Natasha Owens: Put Back Together by God

Natasha Owens released her debut album, I Made It Through, in May 2013. The songs on the album helped her begin healing from the heartache and pain she experienced in the aftermath of her father’s sudden passing. Her sophomore album, We Will Rise, in 2015 garnered her coverage on FOX News, XM Radio, and CNN, along with a Best Contemporary Album of the Year NewReleaseToday.com WE LOVE Christian Music Award. After a near-death experience following an arteriogram procedure where one of her arteries was punctured, Owens released her third and most recent album, Warrior, in 2019.

I recently had the opportunity to catch up with Natasha over the phone. In our conversation, we discussed her music, her internal struggles ranging from her Dad’s death to a car accident that she’s still feeling the effects of seventeen years later, her Warrior events, and her relationship with Christ and how He picked her up and put her back together. I hope you enjoy!

John Farrell: How are you doing today?

Natasha Owens: Today is a good day. Every day’s a good day, but busy. We’re about to leave tomorrow to go out on the road.

JF: Where are you going?

Natasha: We’ve got some Warrior events in the Carolinas. We’ll be flying into Charlotte tomorrow. We’ve got some shows in North Carolina and then some in South Carolina.

JF: Since you mentioned the Warrior events, we’ll start there. What are the Warrior events and what can attendees expect?

Natasha: They are women’s events to help give strength to and empower women. We know in most cases women are the glue that holds the family together and if they are strong the family unit as a whole is stronger.

It’s a day that women can come and bring their teenage daughters, their moms, and everyone leaves with something. We have speakers, stage artists, shopping, and vendors. We’ve been doing these women’s conferences across the country and are getting a really good response. There’s a lot of hurt out there.

JF: Who usually speaks, performs, or presents at these events?

Natasha: It’s more speakers. On the smaller days like Thursday and Friday nights, we’ll have two speakers, intermission, praise, and worship. Normally, I do praise and worship. I’m one of the speakers. Then we’ll have another speaker give their testimony or talk about a topic that is on their heart.

The Saturday events are nine to three. We’ll have four speakers, lunch, shopping, and vendors. It’s a well-rounded day. Sometimes we’ll add a comedian into the mix, but everybody that gets up there and speaks is discussing something different.

I tell my testimony from where I’ve come from and why I’m doing what I’m doing. I sing some of my songs in between me speaking because my songs go along with my story. My dad was cleaning his guns almost ten years ago and there was a bullet in the chamber. The gun went off and hit him in the heart. I down-spiraled and didn’t deal with my grief. I questioned God and I went into depression.

I was asked to be Music Minister six months into my depression. I was already going down a suicide road and God crossed my path at the perfect time and pulled me out.

It doesn’t matter if someone’s going through something that is faith-shaking or not, they all go through the same stages of grief – the shock, the acceptance, the denial, the anger. All those stages. My message is a universal message or I have found that it has turned into a universal message to help anyone who’s going through anything that’s faith-shaking.

JF: Is this the accident you refer to on your website?

Natasha: No. My dad was killed nine-and-a-half years ago. Seventeen years ago, our oldest son was six months old and we were at a red light when a drunk driver hit us from behind.

I was damaged then. There were all these years of different symptoms coming up and no one could figure out what was wrong with me. Then three years ago, they found out that I had something called Thoracic Outlet Syndrome from the wreck. I had to have a rib removed and some muscle removed. The actual surgery was seventeen months ago.

JF: In March 2019, you released your third full-length album, Warrior. How did making the album help you cope with all the adversity?

Natasha: God is so amazing that He’s in the details of everything. No matter how small it is. I didn’t plan to sing professionally or even go this route. I struggle with anxiety and stage anxiety.

When I look back on all three projects, all three are a different chapter in my recovery. The first album is making it through something like the end of a trial. Then God started telling me that making it through is not the true message, but rising above is.

The second album is a different concept of recovery where you actually take your testimony and help someone else, which is different than making it through. It takes more effort.

I didn’t have clear direction when we went into the studio for Warrior and it bothered me because I’ve always had clear direction beforehand. I went in and said, ‘Let’s just make a worship CD because I don’t really know what to do.’ After the first day we wrote five songs. The second day four more songs. The album was completely done in less than two days. Every single song has a theme of strength and overcoming.

