Husband, wife bring holiday show to Point
Don't be surprised if you happen to see Grammy Award-winning, multiplatinum-selling artists Amy Grant and her husband, Vince Gill, walking around West Point or Bear Mountain State Park this week.
"For this tour, we thought, 'Let's go find some special places to play,'" Grant says via phone. "I've never been to West Point, but I know it's beautiful. One of my daughter's friends has a sister who lives in the area, so, of course we'll be working, but hopefully I'll be able to walk around the neighborhood and explore."
They'll bring their "Christmas With Amy & Vince" tour to Eisenhower Hall Saturday.
Grant started out (and still continues) performing contemporary Christian and gospel music, but she eventually crossed over to pop music in the early '90s and had huge success with the hits "Baby Baby," "Every Heartbeat" and "That's What Love Is For." Gill, a country musician, is known for the hits "Feels Like Love" and "What You Give Away."
Go! reporter Sandy Tomcho spoke with Grant about the album and the tour.
Tell me about "The Christmas Collection." You picked songs you already recorded and there are a few new ones on it, right?
It's a rather large collection with 18 songs. Fourteen are from previous recordings, and I've done four new songs. Two of those are original and two are classics that we just recorded.
How do you pick which ones are your favorites when you're compiling an album like this?
It's easy with computers, because you can pull up all the music, and there were some songs that I felt had to be on there, on the collection, but others I chose more because they were like glue connecting the songs. I feel like Christmas records tend to be records that people put on and leave on because maybe no other time is somebody conscious about having music on in their home or in their car, but at Christmastime, it's more of a tradition.
Did you have help picking?
My computer just happens to be very near the kitchen, and there's no doors on my office, and so, this summer, when I was picking the songs, of course I had my children home, and we had an 18-year-old friend of my daughter's living with us, and then we had an exchange student from France for three weeks, trying to have an normal American experience, which, I'm not sure it was normal, but (laughs) ... So, everybody's in the kitchen all the time and they were constantly walking behind me going, "No, no, no. Not that song. You've gotta put such-and-such on there." (laughs) I was sitting at the computer, and the peanut gallery was there. It was really enjoyable.
Vince and your daughter also appear on two songs, right?
He's not singing, he's playing, and it's a song we wrote together called "Baby, It's Christmas." It's a really romantic, kind of swanky song about romance on Christmas Eve, which I've never had. (laughs) There's too many kids. I'm always exhausted. The other new song is called "I Need a Silent Night," and our 7-year-old is speaking on that, and it's one of my favorite things on the record, her little voice, because you know it won't be that way long.
What kind of show can people expect?
The great thing about this amazing group of musicians we're bringing with us is that we could do anything, but it seems a waste to not do Christmas music. Vince and I have both recorded a lot of Christmas music, but because we haven't done our first show yet, I'm not sure how the evening's going to play out, but we'll be onstage together, and hopefully the whole evening will have a very conversational, sitting-around-the-living-room kind of feel.
Christian Music News Source
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Vince Gill, Amy Grant give back to GRPS program
GRAND RAPIDS -- Local fans of Amy Grant and Vince Gill will have the opportunity to support music and art education at Grand Rapids Public Schools when the duo comes to town this month.
The Grammy-winning husband-and-wife team will perform a Christmas concert Dec. 18 in Van Andel Arena. Prior to the show, a limited number of VIP ticket-holders will be able to see the stars up close in a pre-show performance featuring area students.
A portion of the VIP ticket price will be donated to Grand Rapids Public Schools Arts Advocates, a nonprofit organization that helps fund arts and music programs at the city's schools.
The group's treasurer, John Hartel, said Grant and Gill are making similar charitable donations at each of the tour's 15 stops this holiday season.
"At all of their tour locations, these artists have said they want to give some portion of the money back to a local arts entity," Hartel said. "It's a pleasant surprise, that's for sure."
About 250 $180 VIP tickets will be available for the 5 p.m. preshow. Hartel said ticket-holders will see performances by City High School's Concert Band and Jazz Band, and food and drinks will be available.
A performance and a meet-and-greet with the stars also is expected before the main concert begins at 7:30 p.m. (Tickets to the VIP pre-show include admission to the main concert).
