FRANKLIN, Tenn. - It's midafternoon, and Michael W. Smith is exhausted from interviews to promote his 18th album.
"I've been here since 6 a.m.," Smith says while staring in the bathroom mirror, splashing water over his face and smoothing his hair behind his ears.
He's worn out because nearly every reporter at Paragon Studios is asking the same two questions:
- What's the story behind "Healing Rain," his first pop album since 1999's "This is Your Time"?
- And how well does he know the president with whom he shares a famous middle initial?
The singer tells reporters he's been friends with George W. Bush for years, and he performed at a Bush campaign rally in Iowa a week before the election. He even allows that the president sometimes calls Smith "The Real W."
The same week that Bush was re-elected, Smith's new album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Christian contemporary charts. (It remains in the top 10.)
Smith, 47, worked for three years on his latest album, which he says reveals who he is now.
"I'm much more secure in where my life is at," Smith says. "I'm not desperate. I'm not nervous. I'm not sitting around waiting to see how many records I'm going to sell next week."
Since 1999, Smith has been busy guiding Rocketown Records, a successful independent Christian label. Meantime, he released "Freedom," an instrumental project showing his piano skills, and followed that with two live albums: "Worship" and "Worship Again."
But "Healing Rain" has brought the singer back to his early pop roots. More than 33 songs were narrowed down to 11 tracks for the album.
To hear clearly the words he felt God wanted to put in his heart, Smith says had to get away from it all. He retreated to George Lucas' secluded Skywalker Ranch, tucked in the hills of Southern California.
"Sometimes you just have to leave town to keep focus," said Smith, a big "Star Wars" fan. "And I wanted to go to Skywalker's house."
And that's not the only touch of Hollywood in his life: Smith also has been working on his acting debut in an independent film titled "The Second Chance" (slated for fall 2005 release).
It's about a suburban minister (Smith) who's sent to save an inner-city ministry that deals with former prostitutes and drug dealers.
Smith got an acting coach for the role and had help from James Caviezel, who played Jesus in Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ."
"I really picked his brain a lot," Smith says. "I'd asked him a question and get a 15-minute response every time."
Smith says the film may be the start of a whole new career, considering he's been recording music for more than 20 years. He and son Ryan, 21, have started a film company called Seabourne Pictures.
All his five kids have some sort of creative talent, from producing videos to playing piano - and his wife's a writer.
"Our house is the entertainment complex of Franklin, Tennessee," he says.
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