My husband said, ‘You didn’t think God was in the details — He didn’t give you clear direction? But every single song is like your third chapter of your recovery. You now feel like you are a warrior; you feel like your scars are healed. You’re in a place you can show other people your scars and help them get through as well.’

I look at it like we go through things in life and just when we think we’ve learned everything God shows you an entire new path to follow. These songs help me. They’re my heart. They’re what I struggle with on a daily basis. I pray when people hear it they feel that.

JF: How has Warrior been received by both your fans and the radio stations? And have you heard from fans about the album’s message?

Natasha: Yes, I have. It’s been amazing. The feedback you get even from people who have heard my testimony over and over. I had a woman tell me a couple weeks ago, ‘I’ve heard your testimony three times already because I followed you around to different places.’ She said, ‘Today, it touched me in an entirely new way. You may have said the same exact words, but I’m in a different place in my life and it was exactly what I needed to hear and God used you to penetrate through my heart.’

We’ve heard some unbelievable stories along the way. It’s like when you open up the Bible and it’s the Living Word. I believe God breathed into that Bible. You can read the same verse over and over and get something different every single day because God is talking and working through that.

It’s the same when it comes to concerts or women’s events or whatever. Sometimes I’ll say something that I’ve never said before and come to find out that it was for someone in particular because they came up and told me. God uses you and works through you. He breathes through you to let people know exactly what they need to hear at the right time.

Warrior has been received very well. The title tracks to the first two albums, I Made It Through and We Will Rise, are anthem songs and they’re easy to sing and songs that people really get behind, but I’ve never seen a movement like I have with ‘Warrior.’ People go through things and they feel weak and they don’t feel like they’re warriors.

I talk to the audience before I sing this song and say, ‘You may not feel that you are strong enough, but God goes before us and fights our battles and He’s with us; therefore, you are strong enough to get up. You may be scared of the battle, but you have to pick up your sword and shield and fight for the things you believe in. You have to fight for your life. You have to fight for your family.’

It just resonates with them. Between saying certain words and singing the song it makes them feel stronger. By the middle of the song, they’re singing and chanting it with me. I feel something very special with it.

JF: As a result of some of the things you’ve experienced you wrote the album’s final song, ‘Surrender.’ How did writing this song in particular help you deal with what was going on in your life at the time?

Natasha: I had a very difficult surgery. Very difficult. I’ve had injuries in the past and so forth because I’m ninety miles per hour and a little bit klutzy, so I’m always hurting myself to some degree.

Normally you get surgery and every day you see a difference where you’re progressing and getting a little better. I had hurt for so long and been under this pain for so long. Then I had the surgery and had it in my head that I was going to be better quick. That was not the case. In fact, seventeen months later,  I’m still in recovery from that surgery.

I had day after day where I wouldn’t make any progress and I hurt so bad that hot water was the only thing that would calm that nerve down, even more than pain meds. So, every hour I was in the bathtub up to my neck trying to get this pain to go away because I couldn’t live with it.

That song was written at three a.m. one night. I felt I was at my breaking point. I didn’t feel strong. I felt like God had abandoned me to some degree. I felt all alone. I started balling and said, ‘God, you’ve got help me. I have done everything I know to do that is humanly possible. This is beyond me and there’s nothing more that I can do.’

God started speaking to me. I had my phone by the bathtub so I picked it up and just started typing. I didn’t even see what I was typing because I was crying so hard. That turned into this beautiful song called, ‘Surrender.’

I think we all get to a place in our life, somehow or another, to where it’s beyond us and it’s more than we can bear. The scripture says we shouldn’t be bearing it, we should give it to Him. But sometimes that’s very hard to do with people like me because I’m a control freak. I like to prevent problems and try to have it all under control. I didn’t know what else to do other than be completely vulnerable and humble before God.

It’s not an anthem song. I don’t consider ‘Surrender’ an anthem song on my album, but it has a special place in my heart because I got a lot of healing that night through Him speaking to me. It gave me enough strength to keep going.

JF: As with the other albums, is the title track, ‘Warrior,’ this album’s anthem song?

