Interview: Dwayna Litz
American singer, songwriter, author, and speaker Dwayna Litz talks to Louder Than The Music about her Christmas song 'The Same Old Story' and the release of her new EP, out now.
For those who haven't heard of you before, can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got involved in making music?
Anyone can read more about me on my web sites, and my full testimony is now out on podcasts, but, long story short, there was a time when music and my ambition to “make it” was my “everything.” I moved to Nashville at only 17 - after recording three albums as a child soloist growing up traveling singing Gospel music, raised on the hymns - thinking I wanted to be a star “for God’s glory,” but when God was kind enough to let me see my worth in His love for me alone, I realized in hindsight my quest for fame and fortune - and even love for music - had become an idol in my heart. Only God knew how much I loved it. Being a Christian, it seemed I could never “make it” in a way pleasing to God, as men in the music industry would order me out of their offices if I did not agree to sleep with them. I got so tired of that and ended up leaving the music industry, not because of music but that but had no “plan B” for my life. To my surprise, God had a Christian 501c3 planned for me to begin, which spread around the world by word of mouth. God began making me so happy that I found I was happiest telling others who happy God had made me (even without stardom)! As I made my life about serving others through my outreaches (at LightingtheWayWorldwide.org) I found that God alone made me happy on the inside, as God was out to teach me my worth in Jesus alone, for me to feel good about myself just because God loves me that much, instead of basing my worth on “being known as a singer” or solely on what I could accomplish. And, then, when God was ready, I began writing songs again, and God gave me back the music I gave up to live for Him, and I have never been happier in my life, as I keep writing new songs from my heart, finally also finding my own, unique sound.
Tell us about your Christmas single 'The Same Old Story' and what the inspiration behind it was?
I had been given a piano track. I wrote the lyrics and melody to the piano track. Most of the time I write alone, but I am glad that was a co-write, as I would have never written the song without being inspired by the co-writer’s beautiful piano playing. He (Gabriel Katona) loved it, and I recorded it a couple of years ago. My prayer is that there will be less hate, anger, racism and shootings in America and more love. The saying, “The ground is level at the foot of the cross” is true. No one is better than anyone else, and we should all see each other as people in need of love, no matter their social status… or color.
You've also just released a EP titled 'Higher Power' - what can you tell us about that release?
That is a new release, but actually not new in that I wrote and recorded those songs a while back. This year I re-wrote a song I had begun called “Still” about God’s faithfulness. The songs on the “Higher Power” release had been on the previous version of “Still,” so I removed that from distribution to put “Still” out as a new release title soon, as it is now one of the best songs I will ever write. The songs on the Higher Power release were actually written and recorded in 2010, but I put them back in distribution this year for Thanksgiving. There is a story behind each one, as I always write from my heart. I love apologetics so I just wrote that title song a while back after beginning my missions organization. My song, “No More Prisoner of Yesterday,” has to do with finally telling my full testimony, which is out now on YouTube and all podcasts called “Dwayna Litz Testimony” about all that God has helped me overcome. Part Two is soon to come!
What message would you like people to take from your music?
That I write from my heart. It is all very real. I hope that my music makes people feel they are just like me when they hear a song of mine, as we are all the same on the inside when it comes to heartache, joy and love.
How would you describe your style of music and what are your influences?
My music has elements of pop, country, Jazz, rock, and Gospel music, as I was raised on the soulfulness of the hymns. I traveled as a child soloist singing hymns in revival meetings affiliated with Baptist churches when I was young. My other influences growing up was musical theater, a genre that has also always come naturally for me when it comes to the Great American Songbook standards, as I love pretty music and love to belt. I am influenced by all emotions, and I love to write songs for my family, songs about falling in love, out of love and songs, of course, about God, as God’s love is the greatest of all. Every song is a gift from God and no matter the genre, my faith is reflected in my writing. I would hope that my songs always “teach you how to live” to borrow that from Alan Jackson when he said the best songs do that. Lionel Richie said, “If it does not have soul, it does not have meaning,” and I agree with that also, so there is soul in my writing and singing.
If you could work with any songwriter, who would it be and why?
