Leila Way is a songwriter in residence at Resurrection South Austin, a church of the Diocese of Texas. She grew up in Austin and is married with three kids. Her new album, You Don’t Carry It Alone, is a journey through the pains of loneliness and fear into the healing of spiritual friendship and hope. Her minimalist, electropop style could be compared to Lorde, alongside understated, soulful echoes of Southern macabre. Her voice invites engagement with a range of human emotion, especially the interrelated dynamics of joy and grief. We all encounter trouble; Way’s songs help us endure our trials with Jesus as our companion in the dark.
You come from a musical family in Austin. Was your family also religious? How has your family shaped your creativity and style?
I grew up on a wide array of music, and everyone in my immediate family plays instruments. So it was only natural for me to take up a few instruments and start writing songs. We listened to classic rock, reggae, soul, blues, which is why you might hear blues and soul influences on this album. I wouldn’t say I grew up in a religious home, but we did attend a Catholic church, so I grew up participating in the liturgy and hearing the Scriptures read every week. I didn’t actually start following Jesus until I was a young adult.
“You Don’t Carry It Alone” reminds me of the “Comfortable Words” of Jesus in Matthew 11. Can you talk about the events in your life that inspired you to write this song and why you chose to make it the title track of the album?
In 2015, my marriage disintegrated before my eyes, leaving me to raise three young children by myself. Suddenly, every day became a struggle, and I was desperately clinging to God and Scripture to survive. When I wrote “You Don’t Carry It Alone,” it was a particularly lonely night. I think we all have a tendency to numb our pain or run from it, but I’ve learned that this only leads to more trouble. God’s been teaching me instead to turn to him in my grief. Often all I can muster is “God, this hurts!” So that is the song that came to me as I turned to God in grief, reminding myself that suffering is actually a normal and even consecrated part of walking with the Lord, but that he will never leave us, and one day he will wipe away every tear from every eye. I decided to make it the title track because I think it encompasses the big idea of the album: God does not leave us alone in our suffering.
Who helped you carry the load of making this album?
After five years, God restored my marriage. So as we began to build a new life together, one thing my husband and I started doing for fun was creating music. He encouraged me to get back into recording, and he’s brilliant at technical stuff, so he helped with much of the production of the album. I also had the opportunity to work with a local producer here in Austin to wrap things up. I also had musical contributions from a few friends and family members.
There are a few hymns on the album — two retuned and one with a traditional melody. Why did you choose these hymns? And what role have hymns played in your development as an artist?
I chose “Be Still My Soul,” “O Love That Will Not Let Me Go,” and “I Cannot Call Affliction Sweet” because they are a few that specifically spoke to me and carried me on difficult days. The church I came to faith in didn’t sing hymns, so I really didn’t discover hymns until I was an adult. I loved them for their poetic language and how well they put our experiences to words, but I especially love how hymns connect us to the universal Church throughout time and place.