Natasha: ‘Warrior’ is the anthem for that entire project. For each one of my projects, the title track is the center core and everything else around it points back to that anthem song. That’s why we made it the title track, because I felt it was the core to every message on that album.

JF: Of the ten songs on Warrior, which is your favorite?

Natasha: As a songwriter and an artist I have different songs that are favorites for different reasons. I love ‘Warrior’ because it really depicts exactly where I’m at right now in my recovery. It gives people strength, but I love songs like ‘Escape’ because it’s the whole trust of God’s love that you can never run too far or never disappoint him too much. He’ll never stop loving you and He’ll pursue you.

Songs like ‘Just Love’ are messages for today because nobody can get along with anybody, but we are called to just love and nothing else. We’re not called to judge. We’re called to leave that to God. We just need to love people and if this world had more love we wouldn’t be in the shape we are today.

Then I got worship songs like ‘Rock of Our Salvation.’ I’ve got a fun song called ‘Best Days’ because I feel like these are the best days of my life. I’m different than I was a long time ago. God has made me into something different. I have finally overcome and feel stronger than I ever have. I could tell you each song is my favorite for a different reason.

JF: What is the normal songwriting process like for you?

Natasha: I have experienced every type of songwriting out there I think. I didn’t write any song on the first album. I didn’t feel like or know I could be a songwriter. I just knew it had to be a recovery album for helping broken people. I picked songs that ministered to me and that was what the first album was.

Then my husband, who can’t sing or play, said he wanted to be a part of my ministry. Even though he was an anchor for me, he wanted to be a part of it. So he kept praying. For six months, he was unhappy with his station in my ministry. He wanted to make a difference. So he kept praying and praying that God would reveal what his part was.

He came to me one night and said, ‘I’ve had the same dream for four nights and it plays out like a music video and I don’t know what it means.’ He started telling me and I said, ‘That’s exactly how I felt in the midst of my depression and recovery. Write that down. Every detail. It’s a song.’

We got the head of my band together and after we prayed, he started playing a tune and wrote the first song for the We Will Rise CD. That’s how that came about. Then we met with a producer with some songs that we had written and the producer makes them better.

God’s always speaking to me and I’m constantly writing things down in my notes and on my phone. It could be words, different lines, what my pastor says on a Sunday morning, or something I hear on the radio or some inspirational thing I hear somebody say. I’m constantly writing them down.

We took all of the notes I had and went into the studio for Warrior, which was different from We Will Rise because I’m very analytical—we own our own businesses, I’m very CEO-minded, not a typical musician—and I came in with an org chart. We Will Rise was in the middle and everything else was around it just like an org chart, which Ed Cash, the album’s producer, found humorous.

I didn’t bring the org chart for Warrior, but I brought all my notes and said, ‘I don’t have inspiration, but I have all these notes.’ So, we started going through them and one thing led to another between my husband, me, and my producer for this album. Within ten minutes we had written a song.

I’m more of a big idea person. I know what direction I want to go from first verse to chorus to second verse, but sometimes I need a little bit of help in the trenches with the actual word rhyme so a producer would help me get a sentence just right.

My husband has put all kinds of inspiration into it and I’m thankful he is now a part of the ministry because he is a part of those words that go down into a song that people will hear. I’ve done it different ways. Every time it blows my mind because it’s not the way we did it before. As long as God meets us there and breathes into those words, I don’t care how we write the song.

JF: Tell me about your Christmas single, ‘A Christmas Twist,’ that dropped on November 8.

Natasha: This is a very fun song. Si Cranstoun, who was discovered in a subway in London a few years ago, put out an album in 2016. My husband was watching something on TV when Si came on. My husband loved the song so he downloaded it and every Christmas for the past few years he plays this song over and over. It’s just so fun.

Christmas with my family is the best time of year and my dad always made it over the top. We do very fun things and we love listening to songs that are so upbeat that they make you want to move. That’s one of the reasons I gravitated toward this song.

We decided almost at the last minute because I wanted to do a Christmas EP, but I haven’t had time this year. I said, ‘You know, I’d love to do a Christmas song, especially since we have a tour coming up.’ My husband Dave said, ‘I know what song you need to record.’ He started playing it and I said, ‘Yeah, I can’t think of any other song I’d rather record.’