Grant and Gill, touring with a 12-piece band, both have best-selling Christmas albums under their belts. In September, Grant released her fourth holiday recording, "The Christmas Collection," which includes songs from earlier Christmas releases plus four new tracks.
The duo's VIP concert donation will help the GRPS Arts Advocates "significantly," Hartel said. The nonprofit's annual Arts Jam -- a benefit concert and auction -- typically raises $15,000 to $20,000 for GRPS students.
Arts Advocates uses the money to help fund students' private music lessons, summer arts camp costs and instrument payments.
It also gives music and art teachers money for extra supplies not covered by a school's budget.
Hartel said proceeds from the VIP show could end up doubling the Arts Advocates' available funds for the year.
"That would really be great -- we'd have some extra money for teachers, we could put a few more kids in summer camps -- there's no shortage of need," Hartel said.
"I think everyone needs a creative outlet, and we need to expose kids to the arts so they know what's out there. We want to make sure the kids don't lose that."
Christian Music News Source
The Grammy-winning husband-and-wife team will perform a Christmas concert Dec. 18 in Van Andel Arena. Prior to the show, a limited number of VIP ticket-holders will be able to see the stars up close in a pre-show performance featuring area students.
A portion of the VIP ticket price will be donated to Grand Rapids Public Schools Arts Advocates, a nonprofit organization that helps fund arts and music programs at the city's schools.
The group's treasurer, John Hartel, said Grant and Gill are making similar charitable donations at each of the tour's 15 stops this holiday season.
"At all of their tour locations, these artists have said they want to give some portion of the money back to a local arts entity," Hartel said. "It's a pleasant surprise, that's for sure."
About 250 $180 VIP tickets will be available for the 5 p.m. preshow. Hartel said ticket-holders will see performances by City High School's Concert Band and Jazz Band, and food and drinks will be available.
A performance and a meet-and-greet with the stars also is expected before the main concert begins at 7:30 p.m. (Tickets to the VIP pre-show include admission to the main concert).
Grant and Gill, touring with a 12-piece band, both have best-selling Christmas albums under their belts. In September, Grant released her fourth holiday recording, "The Christmas Collection," which includes songs from earlier Christmas releases plus four new tracks.
The duo's VIP concert donation will help the GRPS Arts Advocates "significantly," Hartel said. The nonprofit's annual Arts Jam -- a benefit concert and auction -- typically raises $15,000 to $20,000 for GRPS students.
Arts Advocates uses the money to help fund students' private music lessons, summer arts camp costs and instrument payments.
It also gives music and art teachers money for extra supplies not covered by a school's budget.
Hartel said proceeds from the VIP show could end up doubling the Arts Advocates' available funds for the year.
"That would really be great -- we'd have some extra money for teachers, we could put a few more kids in summer camps -- there's no shortage of need," Hartel said.
"I think everyone needs a creative outlet, and we need to expose kids to the arts so they know what's out there. We want to make sure the kids don't lose that."
Christian Music News Source
Christmas with Amy Grant and Vince Gill
Grammy Award-winning husband and wife perform here Friday
t was her first full day back home after a 20-state concert tour, but Amy Grant was still very much in motion.
“I’m throwing some food in the oven real fast,” she said at the beginning of a recent 9 a.m. telephone interview from her Nashville home. “I’m taking breakfast to my mom and dad.”
Grant has a somewhat deep, unaffected down home sort of Southern voice that is instantly appealing. She’s also obviously smart, but you feel at home with her right away, notwithstanding the fact that she’s been one of the most successful female singer-songwriters over the course of the last 15 to 20 years.
Her first breakthrough came as a contemporary Christian singer-songwriter, and then she was launched into the mainstream big time when her 1991 album “Heart In Motion” became a best-seller and the single “Baby Baby” (which includes the line “Ever since the time you put my heart in motion”) became a number one pop hit.
Marriage in 2000 to country star Vince Gill (albeit a tad controversial at the time in some Christian circles, since both had just exited previous marriages) could be said to have extended musical influences even further. Both are Grammy Award winners. In any event, the husband-wife team has taken to doing an annual Christmas tour, so Grant’s respite from touring was going to be a brief one.
