Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Matthew West recently debuted his Christmas movie project titled The Heart of Christmas, which was inspired by the true story of a young cancer patient named Dax Locke. And West and Locke’s family have also launched the “Dollar for Dax” campaign with the goal of raising enough money to fully fund St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for an entire day in Locke’s memory. The total cost to run St. Jude’s for one day is $1.6 million, and the campaign is making great strides toward closing in on that figure.

We caught up West to talk about the movie, his album, The Heart of Christmas, and the “Dollar for Dax” campaign.

Could you tell me a little bit about your Christmas movie project, The Heart of Christmas?

Yeah, actually, the movie came about as a result of a song [“One Last Christmas”] I had written. It was a song inspired by a true story of a little boy named Dax Locke who was diagnosed with a rare form of Leukemia when he was 1 years old. And I wrote a song based on the story that I had received; it was just an incredible story of how a whole community rallied around this young family and this little boy to make sure that he get one final Christmas. After I wrote the song, a producer in L.A. heard the song and decided they wanted to make a movie inspired by the same story. It was a first for me to have a song turned into a movie, but it was a really neat experience to see that happen.

I read that you had an acting role in the movie. Was that the first time you ever acted in a film?

Yeah [laughs], I mean just my high school musical. That was not my goal. My goal was not to be part of the movie, but they encouraged me to do a little cameo role, nothing to write home about. I don’t think I’m gonna win an Emmy Award any time soon [laughs].

Do you plan to do any more acting in the future?

Well, you know, it was fun. We had a great time, but I’m not going to quit my day job.

It was just an incredible story of how a whole community rallied around this young family and this little boy.”

When you put your last album together, The Heart of Christmas, you had a few well-known artists make guest appearances, like Vince Gill, Amy Grant and Mandisa. What was it like being able to work with such talented and acclaimed artists?

Well, to me it really took the record to another level. I have such respect for all three of those artists, and I just felt like they made the record better. You know, I had become friends with Mandisa over the last few years, but Amy and Vince I had only met them a couple of times. So I was kind of pinching myself when I was in the studio. It was one of the moments where I just really wanted to make sure I soaked up the experience. You know, how many people get to say that they did a song with Vince Gill and another song with Amy Grant? It was really a thrill for me.

You and Dax Locke’s family launched the “Dollar for Dax” campaign with the goal to raise enough money to fully fund St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for an entire day in Dax’s memory. How has that campaign been going so far?

It’s great. So far we’ve raised over half a million dollars for St. Jude’s Hospital, and we still got a long way to go. But this mother is, she’s determined, man, and you can’t stop a determined mom. She’s on a mission. So for me it’s just been important. I want my platform to help raise awareness for a cause that’s bigger than just music and entertaining people. I felt like this was a legitimate cause and one that I felt like I wanted to make sure my platform could help raise support. So we’re on a mission together, and it’s going really well. We just did a benefit in their hometown. And I showed the movie for a select audience and raised over $47,000.

Wow, just at this one event?

Just the one night. Two-thousand, seven-hundred people showed up to watch the film. So it was a really special night and very special family.

“I want my platform to help raise awareness for a cause that’s bigger than just music.”

So are there any other projects that you’re currently working on that you can talk about?

Yeah, I just filmed a five-week series, a five-part DVD curriculum for small groups and churches and kid groups, and it’s based off of my last record, which is called The Story of Your Life. And it’s designed to help youth groups and small groups kind of take the journey of discovering the story that lies within all of us; so I’m really excited about that. It’s more of a teaching DVD, but the chapters are sort of based off of songs I’ve written that have been about different topics from people’s stories. So that’s really exciting. And in January I’ll be heading into the studio to record a new EP with some more songs that I’ve written inspired by people’s stories. So a lot of exciting things going on, and I’m definitely getting a chance to stay busy, which is very good.

So when is the DVD scheduled to be released?

That’ll be out in the spring of next year. That will be songs written during The Story of Your Life. I wrote 40 songs for my last record, and I only got to record 11 of them. So it’s a good chance to put some more of them out there.

-Kenneth Davis