Of course, once we got into the studio I regretted it a little bit because it’s so wordy and so fast that it took me a little practice to really get it down. But, I’m so proud of it because it gave it a different sound than Si’s version because having a female vocal on it changes it a little bit. We put a stand up bass in it and did several layers and different things that make it fun. I was excited for people to hear it.

JF: You mentioned that you’re going on tour in the near future. Tell me a little bit about the tour and what fans can expect?

Natasha: It is a very different tour. Different than anything I’ve ever done. If anybody’s ever heard of Jonathan Cain. You may not know his name, but you know his songs.

JF: Yes, with Journey.

Natasha: He’s written “Faithfully,” “Don’t Stop Believin’,” and all that. He’s married to Paula White. He gave his life to God several years ago and finds so much meaning in singing in the Christian genre. He’s the headliner for the tour. Stars Go Dim is also going to be on it and then I’m going to be on it as well. It’s going to be a variety. I’m very hopeful that people are going to really enjoy it.

JF: When and how did you start singing?

Natasha: I come from a musical family. I’ve sang all my life, but always in the shadows in the choir or on the praise team. Never had I been out front. I didn’t want to do any solos or anything until I was asked to be Music Minister amidst that depression. Since I struggle with anxiety and talking in front of people it really freaked me out back then.

I didn’t think I had what it took to step forward a couple feet and actually be the minister and the head of the praise team and worship team. I had someone tell me something that really changed my perspective, ‘He never calls the equipped, but He will equip who He calls.’

I was told that I needed to rest in that and it’s helped with my anxiety. It’s something that I really didn’t want do as far as be out on the road and be out in front of people. God was in the details. Throughout my entire story, God is intertwined so much in it that it would blow your mind as to how my path was so illuminated.

I had resigned my Music Minister position and I prayed, ‘Is there more that I need to do? God guide me.’ The next morning a guy that we brought in from choir clinics to teach us new songs from Nashville texts me and says, ‘Have you ever thought about doing a CD?’ I said, ‘Wow! That’s my answer. I don’t know why we’re doing it, but we need to do it to the best of our ability.’

So, we created this CD and someone that works for us sent my music to a friend who sent it to a friend who sent it to another friend. This big manager out of New York called and said, ‘I’ve represented artists from Celine Dion to Jay-Z to all the ‘80s groups and Billy Joel and I don’t know if I can help you.’ I said, ‘Let’s just pray about it.’

He called me later on Father’s Day and he was balling. He said, ‘I haven’t thought about you in six weeks, but one of your songs started playing on my phone and I feel like God wants me to help you.’ I said, ‘That’s our answer.’

He calls back three weeks later and asks, ‘Do you want to open for Michael W. Smith?’ I said ‘no.’ He said, ‘Why not? This is what we’re working toward.’ I said, ‘I have anxiety. You’re talking about ten thousand people. I’ve never sang these songs live. I don’t have a band. I’m working myself into a panic attack.’ He replied, ‘Let’s just pray about it. It’s October 3^rd.’

All of the oxygen left the room and I said, ‘I’ll do it.’ He asked, ‘What changed your mind? Don’t you need to pray about it?’ I said, ‘October 3^rd is my Dad’s birthday. I feel like God knows I’m hesitant because of my anxiety. That’s a sign to me that He’s in it and I just need to prepare the best I can.’

God met me on that stage that night and that’s how my career started. God has given me little signs like that along the way that felt like I was going in the right direction and making the right decisions.

JF: That’s an awesome story. Do you play any instruments in addition to singing?

Natasha: I’m one of these kids and one of these adults that when someone forces me to do something I get a little stubborn about it. I took piano lessons as a kid and hated being forced to practice and whatever. I balked so much against my Mom that she finally just canceled them. I wish I had pursued them.

I don’t play an instrument, but I can hear by ear. When I was Music Minister, I had to teach parts, but I couldn’t play. So, I labeled a keyboard and I could hear the part, find it on the keyboard, and write that part out, and give it to the keyboard player. And this I how I would teach the songs every week. It took me hours to do it, but I can hear a song and go pick it out and start playing it. Just not enough to really play in front of people.

