Aaron Shust is a worship leader at a church in Atlanta, and his new album, Anything Worth Saying, has spawned a couple of hits on Christian radio. Hell open for Bebo Norman on Wednesday in Bend.

Ten years ago, Bebo Norman set out in a Subaru with his guitar and a dream to make music his career. For months on end, hed crisscross the country from Colorado to Florida playing wherever he could get a gig.

Today, hes looking forward to a two-month tour with Aaron Shust and Brandon Heath that includes a stop in Bend (see If You Go), but hes dreading being away from his wife and his home in Nashville.

And that pretty much sums up how life has changed for Norman, particularly over the last few years. He calls it a transformation, one that has given him a new perspective on his career and his life.

(Ive realized that) I dont live and breathe by playing music. I live and breathe by a handful of really, really rich and beautiful relationships in my life, where I think God kind of speaks through those relationships, the Columbus, Ga., native said in a telephone interview last week. With those things in mind, it gives me all this freedom to play music without abandon.

When Norman, 33, made his name playing coffeehouses and Christian camps and festivals all those years ago, he was known as a man and his guitar, with songs based in folk music and laden with themes about faith in God.

His new album, though, showcases Normans willingness to stretch a little bit. Between The Dreaming And The Coming True came out on Tuesday and is much slicker sounding and more rock-oriented than his previous work.

Its also the first album on which Norman took the lead on the production duties. In other words, the album is all Bebo, crafted out of his life experience and influenced by the kind of things hes currently listening to, such as rock acts like The Killers and David Gray.

And most importantly, the album is unburdened by expectations, Norman said.

Ive never had more fun in the studio than I did with this record, because I didnt feel confined by the fact that I had to fit some mold, he said. Id always been real careful not to offend people who knew my music. Id always been careful because I felt like I need to fit the mold that I had created for myself.

The confidence to break the mold came from a combination of things, Norman said. The most obvious is that hes older, with more experience under his belt and a better understanding of his music.

Maybe I just dont care as much what people think or maybe I care more about whats moving me and less about what people think, he said. Theres just a real newfound freedom to just approach each song exactly the way I feel like that song needs to be approached.

You get more comfortable in your own skin, he continued. Ive gotten to do this for a long time and its something that I love to do, and theres just a certain confidence, I think, that comes with that. I think a lot of that has happened to me in the last few years because spiritually I feel like Im at a more peaceful place than Ive ever been.

That spiritual peace was another confidence builder, grown primarily out of a happy marriage, Norman said. (I was single till I was 30, and I spent a lot of years writing out of turmoil and loneliness, he reveals.) A happy marriage, though, also makes it harder for a touring musician to leave home, but his wife, Roshare, understands, Norman said.

Thats all she and I have ever known. We met after Id been playing music for quite some time. We dated while I was playing music. We were engaged while I was playing music, and weve been married while Ive been playing music, he said. Its my job. Its my life. She knows that and shes not just aware of it and she doesnt just put up with it, she actually supports it completely. Its a good thing.

And so, Norman is happy. Hes got a new album out and is touring the country with a crew of good souls, he said. His fans, who call themselves The Simpletons, are as hungry as ever to hear his music. His home life is happy and stable, and he just found out hell be adding another mouth to feed pretty soon.

It all brings out the optimism in a man who once said every season of his life had been better than the last. When asked to elaborate, he turns philosophical:

I feel like a lot of times we keep looking forward to whats coming next and we forget to look at where we are right now, he said. It feels like every season, Im not waiting for something to come along. I just kind of feel fortunate to get to be in the season Im in.

And there have been some crappy ones, he continued. There have been some dark and difficult ones. But for 33 years now, I can look back at the dark seasons and every single one of them make sense on some level. They end up being small and short seasons that meant something. Theyre a color in the story, and for me personally, it just ends up being a beautiful picture.