Leanna Crawford Steps Out on Faith with Country-Fueled Second Album 'Thank God'

Leanna Crawford. Photo image courtesy of Provident Entertainment.
Leanna Crawford has had a milestone year. After winning Best New Artist at the 2025 Dove Awards and making her Grand Ole Opry debut on July 24, she's entering an exciting new chapter with the release of her second full-length album, Thank God.

Following her acclaimed debut, Still Waters, this new project showcases a fresh sound, leaning more heavily into her country music influences while continuing to deliver the heartfelt faith-filled messages fans have come to love.

I recently sat down with Leanna to discuss the journey behind Thank God, what inspires her music, and what God has shown her during this exciting new season of her music career.

You could have named this album anything. There are 11 tracks on this record. You chose Thank God. Why was this the title and what led you to call the new record that?

Originally, I had a different title in mind. The very last track of the album is “Green Pastures”. And I had wanted this album to be the sister album to Still Waters. So, it would have been “Still Waters” and “Green Pastures”. And I still think that would've been great. But this is where things change. I started to process things as I was writing the songs more. I thought, Okay, I actually think this is a totally different record. This is totally different. “Green Pastures” is the through line from “Still Waters” the song. I felt like it was a totally different project. It sounds different.

It’s still very much me, but it's a little more country. It has more elements from my childhood growing up. I eventually decided that the album needed to be called something different. It's a record and an album of gratitude. God has brought me through a lot of situations. And I’m just so grateful for the journey, even though it turned out different. Thank God as the title just felt right so I decided that this is what it needed to be called.

I’m so glad you mentioned that because Thank God, the album, leans fully into country influences that shaped your growing up. Why was it so important to explore these influences at this moment in your recording career? Also, who were some of those country influences?

Growing up, I was either listening to Christian radio or country music in my dad’s truck. I have these memories of listening to a lot of 1990s country. Tim McGraw and Shania Twain were just a couple of my influences, but then I also love the current country as well. My songwriting has always been very much about storytelling and that's what I love about country music. They tell stories really well. And I feel like that's kind of how it's been as I process life, and what I feel like God is teaching me. It usually ends up being through a story. It felt very natural.

Sonically, I've always leaned toward more country sounds, more guitars, more rootsy and organic things. It feels very natural for me, but it's definitely new for my audience. People will probably say, "Oh, this is definitely a little more country."

In the CCM space, I would definitely say Stephen Curtis Chapman is one of my influences. A lot of his music is very much storytelling and very country. I feel like I am all over the map. (laughs)

I’m going to read a bunch of names to you. for KING & COUNTRY, Lauren Daigle, Zach Williams, Tauren Wells, Anne Wilson, Katy Nichole. They all won Best New Artist at the Dove Awards. And now, you won the “New Artist of the Year” award at the Dove Awards last fall . That must be incredibly validating to you as an artist but it must also come with a tremendous sense of pressure to keep climbing and ascending. Your thoughts on that.

It was really emotional. There was a time a few years ago, even when I had released Still Waters, when I was kind of ready to throw in the towel with music. I felt like this is not the vibe I wanted. I felt like I had sort of let everybody down. I felt like I'd let God down. And I hadn't but my timeline is so different from God’s. God was so patient and kind, and He put people in my life at the time to just encourage me to keep going. And I'm so grateful that I still get to do music.

It's so humbling to be like, okay, if I write this song, I'm writing my story, maybe somebody needs to hear it. So, I feel really grateful to still do it. But that moment (of winning Best New Artist) was very, very special. Natalie Grant was the one that presented me with the award.

And she knows some of my story over the years. We don't know each other well, but I do love her a lot. And honestly, she spoke so much life over me. We shared this long hug, and she was speaking over me and almost praying over me in that moment. All these people were watching, and she and I are just having this little moment on stage. That also made me really emotional, and it was just so sweet of her.

I think there is a pressure, but I just need to give it to God. I think if you live in that pressure a lot it can be rough. There's probably more pressure. I think the people that you listed, they probably feel a lot more pressure now than they did before they won the award. As you grow, you feel more pressure. And I think some of it is good and it can be healthy, but I think just also trying to release it. How can I release this and be like I can't control a lot of it.

And so, I'm really excited, but I'm also like I just need to take a step back, take a deep breath, and be like, it's okay.

If you don’t mind, let's dig into the album a little bit. What was the experience like for you between album #1 and album #2? A lot of times your debut record has all your best material because you’ve had your whole life to prepare for it. But then album #2 comes along and you don’t seem to have as much material as you did the first time and you find yourself scrambling and pressing a bit.

I have definitely heard those stories. Fortunately, I did have a vision. I had a picture of things in my mind and what I wanted it to feel like. And so, because I had this vision, even if it changed a little bit, I was able to stay on course with my songwriting. This is because I was writing in more of a traditional sense. I really dug in. We have a lot of songs that didn't make the record that will be there for the future. I feel like these songs really should have been on there, but we didn’t have enough space.

There are things I wanted to say that I think could be saved for another album, whatever that looks like. Since this was my first traditional album I felt like I needed a plan. It was actually helpful for me to be like, "Okay, this is the plan.” We have a vision. I knew what I wanted to say. And I got to write with some incredible people, some people that I had written with on the previous record, and then some new songwriters as well.

That process was so collaborative and really cool. Just being able to go, "Hey, this is what I feel like saying. This is where I want to take this." And just even being able to bounce ideas and get direction, I think that helps so much. I was definitely not on an island. I just had amazing people to work with.

Changing gears, what valuable lessons has God taught you about yourself through the making of this new record?

Oh, my goodness. Like most people, I want things to happen instantly. When we want something, we can order it on Amazon. It arrives literally in a few hours. But I don’t think that is necessarily healthy. I do love me some Amazon, but anyway. (laughs)

God really taught me to trust Him even when I don't understand what He's doing. I know that's something I'll always probably struggle with and have to learn. God has helped me to realize that it is His timing not mine. Even if I feel like I'm praying for something good, something that I feel like He should be saying yes to. One of the songs on the record is called “Ask Him Again”. It's about praying and continually asking Him for something over and over and over and over again, even if the answer is no or not yet. It’s really hard for me to do that. There were a lot of nights of just crying, praying, and being like, "God, I don't know what You're doing but I choose to trust You anyways.” And I know He's so good, and His plan is so much better. He doesn't waste anything, even if we don't always see what He's doing. And through working on this album, professionally and personally, I learned to trust Him and trust that He's working even if I can't see it.

After people have had a chance to listen to Thank God, what would you like them to take away from the listening experience? What is your greatest hope for the album?

Life can be so beautiful when you take the hand of Jesus and choose to trust Him with it. My prayer is that there's this through line of hope throughout the record. That it does feel hopeful, even though life is uncertain, even though everything's crazy in all things. We're always going through different things and experiencing life differently. It’s just the human experience. But I hope and pray that there's this through line of hope that people can feel and just be reminded of God's love for them.

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