Last Thursday, the “Christmas With Amy & Vince” tour kicked off in Manchester, N.H., and it comes to the DCU Center in Worcester with a concert beginning at 7:30 p.m. Friday. This isn’t Grant’s first visit to Worcester or the DCU Center.
“I’ve been there many times over the years. It’s great to be coming back,” she said.
The tour will end Dec. 23 back home in Nashville at the Ryman Auditorium.
The couple will be backed by a 12-piece band that features a horn section and two harmony singers, one of whom is Gill’s daughter from a previous marriage, Jenny.
Meanwhile, Grant, 48, has released several popular Christmas albums.
The show will include holiday classics, as well as some original holiday tunes written by Grant and Gill.
“Christmas is not about reinventing the wheel,” Grant said. “It’s about singing, but singing with great arrangements. Maybe this show is unique in that we have some original Christmas music, but it’s music that’s been out for some time.”
A lot of preparation has gone into this production, Grant added. “Sometimes, when you do the most work you get the most out of it. It’s like anything, if you teach a class there’s something about the anticipation, the preparation. The person who does the most preparation gets the most out of it.”
For a Christmas show, “People are looking for an ‘Aha!’ moment. This was the feeling I was looking for. We work so hard to put on a musically satisfying evening. If you can just get in you’ll be glad you did it because we do all the work — the set design, lighting, arrangements that have to be written. Although for all the preparation there’s a lot of spontaneity because of his (Gill’s) musicianship.”
Does the show get Grant in the Christmas spirit?
“Absolutely. I think it’s just nice to have. There’s something about sharing a stage at Christmas time.”
Grant is originally from Augusta, Ga., and has said she was one of a group of “hippie Christians” who began writing songs at their church.
Her songs soon got attention, and Grant’s first album, “Amy Grant,” came out when she was still a teenager.
“The only reason I ended up on stage is because I wrote songs. I love song writing,” she said.
Auditioning for a recording contract, “The response from the record company was, ‘She’s not that good, but she’s amazingly sincere.’ They sent me a contract. I would not have survived ‘American Idol.’ ”
Grant was perhaps only half joking.
“I learned my craft in the process of doing music,” she said.
Her album “Age to Age” became the first “contemporary Christian” music album to be certified platinum. More recent albums have shown gospel and bluegrass interests.
Contemporary Christian … pop … gospel … Christmas music … country …
What does Grant think of all these labels?
“They all sound boring to me,” she said candidly and decisively. Then she told an anecdote.
“I was seated on a plane next to a woman flying to Minneapolis … She asked me, ‘What do you do?’ I said, ‘I’m a songwriter.’ ”
The woman didn’t know who Amy Grant was. Grant was flying to Minneapolis to give a concert. “As it turned out, I invited her to the show. She had no preconceived idea.”
Afterward, Grant talked to her again. “She said, ‘This is so much fun.’ And that’s the way I like it. All of us tend to be very dismissive about something when we think we know what it is.”
Grant was still in the kitchen, and coffee was ready. “This is perfect,” she said after taking a sip.
Was “Heart in Motion” her biggest break?
“It’s the biggest-selling record I’ve ever done. I can’t say I feel it’s the best songwriting,” Grant said, again with typical honesty. “It was a blast to do. But from a songwriting perspective, pop songs are mostly about the production. For a songwriter the most satisfying songs are the ones that really take you somewhere. But that record — I feel it exposed me to a much broader audience. It was sort of exciting. Sort of exhausting, too.”
After the Christmas tour, Grant will probably have some time to relax, but again not for long. She said she’s heading to the recording studio. Indeed, she feels her best songwriting is still ahead of her.
But here’s the secret when it comes to being in perpetual motion as far as music is concerned:
It’s fun.
“You sure can lift your emotional level if you expose yourself to music,” Grant said. “With any task, if I’ll put music on, suddenly you’ve got a jump in your step.
“Yesterday my daughter and I were cleaning out our cars in the driveway. She was listening to music. She was just bounding around.” Soon Grant was, too.
Christian Music News Source
t was her first full day back home after a 20-state concert tour, but Amy Grant was still very much in motion.
“I’m throwing some food in the oven real fast,” she said at the beginning of a recent 9 a.m. telephone interview from her Nashville home. “I’m taking breakfast to my mom and dad.”
