Todd Dulaney Talks New Music, Marriage & Lessons Learned…

“I was winning in front of everyone else and I was losing at home…Honestly, I think that until I really got my house in order with my wife, God had everything on hold for me.  When I got that right, that was when everything shot off!” – Todd Dulaney

Todd Dulaney recently spoke to us about his new album release “A Worshippers Heart” and opens up while taking a look back at the lessons he has learned so far in his journey both personally and professionally.

ASR:  Congratulations on your new album release and being signed to EOneNashville!  This seems to have been huge for you!  Did you pray for the level of success you’re seeing now?

TODD DULANEY:
I don’t know if I really prayed for a label per se, but I did pray that people would accept what I’m doing and that they would appreciate it. I wanted to be able to witness to the masses and I knew that it would take somebody to say, “I acknowledge that this is good and it’s anointed” – God just did it where the right people in the right places were like, “We like this!” …and that’s all it took – just a few people to say “we like it” and it spread like wild fire!

ASR: In everyone’s journey, there are always rough patches. Did you ever find yourself not connected to the right people?  If so, how did you get through that time?

TODD DULANEY:
Honestly, I have some things that I can’t even share because of legal things that I went through in the past. But, I wouldn’t want to bash them anyway. I just thank God for the experience. But, yes – I’ve had experiences where I’ve been in bad business deals and bad label situations. I’ve even had it where the label I’m with now (Entertainment One), I felt like I was waiting too long. But, I was wrong. Now I can see that it was right on time! God’s timing was absolutely perfect. There were some things he had to work out in me. There were some things that had to change in me. I didn’t know it, but that time was preparing me for now. I wouldn’t have been ready for all of this before! Even just for things like overseeing a big sized band and more – I just wouldn’t have been ready.

ASR: What was your life like 5-6 years ago compared to where you are today?

TODD DULANEY:
Five to Six years ago I probably didn’t have two pennies to rub together. I was scratching for anything that I could have. I had just come away from playing professional baseball not too long ago before the 5 years, so you know – life for me was difficult. There was a lot of not really knowing if switching from baseball to music was even going to work you know. All I had was my faith in God. I was saying, “God, I believe you called me away from baseball to serve you. I’m trusting you to make this work.” But, I had times when I would think, if God doesn’t make this work, then man – I’m in trouble! I didn’t know what we were going to do. I had just married my wife, and I told her I believe God called me away from baseball. But, sometimes it didn’t look like it was God you know? But, God is faithful. I can’t believe that today we are this far away from where we were then five years ago.

ASR: How important is prayer for you?

TODD:
I don’t even think of it as I’m stopping to pray. I’m constantly communicating with the Father. Whether I’m driving or wherever I am…and I’m over the top – I’m always trying to connect to the Father! So much so, that even my wife sometimes is like “chill” – For sure, at least once a week I’m fasting. I’m praying and fasting all of the time. For me, I know I need to keep that communication has to continue on. When you have that type of communication going, He’s always sharing new stuff – and He’s always speaking. Even if He’s saying “Hey, stop talking to me for a minute and go be with your wife. You been with me too long and she’s just sitting upstairs.”

ASR: That’s great advice! Balance is important. You and your wife just did an interview about your marriage. What have you learned in terms of marriage and family? …and how did that effect your ministry?

TODD:
Honestly, I think that until I really got my house in order with my wife – and really learned how to love her…God had everything on hold for me. Things didn’t start to work until I learned to love my wife! For real… I was winning in front of everyone else and I was losing at home. I wasn’t treating her right. It wasn’t on purpose – I really thought that I was treating her right. I thought I was doing all of the right things. But, I learned…she’s crying out for something different. So, whatever this little stuff is that I think I’m doing that’s meeting her needs – it’s not. When I got that right, that was when everything shot off! Right now (what you see music wise) is the fruit of a stable and straight thriving house! Our house is the bomb! We’re happy, the kids are happy – my wife and I, we are one and it is awesome!

ASR: You can tell that the two of you are having fun!

TODD:
Yeah! ..and it didn’t happen after we were blessed. It happened before.  It was then that God said, “Ok, now you’re ready to go to the world. Because you’re one.” You can’t go apart. Because just imagine – I’m traveling all of the time. So, if we’re not one before – then once I really get going, that kind of life will just tear you apart. So we’re one – and it’s fun!

ASR: We have a question from one of your fans… “Do you feel that spontaneous worship is counter-cultural to Gospel music, and are there any challenges that you face because of it?”

TODD:
It’s not the norm in Gospel music, but I feel like it’s now – it’s a now song. Whenever you’re spontaneous in God and you allow God to sing whatever you hear, it’s needed.  It’s not the norm in Gospel music, but it’s something that we need. The spontaneous song is just like the Rhema word. It is the right now word of God. The song that you hear right now is the song that God is singing over the people. You’ll be surprised, when you sing a spontaneous song, someone in the room could be thinking about suicide and it’s like [that] is the song that needs to be sung that says “get off of me devil”.

ASR: What do you want people to get from this new album release?

TODD DULANEY:
I want them to get music that produces the presence of God. I think that’s my staple. That’s who I am. I’m not in this for anything but to produce the presence of God – that’s it. I think that when they get this record, it’s going to be something they can pray to, lay around in the presence of God to…that’s my agenda. Hopefully, that’s my agenda for the rest of my days.

ASR: Do you have a new found mission statement for everything that you put your hand on in life? Has it changed as you have grown spiritually?

TODD:
I would say my mission statement is still the same.  I’ve always said “Let’s put the focus on Jesus – let’s put the focus on the cross” I’ve always been that way, so I don’t think it has changed. The crazy thing is that I think that no matter how far God takes me in business and in music, I try to remind myself that’s what it is regardless. Because what happens is that as you evolve in business and everything, the enemy tries to use the success that God gives you to pull you away from what the vision is. The vision is the cross. The vision is lifting people to the cross. Let’s lead people to Jesus and let’s let them see Him. That’s it. The bigger everything gets, the harder it is to say, “This is the vision” – Because then God gives you new vision.  At that point, what I always have to do is take the new vision and say, “It’s still the cross” – It will always be the cross.  It will always be Jesus, and what He’s done and the victory He’s given us.  I just believe that in worshipping God and creating an atmosphere like that – people will be able to see Him and see His power.

Learn more about Todd Dulaney at www.todddulaneyland.com
Follow him on social media:
www.facebook.com/ToddDulaney
www.twitter.com/ToddDulaney
www.instagram.com/ToddDulaney1

See Our Previous Interviews with Todd Dulaney Below:

Todd Dulaney on the Stellar Awards Red Carpet >>

In Depth Interview with Todd Dulaney >>