B2B - S3E6 : Music from Jodie Leslie interview with Daniel Richter

This week on Back2Back Radio, we're bringing you a powerful mix of inspiring music and meaningful conversation!

First, enjoy the uplifting pop rock sounds of Canadian Christian artist Jodie Leslie, whose heartfelt music is touching lives with messages of faith, hope, and perseverance.

Then, host Dale Boreland sits down with Daniel Richter—a multi-talented contemporary Christian pop artist, songwriter and worship leader. Daniel shares his journey from main stream to Christian music, the heart behind his worship music, and how God continues to use his gifts to impact audiences across Canada and beyond.

Whether you're looking for encouraging music, artist insights, or inspiration for your own faith journey, this episode has something for you.

Featured Artist: Jodie Leslie
Featured Interview: Daniel Richter

Tune in, be encouraged, and discover more great Christian music on Back2Back Radio!

Transcript

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Welcome to Back to Back, your gateway to Canadian Christian music. On each broadcast, we listen to great music and interview the people shaping the future of Canadian Christian music today. Please welcome our host, Dale Borland. Hey Dale Borland here. Welcome to Back to Back Radio. On today's program, we've got a great interview from Daniel Richter. But first, we're starting the show off with Jody Leslie with One Night, right here on Back to Back Radio. You wanna get kicked in my head. You wanna slide under my skin, and you just keep, keep, keep on digging. With your sweet, sly eyes, fancy compromise, and I don't know, I don't think I can stomach your lights.com. You can also check her out on YouTube. That's right at Jodi Leslie. Back to back radio is brought to you in part by GMI Hub. To find out more, go to gmyhub.ca. She space, she takes time. The smile on her face is genuine. Please tell everyone when you put the gun. Singers and songwriters, if you are looking to get your music on back to back radio, then you need to get connected with the gospel music industry hub. With feedback, you will find out if your music is radio ready. So connect with the GMI Hub today at gmihub.ca. Welcome Daniel Richter to Back to Back Radio. Thank you for having me. Oh, this is great. I'm so glad to have you. I've been looking at some of your music and looking at uh your style. I think it's incredible worship music that you've been writing. Um let's talk a bit about your background, how you started doing music, where that came from in your life. Yeah, I mean, music has always been a part of my life. I mean, I'm gonna say I'll start all the way back when I was a kid. I mean, I started taking classical piano music lessons when I was six years old. Um, you know, all of my siblings, which are five, um, we all played we were all classically trained, piano, violin, guitar, drums. Everybody plays something. That's amazing that you do so much. That's awesome. Yeah, so it's um no, like I don't play all those instruments. I meant all my siblings like in between all of us. Oh, I thought you well, your piano playing is quite good. So I think piano playing, I also play the sacks. Yeah, I'll do the sacks. Of course. I also play the sack. Well, I haven't played it in a really long time. It was more so like a high school and a university thing. Yeah, but but I only sing and write and play piano. You're pretty talented. No, thank you. I've been I've been doing it all my life, and like I said, I mean I have a bachelor uh degree in music from the University of Toronto. Um That's amazing. And um I mean after I graduated, like I was always playing on you know singing at church and playing at church growing up and stuff, but um I decided to kind of take it seriously by forming a band um back in like I mean 2009 when I graduated in 2008. Actually 2008, yeah, when I graduated university. My brother and I and a couple of his friends, we formed a band and we just were serious about it. We were like, you know what, we wanna make it, we will do whatever it takes. So we bought like this 1970s house trailer and we loved it across the states. We went south. Um it was wintertime and we're Canadian. You know, you gotta go somewhere somewhere hot. So we landed in Florida um for a long time, and we just played the beach town anywhere we could play. And we met an investor down there, and he paid our way across the country. We landed in Los Angeles, and that's where we made our first studio album. You know, you meet a lot of people on the way, right? So we met like some pretty good hitmakers and producers and stuff. Fast forward, we wrote a song called The World of Ours, and we released it in 2013. It went gold here in Canada. It was a pretty big single here in Canada, and that gained us uh recognition, and the labels started knocking on our doors, and we signed a major label, a major record deal with uh Warner Music Canada. The band was doing it for like I think it was released like seven years before we got signed. We were with them for like three years, and at the end of the contract, they were kind of grooming me to the uh and uh I think they were gonna be offering me a deal. Um we started writing music together with the ARs and instead of writing writing with different writers. You know, I started praying about it and like what do I do? Like I don't need a huge decision. Um and at the time you know, I've always loved Jesus, but at that time and moment in my life um I was really struggling, like drugs and alcohol, sexual sin. You know, I still prayed, like God, like what do I do? Show me what to do. And there was just something inside of me, even though everything in me wanted a solo deal, too. Like, yeah, I want to keep going here. You know, I've I've had the success with the band I've tasted the success and the selfish chasing the world that type of success. And I, you know, I I wanted to keep going, but you know, the Holy Spirit deep down inside of me was just like you cannot hate this. I ended up saying all of that. You know, the band wrote a few more songs and then I chilled out, and then um I just wanted to keep going because I loved writing music and stuff, so I put up some solo stuff under the pseudo name Baldi, which is my middle name, and I did that for like maybe three, four years. And then I started leading worship actually. God uh got a hold of me in an incredible way, and I started leading worship a few years ago at my church, uh, Liberty Pentecostal church, and fast forward a couple years later, which was only up till last year, I started making Christian music and I made that switch, and I just decided, you know what, I gotta be obedient to God's calling on my life and just use my gifts, my my writing and and my calendar for for him and write about Jesus. And really, I made the switch. There's kind of like a little story there to it, because I was just about to release some great songs that actually