Grant has a somewhat deep, unaffected down home sort of Southern voice that is instantly appealing. She’s also obviously smart, but you feel at home with her right away, notwithstanding the fact that she’s been one of the most successful female singer-songwriters over the course of the last 15 to 20 years.
Her first breakthrough came as a contemporary Christian singer-songwriter, and then she was launched into the mainstream big time when her 1991 album “Heart In Motion” became a best-seller and the single “Baby Baby” (which includes the line “Ever since the time you put my heart in motion”) became a number one pop hit.
Marriage in 2000 to country star Vince Gill (albeit a tad controversial at the time in some Christian circles, since both had just exited previous marriages) could be said to have extended musical influences even further. Both are Grammy Award winners. In any event, the husband-wife team has taken to doing an annual Christmas tour, so Grant’s respite from touring was going to be a brief one.
Last Thursday, the “Christmas With Amy & Vince” tour kicked off in Manchester, N.H., and it comes to the DCU Center in Worcester with a concert beginning at 7:30 p.m. Friday. This isn’t Grant’s first visit to Worcester or the DCU Center.
“I’ve been there many times over the years. It’s great to be coming back,” she said.
The tour will end Dec. 23 back home in Nashville at the Ryman Auditorium.
The couple will be backed by a 12-piece band that features a horn section and two harmony singers, one of whom is Gill’s daughter from a previous marriage, Jenny.
Meanwhile, Grant, 48, has released several popular Christmas albums.
The show will include holiday classics, as well as some original holiday tunes written by Grant and Gill.
“Christmas is not about reinventing the wheel,” Grant said. “It’s about singing, but singing with great arrangements. Maybe this show is unique in that we have some original Christmas music, but it’s music that’s been out for some time.”
A lot of preparation has gone into this production, Grant added. “Sometimes, when you do the most work you get the most out of it. It’s like anything, if you teach a class there’s something about the anticipation, the preparation. The person who does the most preparation gets the most out of it.”
For a Christmas show, “People are looking for an ‘Aha!’ moment. This was the feeling I was looking for. We work so hard to put on a musically satisfying evening. If you can just get in you’ll be glad you did it because we do all the work — the set design, lighting, arrangements that have to be written. Although for all the preparation there’s a lot of spontaneity because of his (Gill’s) musicianship.”
Does the show get Grant in the Christmas spirit?
“Absolutely. I think it’s just nice to have. There’s something about sharing a stage at Christmas time.”
Grant is originally from Augusta, Ga., and has said she was one of a group of “hippie Christians” who began writing songs at their church.
Her songs soon got attention, and Grant’s first album, “Amy Grant,” came out when she was still a teenager.
“The only reason I ended up on stage is because I wrote songs. I love song writing,” she said.
Auditioning for a recording contract, “The response from the record company was, ‘She’s not that good, but she’s amazingly sincere.’ They sent me a contract. I would not have survived ‘American Idol.’ ”
Grant was perhaps only half joking.
“I learned my craft in the process of doing music,” she said.
Her album “Age to Age” became the first “contemporary Christian” music album to be certified platinum. More recent albums have shown gospel and bluegrass interests.
Contemporary Christian … pop … gospel … Christmas music … country …
What does Grant think of all these labels?
“They all sound boring to me,” she said candidly and decisively. Then she told an anecdote.
“I was seated on a plane next to a woman flying to Minneapolis … She asked me, ‘What do you do?’ I said, ‘I’m a songwriter.’ ”
The woman didn’t know who Amy Grant was. Grant was flying to Minneapolis to give a concert. “As it turned out, I invited her to the show. She had no preconceived idea.”
Afterward, Grant talked to her again. “She said, ‘This is so much fun.’ And that’s the way I like it. All of us tend to be very dismissive about something when we think we know what it is.”
Grant was still in the kitchen, and coffee was ready. “This is perfect,” she said after taking a sip.
Was “Heart in Motion” her biggest break?
“It’s the biggest-selling record I’ve ever done. I can’t say I feel it’s the best songwriting,” Grant said, again with typical honesty. “It was a blast to do. But from a songwriting perspective, pop songs are mostly about the production. For a songwriter the most satisfying songs are the ones that really take you somewhere. But that record — I feel it exposed me to a much broader audience. It was sort of exciting. Sort of exhausting, too.”
