective, to have a sober outlook on everything, to be honest and realistic and to really look at things for what they are. I think sometimes we can look at things for what they are; for example: we see a bronze object in front of me, but want to fool ourselves into thinking it’s blue. We didn’t look at it and say what it really was.

CH: After going through an experience like that, which is a growing experience and now going through this blessed seasons in your career with Levi, it’s so easy to become preoccupied with the profession, as opposed to the ministry. How do you maintain balance and perspective so that you don’t become too focused and pre-occupied with income and the business and bookings and all of that?

MB: Kirk (Franklin) taught me to wear this industry lightly. Don’t wear it too close like a jacket. I think a lot of people have it on and the conversation always tends to be about the industry. The conversation is always about music, and about being on the next “this” and “How can I get this?” It’s something that takes a lot of work and it will consume you if you let it.

I think it pays to know your limits, knowing that you have to attend this amount of marketing meetings, generate these dollars and cents, whatever comes along with it. But also knowing that the reason you’re able to do what you do is because of the spiritual connection that you have with God, and if you forsake that for this, I mean that’s a car without gas. I guess that’s what I pray about.

I pray that God sees me trying to use all the previous lessons that I learned, that He sees me implementing it and empowering some of the members of Levi, who have aspirations, that He sees me not being so consumed with the ministry that would cause me to forsake my family, or being so consumed with the industry that they never see me lead them in Bible study. That’s what it’s all about.  It’s a battle.  There’s a time to sit down and discuss paperwork and legal things, but there’s also a time to break away and pray and fast.

It’s also the best time to go and invest time in your family because that is what’s going to be there when all the records stop, when nobody wants to hear you sing anymore. My daughter, my son, and my wife are going to be there, so I won’t forsake them for something that might be for a season. Kirk has been the leader, big brother, father figure to me. He’ll do this and show the wounds and the mistakes and say, “Hey, I messed up right here. Don’t do that.” I think there’s not enough of that. So that’s how I find balance. It’s a day-to-day walk.

CH: Kirk Franklin, God’s Property and Myron Butler & Levi have all brought a very contemporary, urban sound that’s characterized Dallas for the last decade. Is there a certain style or sound to the area, or, is that overstating it? Chicago and Detroit have each made a name for their city through the artists.  Is there something distinctive about Dallas or Texas in general?

MB: I think its Texas, between Dallas and Houston, there is a particular kind of edge to the music. Whereas, when I think of Detroit, I think of Thomas Whitfield, The Clark Sisters, The Winans, that harmonic kind of thing. When I think of Chicago, I think of the jazz influence.

But here in Texas, it really is more funk-infused. A lot of the musicians down here are into funkadelic sounds. They’re from the funk era and that comes across in the music. It’s in your face and kind of gritty. I would say there is a particular Texas sound. Not just Dallas but Texas, on a whole.

CH: And now, as the spotlight focuses in on Levi, how would you like to characterize the sound style and the ministry of Myron Butler & Levi?

MB: I would say the sound is, “Wow”, I never thought of any adjectives to use to describe the sound. It is just a distinctive sound. I’m not really sure what the words are to describe it. My focus is that the ministry be relevant, and that the ministry be something real. We talk about issues that people are dealing with, and not just about cliché issues, but to talk about something that is really going to help people deal with everything from child abuse to whatever people are dealing with.

That’s why I want the ministry to really be something that people can walk away with and say, “I have another way to look at the problem that I’m dealing with”, or maybe, “I’ll try to do things by the way they said, when they exposed their wounds and experiences. I could learn from that.” That’s how I want the ministry to be because I think the Word ministry is defined as to do something or to administer help to someone. I mean good music is cool, but good music is, in and of itself, so short of what we’ve been called to do. I want the ministry of my group to administer help and healing to God’s people.

CH: What is the next destination for you as a ministry as you continue to build it and introduce it to the world?

MB: I think the next thing would be to start the next record in October (2007). A minister friend of mine introduced me to the three dimensions: Earth-to-Earth - in which we talk about our problems, Earth-to-Heaven, and Heaven-to-Earth - which is the final dimension. I think that is the mission that I want the music that I compose for Myron Butler & Levi is for music to be Heaven speaking to earth.

And so at this point, as I get ready to embark on that record, I find myself pulling away and asking God, “What are You saying?”, “What are You saying to the people?”, “What do You want?”, “What is Heaven saying to earth through Myron Butler & Levi on this record?” I believe that is where I am. In the immediate future, there will be more touring and things of that nature.

It is just a continuance of what we have started. People even ask me for a date release on the next God’s Property record.  If I had a dollar for every time I got that question. So I really want it to be continual and ever evolving, to never get stagnant but always relevant.

To contact Myron Butler for questions, comments, general feedback, visit his MySpace.com page at www.myspace.com/myronbutlerandlevi.  You can email Myron Butler at myronandlevi@mac.com or call 972-274-5800.    

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