I've rewritten into Christian songs, and I'm gonna release them. But anyways, it was those songs were all done, and I was just about to release them. And I was like, God, like, what do I do here? Like, I feel like I'm at a crossroads and I feel like you're calling me into something different, and I prayed about it. And you know when you pray those prayers, like, God I need an answer right now? He definitely gave me an answer because the next day my um investor and my manager called me and they're like, you know what, Daniel, I don't think you know you want to put the budget into this next project. I'm just like, okay, I can't put this music out. Okay, God, I'm listening to you, and from there the rest of history. Just the past year I've released three Christian songs. I mean, like the science was number two on Can Con for a few weeks, and then God is number six, and so God's just blessing my obedience, and I just want to be used by him in my music. I I think it's incredible how God brings us to the place where we are through all we've been through. You you you were writing, you were you were in that machine and you were growing as an artist. So uh all that stuff, maybe it came about in the time of your life that was all messed up and off track, but you still have now that brought into the present person today with all this God using that, and I think that's phenomenal. Yeah, I mean God uses us like you know, his word says 2 Corinthians, like in our weaknesses, like he makes us strong, like he uses our weaknesses, like that's like one of his favorite things I like to do. Like we are weak. It's really incredible. Yeah, I I'm just really excited about the song Dear God that's been getting some uh good traction lately. And so um let's talk a bit about the origin story and tell us a bit about it. Sure. Well, I mean this song um is kind of written in a way that I've never written a song before because each um each chorus has different lyrics, actually. So each chorus kind of takes you through um you know different stages of one's belief. So like the first chorus is another perspective of someone who doesn't even believe in God and they're kind of like God through it. Um and then by the second chorus they have felt God in some way, so they had like an encounter, and then by the third chorus they're just proclaiming like dear God, I I know you're real and stuff. So it's really like uh like a progression of somebody who doesn't believe in it progresses into like they are believing. Like yeah, a little bit of like a uh a walk, like their walk, right? It's just a prayer, really. It sounds like a story writing can I I mean it I mean it's almost like it's almost like my life. Like it is personal, except for the fact that um I always believed in God. So that's like the only thing that's that's different. And I I started it starts off that way because I actually started writing it in 2017 when Warner was um having writer sessions with Warner music. And it's crazy, it actually started back then, and we were writing it, and it was gonna stay in that realm of like just talking about you know, is God real type of thing? It was just gonna be like that the whole song. And back then I was like, okay, God, like hey, I'm talking about you, you know? This is cool. I'm a Christian, I can I can be used in this industry, but um got a different plan. It turned into a different song. Never thought I'd walk into church. Falling on my knees cause it hurts. I'm sorry, but it's been way too long. I just need to tell you what's wrong. I just saw the news, can't believe you refuse to come down and help me De Guy If you can hear this, then prove it, just do it. We all need to know Are you even out there? Yes, somewhere in thin air. I'm waiting to hear Oh no, but don't wait a sound Remember when my friends used to say that you will make believe you would fake And now I wanna give you my soul My future is in Christ alone you didn't hear me, you told me, you killed me, I hear you don't tell me how God I know you can hear it, you're with me, you're in me now I can look back to the stairs, you fade it, you fade it for me to see the foul send the use. Never thought I'd walk in the church. For the nominees cause it. You are listening to back-to-back radio. Let's talk about another great song. Uh this is probably more current, uh more recent, sorry. Jesus be the center. Yeah, Jesus be the center is just simply a worship song asking Jesus to be the center of my life. Um the verses talk about asking Jesus to calm and calm storms in your life and the hardships that you go on through and we're talking about. I've been a Christian all my life and I just I feel like I'm I'm born again like you know for the second time it's it's crazy. Uh God just wants to be the center of it all. I am calling on the name of Jesus in this place to rise above the waves, so rise above the waves. I am calling on the mighty name of Jesus to come the storm I'm in, so come the storm within Jesus be the center of all things in my life Jesus be the center Jesus my protector Jesus is the savior of all things in my life Jesus be the center Jesus be the center I am calling on the Holy Spirit in this place to set the captive free So set the captive free I am calling on the mighty Spirit of God to break a hold on me So man all my disease Jesus be the center of all things in my life Jesus be the center Jesus my center Jesus Jesus the steaker of all things in my life Jesus be the center Jesus be the center Jesus be the center of my life I give you everything everything alone you're writing for me you're fighting for me the light of the world behold the name of Jesus you're riding for me you're fighting for me the light of the world behold the Lord of all you're riding for me you're fighting for me the light of the world behold the bell of God don't fight it for me don't fight it for me to speak the speed of step I am calling on the name of Jesus in this place to rise above the ways to rise above the ways I want to thank you for your time with us I think this has been a great conversation we're gonna get some of this music out and everyone's gonna enjoy it and how can we follow you how can how can we be tracked with you my music is on everywhere like it's everywhere where you dream social media social media I appreciate your time really pleasant to have you with me and there you have it a great time with Daniel Richard with great music and we hope you enjoyed the program join us next time on back to back radio we got great music and an interview that you won't want to miss. Remember Back to Back Radio Canada is on Facebook. You can drop me a message there I'd love to hear from you what do you like about the show what would you like to hear on the program it would be great to connect with you remember that back to back radio is brought to you in part by GMI Hub to find out more about GMI Hub go to GMIHub dotca join me again next time on Back to Back Radio Canada