After the Christmas tour, Grant will probably have some time to relax, but again not for long. She said she’s heading to the recording studio. Indeed, she feels her best songwriting is still ahead of her.
But here’s the secret when it comes to being in perpetual motion as far as music is concerned:
It’s fun.
“You sure can lift your emotional level if you expose yourself to music,” Grant said. “With any task, if I’ll put music on, suddenly you’ve got a jump in your step.
“Yesterday my daughter and I were cleaning out our cars in the driveway. She was listening to music. She was just bounding around.” Soon Grant was, too.
Christian Music News Source
Amy Grant, Vince Gill bring country Christmas spirit to Van Andel Arena
GRAND RAPIDS -- Local fans of Amy Grant and Vince Gill will have the opportunity to support music and art education at Grand Rapids Public Schools when the duo comes to town this month.
The Grammy-winning husband-and-wife team will perform a Christmas concert Dec. 18 in Van Andel Arena. Prior to the show, a limited number of VIP ticket-holders will be able to see the stars up close in a pre-show performance featuring area students.
A portion of the VIP ticket price will be donated to Grand Rapids Public Schools Arts Advocates, a nonprofit organization that helps fund arts and music programs at the city's schools.
The group's treasurer, John Hartel, said Grant and Gill are making similar charitable donations at each of the tour's 15 stops this holiday season.
"At all of their tour locations, these artists have said they want to give some portion of the money back to a local arts entity," Hartel said. "It's a pleasant surprise, that's for sure."
About 250 $180 VIP tickets will be available for the 5 p.m. preshow. Hartel said ticket-holders will see performances by City High School's Concert Band and Jazz Band, and food and drinks will be available.
A performance and a meet-and-greet with the stars also is expected before the main concert begins at 7:30 p.m. (Tickets to the VIP pre-show include admission to the main concert).
Grant and Gill, touring with a 12-piece band, both have best-selling Christmas albums under their belts. In September, Grant released her fourth holiday recording, "The Christmas Collection," which includes songs from earlier Christmas releases plus four new tracks.
The duo's VIP concert donation will help the GRPS Arts Advocates "significantly," Hartel said. The nonprofit's annual Arts Jam -- a benefit concert and auction -- typically raises $15,000 to $20,000 for GRPS students.
Arts Advocates uses the money to help fund students' private music lessons, summer arts camp costs and instrument payments.
It also gives music and art teachers money for extra supplies not covered by a school's budget.
Hartel said proceeds from the VIP show could end up doubling the Arts Advocates' available funds for the year.
"That would really be great -- we'd have some extra money for teachers, we could put a few more kids in summer camps -- there's no shortage of need," Hartel said.
"I think everyone needs a creative outlet, and we need to expose kids to the arts so they know what's out there. We want to make sure the kids don't lose that."
Christian Music News Source
The Grammy-winning husband-and-wife team will perform a Christmas concert Dec. 18 in Van Andel Arena. Prior to the show, a limited number of VIP ticket-holders will be able to see the stars up close in a pre-show performance featuring area students.
A portion of the VIP ticket price will be donated to Grand Rapids Public Schools Arts Advocates, a nonprofit organization that helps fund arts and music programs at the city's schools.
The group's treasurer, John Hartel, said Grant and Gill are making similar charitable donations at each of the tour's 15 stops this holiday season.
"At all of their tour locations, these artists have said they want to give some portion of the money back to a local arts entity," Hartel said. "It's a pleasant surprise, that's for sure."
About 250 $180 VIP tickets will be available for the 5 p.m. preshow. Hartel said ticket-holders will see performances by City High School's Concert Band and Jazz Band, and food and drinks will be available.
A performance and a meet-and-greet with the stars also is expected before the main concert begins at 7:30 p.m. (Tickets to the VIP pre-show include admission to the main concert).
Grant and Gill, touring with a 12-piece band, both have best-selling Christmas albums under their belts. In September, Grant released her fourth holiday recording, "The Christmas Collection," which includes songs from earlier Christmas releases plus four new tracks.
