Chances are good you’ve been singing Cody Carnes’ “Firm Foundation (He Won’t)” at your church for quite some time. Since the singer/songwriter released an initial version of the song at the end of 2021, congregations around the globe have made the anthem their own as it quickly caught fire and spread far and wide.
WATCH NOW: "Firm Foundation (He Won't)" Live Performance Video
Poised to be another signature addition to the Church’s catalog, in the vein of Carnes-penned offerings like “Run To The Father,” “Christ Be Magnified” and “The Blessing,” “Firm Foundation (He Won’t)” serves as the title-cut of Carnes’ fifth album and second live project, due Aug. 25, 2023. The recording follows swiftly on the heels of last year’s “GOD IS GOOD!”
Carnes says he’s known for quite some time that “Firm Foundation (He Won’t)” was always meant to provide his forthcoming collection’s namesake. “This is one of my favorite songs I’ve ever been a part of writing, and I really believe in it,” he remarks. “I’ve seen it spark a room while I’m leading like no other song I’ve been a part of.”
The respected worship leader wrote “Firm Foundation (He Won’t)” on the verge of a panic attack a year into the pandemic. “I had a lot of anxiety and fear of the future. I had that feeling of, ‘God, where are You?’” he reveals. “So as I was dealing with those emotions, one morning I woke up and just felt like I needed to sing my way out of that.”
In the early morning hours — before his wife and two young songs were even awake — Carnes began pacing the hallways of his home in Nashville humming the song’s initial melody. By the time he had sung the idea into his phone, he says he felt like he had experienced the same “peace that makes no sense” he references in the lyric. The “Ain’t Nobody” singer later completed the fear-fighting single with Chandler Moore (Maverick City Music) and Austin Davis.
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Fans in a variety of cities, both domestically and internationally, will have the chance to hear Carnes lead “Firm Foundation (He Won’t),” as well as fresh tracks from his upcoming LP, as he is slated to tour heavily from now through the end of the year. Throughout July, he’ll resume his “GOD IS GOOD!” headlining tour with special guest Benjamin William Hastings. Carnes will then finish out the summer on a string of dates with his wife, Kari Jobe, Leeland, Bryan & Katie Torwalt and Sean Curran before heading overseas with Kari to bring “The Blessing Tour” to the U.K. and Europe this fall.