I’ve got a really sensitive ear and I’m thankful for that. I know that came from my family. My Grandmother taught herself how to play the organ and she started playing the piano at three years old. My sister did as well. I was more into athletics and tomboy stuff than sitting down to learn how to play piano. One of my sons has carried on that and he naturally hears and plays electric guitar.

JF: How would you describe your music or sound to someone who has never heard it before?

Natasha: Each album is a little different. They’re definitely contemporary Christian, but I’m an ‘80s kid, so they’re contemporary Christian with some ‘80s feel to them. Not so much the first album, but the second and third albums for sure.

This Warrior album you can hear ‘80s all through it in a modern way. The first album is more slow songs with heavy lyrics. I love heavy lyrics. I love hearing a line and it just stops me in my tracks. The second one is a combination of heavy lyrics and a little bit faster. Then the third one, Warrior, is mostly upbeat. Makes you want to move. It’s a very happy album.

I think if you put all my songs together there’s definitely something that will minister to anybody no matter what part of life they’re walking through. They all have a common theme. Someone asked me, ‘Did you realize that every title track to all three of your CDs have one word in common and it’s strong. The word is strong.’ I had no idea. That just tells me that God is in the details. It’s practical songs that give messages that help combat fear, anxiety, and feeling like you’re alone and unloved.

I love a saying by George Jones and to paraphrase it he said, ‘When you are going through something the lyrics minister to you, but when you are in a happy place you listen to the music and not the lyrics.’

With the Warrior CD, whether you’re in a happy place or in a dark place where you need ministering to every song is going to minister to those heartstrings.

JF: What is the message you want fans to take from your music?

Natasha: When you are dealing with faith-shaking things it’s a battle for your mind and if you can conquer what’s between your two ears then you’ve won the war. It’s the constant motivation of having to pour in positive to force out that negativity because we’re human and we get overwhelmed.

If you can calm your tongue, you’ve won the war because what you speak begins to be what you think. So if you speak anger you’re going to think anger and so forth.

My songs are intertwined with a common message among all of them. They’re motivation to keep going. They combat big-time fear because fear is something I battle with and still battle with. Every day I have to combat fear. When someone is in the trenches of warfare in their life, fear is the number one thing that grips them around the neck. The songs help give them words to speak against fear.

If there’s one common theme among my entire music, it’s the theme of love. How I overcame was God giving me inspiration on his true agape love. I come from a very strict religion—one that viewed things about works. I had acted so ugly in the midst of my recovery and was so angry that I felt like I couldn’t come back to God. God laid upon my heart to do a search of the different types of love and it was such a simple message that we as Christians don’t grasp hold of how simple it is. God’s love is so great that there’s nothing we can do to cause Him to love us any more or any less than He already does. We can’t disappoint Him nor can we buy His love with works. When we can really grasp a hold of how pure that love is we can live in freedom. So, every song has an underlying foundation of God’s love and how much He loves you.

JF: Which artists or musicians do you look up to?

Natasha: In the music industry, you’ve got industry people and you’ve got ministry people. I separate it very clearly like that because sometimes people are just out for the performance and about their personal gain. That’s the industry, the politics of it. But with true ministry you can see someone’s heart a mile away from stage when it’s really involved about ministry. Those are the people I want to travel with; those are the people I gravitate toward.

When I started out a mentor to me was Jason Crabb. He’s in the Southern Gospel industry. I traveled with him for a couple of years until I got more established in contemporary because he’s all about ministry. The Point of Grace girls are all about ministry. Now that I’ve stepped into contemporary music, artists like JJ Weeks. He lays it all out on that platform every single night. He’s probably one of my favorite people in contemporary Christian music because he has a very like-minded heart as me.

I traveled with a lot of people that I never want to travel with again because they didn’t have the heart for God and the heart to really help people and make a difference.

There’s a lot of people in the contemporary world that I love. The Seventh Time Down guys are friends of mine. The Rush of Fools guys a really good friends of mine. I probably should’ve made a list. There’s others that I’m friends with and would love to travel with again. Now I’m staying in my bubble doing these women’s conferences so I don’t get to travel with a lot of artists anymore, which is not fun sometimes. I love being with other people.

JF: What do you do outside of music that helps rejuvenate you?

