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THE CHART-TOPPING CHRISTIAN ARTIST AND HIS BAND DIVERSE CITY PLAY PATRIOT CENTER SATURDAY NIGHT

November 19, 2009 12:36 am

BY DAVE SMALLEY

HE HAS BEEN named "one of the 50 most influential evangelical leaders in America" by Christianity Today, but it's not likely he'll ever be compared to the Rev. Billy Graham. He's won Grammy Awards and has gold records on the wall, but it would be surprising to see him at a party with Madonna or Kanye.

So who is Toby Mac, exactly? As one of his songs, "I'm for You," puts it, he's whoever God wants him to be:

"Whatever I gotta be--I'll be for you."

And this Virginia boy (he went to high school in Fairfax and grammar school in Annandale) is quick to credit others for his multifaceted success. God gets the Big Picture credit, of course, including being surrounded with good people to keep him grounded amid the hoopla of hip-hop/rock stardom.

"That blended life of touring, and recording and leading a band, and having a family," he told Weekender, "it's interesting. But I have some amazing people around me and I have to credit them, greatly. And they are all people that help me along the way--help me to keep my head straight and, hopefully, my heart straight, as much as possible."

Mac, who comes to the Patriot Center on Saturday, admits that life in general, and the music life in particular, are fraught with temptations. In "Lose My Soul," a song where the honesty verges on painful, he talks about the struggles of being a good husband and father--and adds: "I pray that I'm an artist who rises above/ the road that is wide and filled with self love / I don't want to gain the whole world and lose my soul."

"I think that, again, it's who you put around you--who God puts around you--who you get to walk through life with," he said on keeping one's faith front and center. "It's not even a question for my friends. Those temptations are not even relevant. They don't even enter our sphere, or our conversation. It's not really an option. I think if you have a different set of people around you--if you're not blessed to have God's word as a mirror in your life every day--yeah, it would be easy" to get derailed.

So he's grounded, and that's good--because his newest single is already getting heavy radio play, and deservedly so. It's called "City on Our Knees" and is a mid-tempo quasi-ballad, far different from the blistering hip-hop and funk rock combo he has patented and made his own.

In fact, "City" once again proves Mac is a unique artist, not afraid to take musical chances.

"That song was written very quickly," Mac said, "which is not the case normally--I take a lot of time on my songs. So sometimes when you write a song quickly--for me, a guy that is relying on God for music--I just sort of take that as confirmation. When I'm a really slow writer, and that one comes quickly, it's like, 'All right, God, I get it.'

"It felt just different enough to be a first single, but still felt like me. And I thought that, sort of from the stirring inside of me, it felt like what I've always been about, but I've never quite said it that way--and that is, people coming together. We are more beautiful together than separated and torn apart. And I think that that song sort of sums that up."

In fact, if one was looking for a single theme that sums up the kaleidoscope that is Toby Mac, it would be unity. Mac speaks earnestly and often of his belief that people can and should unite, under God's watchful eye.

"We are one choice from together," he said.

His band, cleverly called Diverse City, and his very life are proof of Mac's conviction that people should come together. A collage of skin colors, economic backgrounds and musical expertise on stage, in the studio and in his personal world bring so much to the mix that it emerges as something unique and inspiring.

"My family's a blended family," he said. "Jamaican wife, two adopted children that are biracial [he has five children altogether], to my band Diverse City--the name equals what it is--from raised rich to people raised poor, people black and white, people from Haiti, people from the Philippines.

"I'm not beating anybody over the head with it, I'm not telling them, 'You should do this, you should do that'--but I want this sort of aura to go out. It really is just a love for God and a love for people. I want that to go out, you know? I want my music to not beat people over the head with that, but for that to be something people are drawn to because it's beautiful."

In like manner, families can go see a Toby Mac concert together and have a great time, together--a complete turning around of the more common, and depressing, rock experience whereby kids leave their families behind and make music an exclusionary thing.

Mac is having none of that.

"When I went to Jamaica, I went to a few parties when I met my wife. And it was so different because it would be parents and kids at these same parties together. And it kind of tripped me out. But then I started investigating more and more, and it really is sort of a more European thing, where it's not such a separate thing--they're enjoying each other.

"It definitely made me realize that you can go out with your family and have a good time--you don't have to walk away from them to have a good time; you can have a good time together."

Warning to parents, though: A Toby Mac and Diverse City concert is still a hip-hop, rock and funk concert--it's loud, raucous and decidedly not a Sunday morning worship service. Still, it's something guaranteed to stimulate the heart, mind and spirit, and that's the Mac point.

"If I write about things that are real to me, things going on in my life, I find that the people connect with it," he said. "So that's what I kind of stick to; that's my rule, right there: Write about what's real, and people will connect with your music. And when people connect with my music, ultimately when they uncover everything, they'll find out all these things lead me to one thing: God's in the center of my life. That's where I want him."

Dave Smalley: 540/374-5430
Email: dsmalley@freelancestar.com