With "KALA," Trevor Hall is back and healthier than ever.

When Trevor Hall steps onto the Fox Theatre stage on Sept 24 and 25, he undoubtedly will see a handful of familiar faces from his many past Colorado concerts. Diehards are loyal and feel connected to Trevor Hall because his music brings relaxation, peace, and guidance to countless fans. Many probably have no idea what all he put into his new album, though, and the hardships he's faced along the way.

Hall’s new album “KALA” (which is a Sanskrit word for “time”) brings more of the laid-back, tranquilizing music we’ve come to expect from the recently un-dread-locked singer/songwriter. Tracks like “Back To You”, “Uncle Jo”, and “Mama and Papa” remind us of the first time we heard a Trevor Hall song — the first time we were taken away by his calming voice and devotional lyrics. But “KALA” is a different album than his past albums, because it came from a place of pain and illness — something that isn’t normally associated with his music.

Trevor explains how he got sick during the recording process: “We recorded the album in LA. Right before we started recording, I got very sick. Like, hospital sick — so I wasn’t even sure if I was going to be able to record it.”

The event ended up inspiring an album, helping Trevor heal his body and his mind. In the process, he found himself revisiting an old song, “To Zion”. Although “To Zion” has surfaced on Trevor Hall albums twice before, the re-recording of it for “KALA” made it all the more special. “It was fun to record because I am in such a different place now than when I first recorded it,” he says. “But it’s also such an important song that it’s really dope to see it come full circle.”

To Hall, each song on this album is special, but serve separate purposes. “To Zion” helped Trevor reconnect with his old past, he says, but songs like “Can’t Rush Your Healing” helped him find peace and courage to get past his devastating illness. “It is a very important song on the album,” he adds, “it just sort of popped out. The fact that it happened so fast and easy, it was like this song was really speaking to me. Then you take a song like ‘Indigo,’ which is another important song to me, and that took me like a year and a half to write!”

No matter how long the songs took to write, fans everywhere were ecstatic when they got their hands on a new album from the experienced singer. The songs aren’t too unlike what we’ve come to expect from Trevor Hall, but anyone who listens close enough can tell that there is something different about this album compared to albums past.

“I don’t know if it’s really better or worse, or more or less professional even,” he says. “I don’t know if it’s going towards a better point, or just this point.”

Still, with so many albums and nation-wide tours under his belt, it’s plausible that Trevor Hall has found his zone. He’s performed Red Rocks on multiple occasions, headlined his own tours and has built an army of fans that span the globe over. Artists like that have probably gotten over the jitters of releasing and performing music for millions, right?

Not Trevor. He admits he still gets wildly nervous before shows. “I mean, ask anyone around me, I can be a real wreck sometimes,” says Hall. If fans are surprised by Trevor’s admissions of getting nervous before a show, they may have a distorted view of the singer because of how peaceful and prophetic his music can be.

“People come up to me all the time and they are like, ‘You’re so chill, so peaceful,’” he says. "I just always sit there like, ‘You have no idea what’s going on inside my head.’ I had a teacher in India who gave me advice for this. He told me: ‘Outside, everything smells pretty, but inside is like a burning fire’. That quote always helped me when I felt like I was going crazy on the inside, but everyone around me felt like I am always a peaceful person who doesn’t get emotional.”

Trevor Hall is more vulnerable, honest, and sensational than ever before on his new album “KALA.” With it, Trevor Hall is giving fans the knowledge and wisdom that his own life has given him, the lesson of being able to take your time.

“Everything is happening perfectly,” he says. “Whether we want to believe it or not, everything is being arranged. We have to trust in the spirit of time and that everything is being arranged.”

– Photos: Marina Chavez