Encore: Talk to us about the significance of your inspiring title cut, "Stand In Awe," which is also the name of your latest album.
Ted: I consider "Stand In Awe", like poetry in that I wrote a song that tried to capture how I feel about God. I think it's a message that will resonate with other people. When you think about the word 'awe' it really is a space that goes beyond articulation, there are really no words to describe it. We try to do our best to describe how awesome God is and has been in our lives and that was the catalyst for that song.
Encore: Tell us about the collaborations you have on this album.
Ted: The album features distinctive voices and personalities. I did "The Greatest Power" with Bishop Hezekiah Walker, I hope it will become a choir anthem. I did a song with Lisa Knowles who is from Memphis, it's a traditional song. The second single from the album called "Grateful" incorporates a piece of the Walter Hawkin's song, "Be Grateful".
Encore: You use your platform to also be a voice of social justice, can you talk about how important that is to you?
Ted: I feel very strongly about social justice. I feel as a believer and a black man in the U.S. there are a lot things we should be talking about and discussing to make this country live up to its promise and potential, because I don't think that we are there. We have made some progress, but we have a long way to go. There are such issues as mass incarceration and education. I posted a video on my Instagram page of a police officer in the Atlanta area telling a white passenger in a car he pulled over that, "We only kill black people," they said he he was joking, and even if that was the case, it was in the poorest of taste. It shows the insensitivity to the issues people of color have with policing in America. The way to make things better is to have dialogue about it. We need these hard conversations, they are not going to be comfortable, but they are very necessary.
Stay tuned for more Ted Winn