Dietrech: Hi Kim. Did you get to go to your festivals this past weekend?

Kim: Oh yeah - and it was great.

Dietrech: I wish we had bigger things like that here. We just don't have them as consistent as the rest of America does. We don't have the Christian groups that travel and tour come here like they do in the Midwest. I wish we had that more in California. I think we need it more.

Kim: I really enjoyed your CD.

Dietrech: Thank you.

Kim: So tell me about it.

Dietrech: Well, I'm actually very proud of it. As you know, after the release of the first CD I was injured. I had four herniated disks in my neck. It got to a point pain-wise and physically that I wasn't able to do anything. I would go to work (my job was really good about it), and work, but when I would get home I would just have to lay down. It kept just progressively getting worse. It took about 10 months before we could find a specialist that could figure out what to do. When he finally did it, a year had gone by before I started healing again. I didn't get to promote the first CD as much as I would have liked to. That's why when I cut Always in My Heart I chose to use some of the songs from the first one. I didn't want them to be wasted. I went in and reproduced them and I was much happier with them. People, so far, seem to be enjoying it more than they did the first one. The title song, Always in My Heart is very important to me because of what I went through physically. I never felt like God deserted me or anything, so it's like my song to say "thank you" for being there with me through the whole thing. The Power of Prayer has always been one of my favorite songs because I think it's something that never goes out of style and it's something that you never have enough of. I honestly, from the bottom of my heart, believe that there is nothing that can't be solved, healed or whatever, from prayer. I think that prayer is the ultimate for anything. Even if it's just piece of mind. I was very happy to be able to include the song that I wrote about my mother because she died very tragically. She was a Christian but she was very unhappy at the end. That's why I wrote the song Cry Lady Cry about her. For me all of the songs are very personal. What I do as an artist I do, only because that when I buy someone else's album and every song sounds the same, I don't like it. So I make my songs very individual. They all have their own characteristics. There's a reggae song and there's a really cheesy song, but it's fun to do live. It's called J.C.'s Freedom Jam. It's a song that kids really like and live it works great. If you were listening to it, it's probably not something that you would take really seriously, but it's not something that was ever intended to be serious. It's a fun kind of song. I get a lot of reaction from When the Angel Sings from kids, and all ages. They seem to really gravitate to that song. I'm surprised that people of all ages seem to connect to that song.

Kim: I know that I've read that you came to music as a young child.

Dietrech: I did. I had a swing set in my backyard and I used to sit and make up songs, even to other people's melodies, when I was four or five. I grew up in a very abusive home environment, so that was my escape. That and going to church. I had a fantastic church when I was growing up in California. It was a Church of Christ and I had a fantastic pastor and his family. I loved them. I really looked forward to going there. Not just because it was an escape for me, but because they nurtured me. It was a beautiful experience to have that all encompassed in one thing. It happened twice a week. That was the beginning of my salvation on every level because my pastor and his family were such beautiful people and they brought Christ to me. It's always been a guiding force in my life. Fortunately I outgrew being abused because I grew up. There's a lot of people that go through a lot worse than I did. I realize that every day. I don't look back with a lot of animosity towards those who were involved in it. I don't think, when I look at the big picture, that I really suffered, even though physically I did. But when you look at what goes on in the world and what kids are going through today, it's hard to even contemplate. It almost makes me feel guilty to say that I grew up in that environment because there's something so much worse out there.

Continue to Part 2