That is a good question. I used to write with hit writers all the time, as I was always signed as a singer/songwriter, because whoever signed me to publishing and production deals had the intent of pitching me for a mainstream deal in country music. The beauty of writing alone is it has made me a better writer. I truly love staying with a song to get it right. I love how it stays with me. I love how it can drive me crazy until I get it right and how good it feels to finally get the lines right and strong, so I really do not have any writer in mind, but my “sound” is a lot like Vince Gill’s music, as he also crosses genres. I just love writing from my heart with or without any co-writer and really have been thankful I have just been writing alone for years. There is something really special about sitting with my songs for hours as I write from my heart. It truly helps me get from one place to another in life, my songwriting.
How would you define success in your career as an artist?
Staying true to who I am as a person and as an artist and owning what I am and who I am, whether others like that or not. Success is when I feel a song so much that it makes someone else feel it also when they hear me sing it, when it touches someone’s heart. The best thing I have ever been told is that people can feel God’s love for them when I sing. That is thanks to the Holy Spirit, as I could never do that on my own. So, my success is defined by living my standards and being who I am saved to be as a Christian. I meet so many people who have met liars and deceivers in God’s name. If I can just live what I believe, God calls that success, and that is the most important thing to me, staying close to Jesus, living my songs and being able to love others for real.
What is your favorite album of all time?
Well, this answer is coming from someone who recorded an entire album of the Great American Songbook with a full orchestra only to turn around and record a bluegrass album for Cracker Barrel Stores of new renditions of hymns and the bluegrass music I was raised on. My favorite album tends to be anything I am working on currently, as I grow. As for listening to other artists, I love anything from Andrae Crouch to “Waltzing Matilda” by Rod Stewart, pretty much any song by Billy Joel, “You’ll Be in My Heart” by Phil Collins or “Time Love and Tenderness” by Michael Bolton. I love music with soul and lyrics with depth, and such great music is timeless to me. I could never give you a favorite, as everything I love is my favorite!
You're stuck on an island, it's hot, you only have enough battery life left to listen to one song on your phone. What track is it?
This is tough, as I love so many artists. My favorite songwriter of all time is Billy Joel, but if was stuck on an island and could only choose one, the song that comes to mind is the recent “Be Still and Know” by CeCe Winans. I went through a hard time last year, and I must have listened to that one hundred times, and I am not kidding. It also helped inspire my forthcoming song, ‘Still” about God’s faithfulness.
What does the next year hold for you?
I am blessed to tell you that I am closing 2025 having written four albums worth of material, as that is how creative this year has been, and if you think I am thankful for that this Thanksgiving, you are right! I plan to finish my next album - which is a mixture of Christian music and everything else from my heart about a guy who could have been right for me but wasn’t - called “We Could Have Been.” It tells a story. I also have written another album about another man called “Since You Came Along,” an album called “Gibson,” about growing up singing with my “Grandddaddy’s guitar” in the kitchen, which was inspired by the HBO Max documentary “And So it Goes” about the music of Billy Joel this year, which I saw too many times to count, as I found it so inspiring. I was literally watching it when I started singing, “I grew up with Gibson, my Granddaddy’s guitar,” turned off the TV, spending all day writing that new song and crying as those memories truly are so precious to me, and I miss my grandfather who is now in heaven. The song is about him and a tribute to those wonderful days “singing in the kitchen to my Granddaddy’s guitar.”
I also have an entire album of Christian music I have written, along with some favorite hymns of mine I love, called “Still.” I am heading back into the studio in about a week to record four Christmas songs for next year’s Christmas release, and I just wrote one of them that is very dear to my heart about my Christmas memories growing up called “Smoky Mountain Christmas.” I also plan on doing a classical project. Having more songs than I can record is the most wonderful “problem” to have with a documentary also in the works. It’s Thanksgiving today as I write this, and I am so thankful that I plan to never stop thanking God for how good God keeps being to me - by how I live and by the songs I write and sing about how God’s faithfulness in my life never lets me down. I will never be able to love Him enough for how much He first loved me and keeps loving me.
