Michael W. Smith is busy and blessed in 2014

In 1983 Michael W. Smith released his first studio album, "The Michael W. Smith Project."

In 2014 the Christian music mainstay released his 18th studio album. And his 19th. And by year's end, No. 20 — an ambitious Christmas project that teams him with country superstars and the London Symphony Orchestra — will hit stores, too.

After returning from a trip to Eastern Europe with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association last month, Smith has spent the past couple of weeks in the studio with Little Big Town, Lady Antebellum and others, wrapping up recording before he plays more than 50 shows this fall.

It's safe to say that it's been an exceptionally busy year for Smith, and he has definitely felt the difference.

"All of my team kept saying, 'Are you sure you can do this and not end up in the hospital?' " he recalls, sitting in the control room of his Franklin recording studio. "I said, 'If we've got the team of creative people, then yes, I think we can do it.' I'm a little tired, but I'm OK."

Smith admits he's probably a little busier than he normally prefers to be, but the 56-year-old singer/songwriter is no stranger to hard work — and its rewards.

Over the past 31 years, he's sold more than 15 million albums, won three Grammys and cracked the secular pop charts with his 1991 hit "Place in This World." He's also done all of it while based in Music City.

'Blazing a trail'

"I was mainly writing pop songs," Smith says, recalling the day in 1978 when he drove his parents' car from Kenova, W.Va., to Nashville.

"A lot of those pop songs were faith-driven from a lyrical standpoint. I had this whole dream, going, 'I want to be like Elton John.' I love, especially, the early Elton John stuff. But how can you talk about your faith? Not heavy-handed, but just talk about faith, and talk about hope?"

Those songs scored him a publishing deal, but labels — both in Nashville and Los Angeles — weren't an easy sell. Smith eventually found a home on the just-launched Reunion Records, becoming one of the local label's first artists.

Within a few years, he was one of contemporary Christian music's biggest stars, and he found a kindred spirit in Amy Grant. The two were frequent collaborators and tourmates, and among the first Nashville-based artists to bring a synthesized, non-country sound to millions of listeners.

"I felt like we were blazing a trail," Smith says. "Not in a cocky way. There'd be times that Amy and I would look at each other and go, 'Can you believe we get to do this?'... And then on the '88-89 "Lead Me On" tour, we were selling out arenas all across the country. We were just grinning from ear to ear."

Other times on the road weren't as much fun. Smith remembers his first tour with Grant, shortly after marrying his wife, Debbie, in 1981.

"I'd call, and we'd just cry on the phone. I remember making these diary tapes on the bus, saying 'I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever do another tour for the rest of my life,' because I missed her."

He ended up bringing his wife along for the next two years of touring (she sold his merchandise), and then made what he calls the "two-week rule." No matter what, Smith won't stay away from his family for more than two weeks. Occasionally, it's been a pricey rule to follow.

"I don't say this too much, but I had a plane for a long time," he says. "Especially when my kids got to be teenagers, I just thought, 'I need to be here for my kids.' So I'd do a show, walk off stage, and the plane would be waiting on me. I'd land at midnight, and I'd drive the carpool at 7:15 the next morning. I did that for 13 years in a row.

"I don't regret it. It was expensive, but it was a game-saver for me. All of my kids know that they're more important to me than my career, and we're all really close."

Willing to change

Smith's love of kids goes beyond his five children and 10 grandchildren.

In 1994 he founded Rocketown, a youth center that provides outreach, arts and recreational programs for more than 800 Nashville-area teens per week.

The facility relocated from Williamson County to downtown Nashville a decade ago and continues to grow. It recently revealed a new expansion plan, which would add a 15,000-square-foot indoor skate park and BMX bike park. Smith says Rocketown aims to keep at-risk teens "off the streets" and away from drugs and alcohol.

"I believe in them, and I believe there's a destiny for their life. All it takes is somebody just loving on them. They keep coming back because everyone on the staff knows their name."

Smith went through his own "drug phase," but says "it all changed in 1979" — one year after moving to Nashville — through his faith.

"Jesus changed my life," he says. "It's just a fact."

Smith's most recent release (album No. 19) is "Sovereign," which followed "Hymns," a traditional collection he released in March for Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores.

"Sovereign" could hardly be more different from its predecessor: Its boldly modern pop is fueled by pounding drums, thick electric guitars and gang vocals that reach for the rafters. It's the product of Smith ceding some creative control to a younger generation of songwriters and producers, and keeping an open mind.

"I don't care how long you've been doing it. I think you always need to be challenged," he says. "I don't think you ever totally have it figured out. So I just welcomed their creative input, and that's when they said, 'Would you be willing to work with that producer?' I literally never hesitated ... I said yes to all of them. Some of them worked, and some of them didn't. We went through 120 songs to get 12."

In May "Sovereign" earned Smith his highest debut to date — hitting No. 10 on the U.S. album charts. Its first-week sales of 16,000 mean he probably isn't on track to sell millions like he used to, but he's accepted the new rules — and busy schedules — of today's music industry.

"It's a different day. You try not to get discouraged and frustrated, and record sales have never been so down, ever. It just blows my mind. It's not just me. It's everybody. But at the end of the day, I've never done it for record sales, and I've never done it to win a Grammy. When I can get to the end of a project and go, 'You know what? Well done, boys and girls. We really did make something special.' At that point, you let it go, and it does what it does."

Contact Dave Paulson at 615-664-2278 or on Twitter at @ItsDavePaulson

Michael W. Smith's 2014

• Three albums: "Hymns" (March 24), "Sovereign" (May 13), Untitled Christmas album (TBA 2014).

• Christmas project will team Smith with his most collaborators ever on a single album, including Carrie Underwood, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Vince Gill, Jennifer Nettles and Amy Grant.

• More than 50 concerts scheduled in the U.S. and Canada through the end of the year.

• Received career achievement award from ASCAP during organization's annual Christian Music Awards.

• Traveled to Eastern Europe with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

• Hosting his fifth sold-out "Fan Experience" cruise to Alaska, July 6-13.