CCMmagazine.com:   Are there any sneak preview things you can tell all the Jars of Clay fans out there as far as how it’s going to sound and such?

Stephen Mason:   I think one of the most important things that we’ve found is that it was produced by us so that kind of hearkens back a little bit to our first record. We weren’t trying to re-invent the wheel, we just took what we love about the first three records and try to make a combination of all three of those in the fourth one.

CCMmagazine.com:   If you’re playing the critic, what would you say about it, as far as its strength?

SM:   The guitar playing is some of the best on a recorded album, at least in the last forty years. If I’m playing the critic, I would say it’s a bit of a return, just in terms of our songwriting and…one of the goals, when we started recording it was to inspire people and I think this record has done that for me, so I hope that carries over. It’s hard for me…we’re already wearing the artist and producer hats, it’s hard to play critic as well, but I think the desire is to pursue some sort of inspiration on this record, that people hear this and are inspired and are challenged.

CCMmagazine.com:   Did Dan (Haseltine) handle most of the songwriting duties or did you split them between all of you?

SM:   It’s kind of how we usually do it, with a twist, the four of us kind of get together and bang out the music on a lot of them. This time, writing lyrics, Dan kind of opened the floor up a little bit ‘cause he wanted us to feel like we all have some sort of investment in these songs, and that we have a living understanding of what some of them mean, ‘cause in the past that wasn’t the case. Matt’s contributed quite a bit, Charlie and I have just kind of been there (laughs) to help them with what not to write…a bunch of bad ideas that they say "no" to, to push them in the right direction.

CCMmagazine.com:   Is there a cohesive theme that runs through it, or is it just a collection of songs?

SM:   I think it’s a bit of both. There’s a pretty consistent thread, though, just about the reality of trying to understand how we’re so well loved and how, as believers, we’ve been adopted and yet we still spend our lives living like orphans. The record’s gonna be called The Eleventh Hour and it should be out…they’re projecting the first week of March, we’ll see.