Lead Me

Sanctus Real lead guitarist Chris Rohman told New Release Tuesday the story behind this song: "Our lead singer, Matt Hammitt, had most of the song written. It was written after Matt and his wife had a pretty gut-wrenching conversation, where she told him that she needed him to be a better spiritual leader to her and their family. It rocked Matt's world. They're the ones that have been married the longest in the band. They've been married longer than I have. They already have two daughters and they're expecting their third child right now. Matt said that he found it humbling that his wife would have the courage to say something like that out of love. Secondly, he realized that he had to do something about it. There was no way around it. We don't believe in divorce. There were some things they had to work on to keep that open dialogue between the two of them, so that they could admit problems and work through them. That's where the song came from. The idea is actually at least a year and a half old. We had a rough idea of the song because he had a demo, but it got put in the pile. The president of our record label somehow found the song before we completely finished the record and said, 'Something is going on with that song. I think it could really be turned into something special if you guys finish it.' Until he said that, we hadn't even entertained the thought of putting the song on the record. When we went in the studio to finish the song with this writer from Nashville, the story came together perfectly. The song is kind of a father's prayer for his family and wife. It's an honest cry out to God saying, 'If I'm going to lead my family, I need You to lead me.' I can say this because I didn't have a lot to do with it. [Laughs.] I hope that hearing the story behind the song, and what went into writing it, will touch a lot of lives. It's a powerful song!"