The duo's VIP concert donation will help the GRPS Arts Advocates "significantly," Hartel said. The nonprofit's annual Arts Jam -- a benefit concert and auction -- typically raises $15,000 to $20,000 for GRPS students.
Arts Advocates uses the money to help fund students' private music lessons, summer arts camp costs and instrument payments.
It also gives music and art teachers money for extra supplies not covered by a school's budget.
Hartel said proceeds from the VIP show could end up doubling the Arts Advocates' available funds for the year.
"That would really be great -- we'd have some extra money for teachers, we could put a few more kids in summer camps -- there's no shortage of need," Hartel said.
"I think everyone needs a creative outlet, and we need to expose kids to the arts so they know what's out there. We want to make sure the kids don't lose that."
Christian Music News Source
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Amy Grant performs cut from first decade of career
Many veteran recording artists have short memories when it comes to set lists. New songs are normally showcased, with recent material usually complementing the fresh cuts. There might be an old nugget or two thrown in for good measure.
Very few performers focus on tracks solely from their salad days.
Then there's Amy Grant.
With the exception of a few unrecorded tunes that close her show, Grant will only render cuts from the first decade of her career — which was primarily her contemporary Christian days — when she performs Saturday at the Tower Theater.
“I'm not playing anything I recorded after 1988,” Grant said while calling from the airport in Nashville, Tenn. “Music has a way of bringing back forgotten memories, and that's what I'm doing with this tour.
“I just want to remind people who they were before they had responsibilities and no energy after having five children. When people hear songs from another era, they can become that person again.”
Grant will ignore her 1991 pop breakthrough album, which includes such hit singles as “Baby Baby” and “Every Heartbeat.”
“It's all right,” she said. “I'm doing something I have to do. You can't play every song when you go on tour. I'm going way back with this tour.”
It's almost hard to believe that Grant, 47, marked her 30th anniversary in show business in 2007.
“I started early,” she said. “I was in my teens. I knew what I wanted to do.”
Christian Music News Source
Very few performers focus on tracks solely from their salad days.
Then there's Amy Grant.
With the exception of a few unrecorded tunes that close her show, Grant will only render cuts from the first decade of her career — which was primarily her contemporary Christian days — when she performs Saturday at the Tower Theater.
“I'm not playing anything I recorded after 1988,” Grant said while calling from the airport in Nashville, Tenn. “Music has a way of bringing back forgotten memories, and that's what I'm doing with this tour.
“I just want to remind people who they were before they had responsibilities and no energy after having five children. When people hear songs from another era, they can become that person again.”
Grant will ignore her 1991 pop breakthrough album, which includes such hit singles as “Baby Baby” and “Every Heartbeat.”
“It's all right,” she said. “I'm doing something I have to do. You can't play every song when you go on tour. I'm going way back with this tour.”
It's almost hard to believe that Grant, 47, marked her 30th anniversary in show business in 2007.
“I started early,” she said. “I was in my teens. I knew what I wanted to do.”
Christian Music News Source
Amy Grant rocks! (Keep it to yourself, okay?)
I have a confession to make.
On Friday night, your correspondent went to see Amy Grant perform at Morristown's Community Theatre.
Yes, that Amy Grant.
Which leads to a couple more confessions.
Really liked the show.
And yes, a couple of Amy's old CDs are in my collection.
Her current tour celebrates the 1988 "Lead Me On" album that propelled the Christian contemporary singer into the mainstream.
In those days, as a red-blooded young American male, my desires were not purely. . . spiritual. The Young Fresh Fellows' wickedly funny song, "Amy Grant," pretty much sums up the attraction.
But as God is my witness, Amy knows her way around a pop song.
They are so bouncy and infectious, you can imagine the Apostles holding up candles, demanding encores.
Actually, if you didn't know Amy's history and just wandered into a show, you might not even realize you're being proselytized. Jesus hardly ever gets a mention.
Yet the vibe is relentlessly upbeat, so much so that as you're bouncing along with the bass lines, in a sea of dancing fans, you're forced to confront life's most basic assumptions:
Hey! Isn't rock supposed to be the devil's music?
