Nine years ago I got an internship with the Church. I was asked to write the first Mutual album with a group of other interns from BYU. Since then I’ve been able to write more than a hundred songs for the Church on the EFY and Mutual (Youth) albums. It’s been a pretty crazy ride – one that I am very grateful for. In 2020 EFY and FSY, the Church’s international youth program, were going to combine, and the General Officers of the Church needed a theme song to represent their theme: 1 Nephi 3:7.
It’s a very iconic scripture, and they needed a song that captured the spirit of the message. I decided to focus on Nephi’s journey from Jerusalem to the promised land. Nephi relied on the Lord every step of the way, and that was the only way he would make it through all the trials he faced. I focused on the idea “He’ll provide a way,” and even called the song “He’ll Provide a Way” until we released it. It’s all about how the Savior is always watching over us, and He will provide a way. No matter what He asks of us, He will always be there and help us cross deserts and oceans until we reach our own promised land.
I initially wanted to sing the song with my wife, Darla, because she has a beautiful voice and I loved the song. Darla and I do a lot of firesides together, and it would be fun to sing the song in firesides. But then I thought of David Archuleta. I didn’t really know him at that point, but I thought that his voice would fit the song perfectly. Granted, his voice would probably fit any song perfectly, it’s pure butter. When I asked him to sing it, he didn’t even hesitate to say yes, he loved the idea. I had talked to him years before about the youth music, and he mentioned he was a fan. Here is a picture of David with Darla and me in the studio.
After the recording we went to lunch at a small taco shop on Center Street in Provo with him and his manager, Kari. They are both great people, and it was fun to get to know them a little more.
If you are interested, here are some voice memos that show the creation process of “I Will Go and Do.” You will recognize some melodies and ideas early on, it’s kind of fun to see how it happened. The last one is a demo of the duet version that I sing with Darla.