The Christophers: Life Needs Sunny and Rainy Days

Tony Rossi

Director of Communications

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“Nothing ever grows where the sun always shines.” Legendary country music singer/songwriter Bill Anderson wrote that lyric because it reflects the truth that it takes both sunny days and rainy ones, successes and failures, to truly grow and become the person God created you to be.

The seeds of faith were planted in Bill’s life partially by his grandfather, a Methodist preacher. But Bill’s mother was his primary influence. During a “Christopher Closeup” interview, he recalled her singing hymns such as “Amazing Grace” while doing housework: “Those songs of the church were, without me realizing it, forming a foundation for me musically.”

Another major moment for Bill came after he had achieved some success in Nashville. His 88-year-old pastor-grandfather, who lay on his deathbed, told Bill, “I don’t know much about the business you’re in, but I know that you’re in a position to reach more people with one song than I’ve reached with every sermon I’ve ever preached.” From then on, Bill felt that weight of responsibility to create music that would reflect his values. Of course, in the genre of country music, you have to also cover songs about drinking and infidelity. But, as Bill joked, “The good part is that if you play the songs backwards, they sober up and they come home.”

More seriously, Bill then discussed his song “Five Little Fingers, which was the story of a man who had lost his wife and had a small child. He wondered how he was gonna continue to go on with his life. The little girl walks in and puts her five little fingers on top of his hand and inspires him. I had a fan write me from down in Louisiana and he said, ‘I was in my car. I was driving out into the swamps. I was going to commit suicide. I thought everything I had in the world was lost. Your song came on about the Five Little Fingers…and I realized I had five little fingers in my house that depended on me. I pulled over to the side of the road…I cried. I prayed. I turned around and I went back to town.’”

“That’s not the only letter I’ve had like that,” Bill explained. “It makes me [think of] what my grandfather said…I guess that song, at that point in time, maybe that was my sermon.”

When asked to reflect on the Christopher idea of lighting a candle in times of darkness, Bill recalled, “The darkest it ever got around me was in 1984 when my wife was nearly killed in a head-on automobile accident caused by a drunk driver. At the time, our son was six years old. I had to become mother and father to [him] for a long period of time as my wife went through…rehabilitation…It changed my perspective. It changed my value system.”

“My son and our relationship became my candle in the darkness,” Bill continued. “He was in a Christian school, and he understood at his young age that there was faith and that hopefully his mom was gonna get well, which she ultimately did. I wouldn’t want to walk through that dark spot again, but the light of that candle has served me well in the time since then. I hope in some small way that I can carry a candle for other people. They tell me sometimes, ‘We love your music. Your music makes us feel better.’ If that’s my candle, then I’m more than glad to carry it.”

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For free copies of the Christopher News Note TALKING TO GOD, write: The Christophers, 264 West 40th Street, Room 603, New York, NY 10018; or e-mail: mail@christophers.org