Natasha: I love being on the water. There’s nothing like the serenity of nature and the calmness of a lake to re-center you. We have a boat; I don’t get to take it out as much as I like. I know sometimes that if I can just get to that water that it calms me. I have other hobbies. I love to snow ski and I’m a female so, of course, I love to shop. Love it. I love to cook. I love movies and things like that, but the lake is my number one thing. One of these days I’m going to have a house on a lake.

JF: What’s next for you?

Natasha: We secured booking agents for not only me but for the Warrior event. The Warrior event is going to be an umbrella for different types of events whether it’s a concert or a women’s conference. What we want to do is come into an area and tell a church all you have to do is open up your doors and let us use your facility to be an outreach in your community. We’ll bring everything in. We’ll organize everything for you. It’s something that churches need every single year but they sometimes don’t have time to do it.

We want that to morph from women’s conferences into men’s conferences and into youth events because churches need to offer conferences for these particular segments of their congregation. We see that it’s going to morph next year: we’re going to get the women’s conferences down first and then it’s going to branch out into different directions.

JF: How did you come to faith and what is your relationship with God like now?

Natasha: I was raised in a really strict religion. Everything was about works. Everything was about standards. My Dad branched away a little bit before we did, but before he died.

It should be about having a relationship with Christ, and not about doing works to make Him love you more. Once we saw this with our own two eyes — and I’m seventh generation this religion — it was very hard to branch away because my family didn’t approve of us leaving. I had a foundation in religion where I was raised with preachers and pastors all throughout my family, but the first time something faith-shaking happened I was not anchored directly to Christ. I was anchored to religion and it threw me for a loop.

Going through recovery — recovering depression, recovering how to live without my dad, and how to live and not feel guilty living freely outside of an organized religion and live more non-denominational — was hard for me. Not feeling guilty for living outside an organized religion was a whole recovery itself, but I’m so thankful that I had to go through that because my relationship with God is so different than it used to be. I view him very different than I used to. I have a closer and more personal relationship with Him and a proven track record that He was there and got me through it.

We should trust our Father. We should trust God, but sometimes we have to see it with our own eyes. But He showed up big time in my life and gave me a second chance. I wouldn’t be alive today if it wasn’t for Him.

I show everybody on a weekly basis on stage that I was the weak one and I was the human one that had all these real human emotions that weren’t necessarily right, but He was the strong one that got me through. I always think of the story of the potter and the pot where the pot was broken and the potter put the pot back together and it’s all cracked. It didn’t go back together the way it originally was; it was forever changed. There are cracks in it and there’s something so beautiful about that when you light it from the inside because that light illuminates through those cracks. People are able to see the light you have on the inside. I feel like a cracked pot where God has put me back together. Some people may think that’s not as beautiful of a version, but it is more beautiful because they see the light illuminating from me. I’m different and I’m better and I thank God for that.

JF: Do you have a favorite verse in the verse?

Natasha: My motto verse is Deuteronomy 31:6: ‘He will never leave you or forsake you.’ I’ve quoted this a million times in my recovery. There are many similar verses in the Bible, but that’s just the first one I found that said that.

I saw a thing a couple months ago that said there are exactly 365 verses in the Bible that talk about how God will never leave you or forsake you. I thought, ‘God is so much in the details. If that is true, I am going to prove it.’

If it’s true, that’s a different verse for every day of the year. He knew that people like me needed to have a reminder every single day that he hasn’t left me. That’s the verse that I have on product and I sign every concert. That’s my verse.

JF: Where can people find your music and learn more about you?

Natasha: NatashaOwensMusic.com is the foundation platform that will take you to every aspect from YouTube to find my music and my ministry. That’s the central hub.

JF: Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Natasha: I just want readers or listeners to understand that it doesn’t matter how much they’ve messed up; it doesn’t matter what they’ve done, that God doesn’t look at them any different. He may be disappointed at times, but he loves us so much. He just picks up where we’ve left off and we have a choice to give our broken pieces to Him. He gives us the power of choice. You’ve just got to find enough strength to give Him those pieces and He’ll put you back together. So don’t give up.

JF: Amen! Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to talk with me.

Learn more about Natasha Owens at NatashaOwensMusic.com