If you go
› What: For King & Country› When: 7 p.m. Sunday, March 17› Where: Tivoli Theatre, 709 Broad St.› Admission: $59.50, $39.50, $29.50› Phone: 423-757-5580› Online: tivolichattanooga.com
When Luke Smallbone's wife, Courtney Smallbone, was pregnant with their second child, she became addicted to anti-nausea medication. She called her husband, who was getting ready to perform in Austin, Texas, with his brother, Joel, as For King & Country, and told him he needed to come home right away.
"We have a policy that if something extreme happens like that, we cover for each other and I covered for him," Joel said.
"We put him on a plane right away and he flew back to Nashville."
For King & Country is Luke and Joel Smallbone. They will perform at the Tivoli Theatre on Sunday.Courtney got the help she needed, and weeks later Luke found her standing over the toilet ready to flush the pills, and the addiction away.
Joel said his sister-in-law told Luke she had to "symbolically flush these pills as a representation that I no longer need these pills and I've moved on from this."
"It symbolized this idea relationally, spiritually and socially that we have to march into the future. We can't look over our shoulder," he said.
It was a sentiment that reminded Luke of a story he had heard of a Spanish explorer in the 1500s, who landed his ships on enemy shores without knowing what he would find there. He was so committed to his mission, that in a symbolic gesture to prove that to his men, he burned the ships in front of them.
They wrote a song about that story years ago, and after Courtney's experience, decided it was time to build an album around it.
"This record is really unique for us," Joel said.
"It is our third studio album. With the first one, you have all the time in the world, and wonder if people will like it. With the second one, you have no time to make it and you are just trying to get by. With this one, it is a much more settled process, and we are able to look at who we are as an entity and where we are. We are more at peace and it has that sense to it."
He said "Burn the Ships" is really a record with three parts.
"It's a romantic record, a social record and a romantic/relational record."
Their live shows are a reflection of their studio work and their love of live performance. Joel says they are a big production show with a message and story.
"We have all these people onstage - there are eight of us and 45 instruments - and there is so much going on. It has some notions of being art that has a spirituality to it. We have audiences from 2 to 82. It's a lot of fun."
The brothers are bringing their tour to Chattanooga on Sunday, March 17, for a 7 p.m. performance at the Tivoli Theatre, 709 Broad St.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.