Occasionally strumming a guitar, and backed by a crackerjack eight-piece band that included several members from the 1988 tour (minus her ex-husband, bass player Gary Chapman), Amy reprised many fan favorites during the two hour and twenty minute show, starting with "Father's Eyes."
Others included, naturally, "Lead Me On," and "El Shaddai," "Angels," "Tender Tennessee Christmas," "Stay for Awhile" and "Find Away," delicious cotton candy that no amount of detergent can scrub from my brain.
Keyboard player Chris Eaton showed off his Squeeze-like vocal prowess on a solo ballad, and guitarists Jerry McPherson and Chris Rodriguez added bite to the evening.
During a lengthy encore set Amy threw in a few new numbers, which she jokingly compared to campfire songs as she accompanied herself on guitar. One that stood out was called "Please Don't Make Me Beg."
The crowd got into the act, too, serenading Amy with "Happy Birthday." (The onetime teen recording artist turns 48 on Tuesday.)
Amy, who next embarks on a Christmas tour with husband Vince Gill, closed Friday's show with a rocking version of "Turn, Turn, Turn."
The whole concert was recorded, presumably for an album that will fly off her merch table along with all those $30 t-shirts.
As the Young Fresh Fellows sang so long ago: "She just gets rich 'cause she works for God!"
Must confess, Amy Grant still works for me, too.
Just promise to keep that between us, okay?
Christian Music News Source
On Friday night, your correspondent went to see Amy Grant perform at Morristown's Community Theatre.
Yes, that Amy Grant.
Which leads to a couple more confessions.
Really liked the show.
And yes, a couple of Amy's old CDs are in my collection.
Her current tour celebrates the 1988 "Lead Me On" album that propelled the Christian contemporary singer into the mainstream.
In those days, as a red-blooded young American male, my desires were not purely. . . spiritual. The Young Fresh Fellows' wickedly funny song, "Amy Grant," pretty much sums up the attraction.
But as God is my witness, Amy knows her way around a pop song.
They are so bouncy and infectious, you can imagine the Apostles holding up candles, demanding encores.
Actually, if you didn't know Amy's history and just wandered into a show, you might not even realize you're being proselytized. Jesus hardly ever gets a mention.
Yet the vibe is relentlessly upbeat, so much so that as you're bouncing along with the bass lines, in a sea of dancing fans, you're forced to confront life's most basic assumptions:
Hey! Isn't rock supposed to be the devil's music?
Occasionally strumming a guitar, and backed by a crackerjack eight-piece band that included several members from the 1988 tour (minus her ex-husband, bass player Gary Chapman), Amy reprised many fan favorites during the two hour and twenty minute show, starting with "Father's Eyes."
Others included, naturally, "Lead Me On," and "El Shaddai," "Angels," "Tender Tennessee Christmas," "Stay for Awhile" and "Find Away," delicious cotton candy that no amount of detergent can scrub from my brain.
Keyboard player Chris Eaton showed off his Squeeze-like vocal prowess on a solo ballad, and guitarists Jerry McPherson and Chris Rodriguez added bite to the evening.
During a lengthy encore set Amy threw in a few new numbers, which she jokingly compared to campfire songs as she accompanied herself on guitar. One that stood out was called "Please Don't Make Me Beg."
The crowd got into the act, too, serenading Amy with "Happy Birthday." (The onetime teen recording artist turns 48 on Tuesday.)
Amy, who next embarks on a Christmas tour with husband Vince Gill, closed Friday's show with a rocking version of "Turn, Turn, Turn."
The whole concert was recorded, presumably for an album that will fly off her merch table along with all those $30 t-shirts.
As the Young Fresh Fellows sang so long ago: "She just gets rich 'cause she works for God!"
Must confess, Amy Grant still works for me, too.
Just promise to keep that between us, okay?
Christian Music News Source
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Agenda: Amy Grant
Vocalist Amy Grant made her name with a string of melodic pop songs before veering into contemporary gospel territory. The Georgia native has
deep Cowtown ties — Will Rogers Auditorium was the site of Grant’s inaugural paid performance in 1978, and she recorded a concert at Bass
Hall that became 2006’s Time Again .Amy Grant Live. She will return to Will Rogers at 8 p.m. for a gig blending gospel and pop. $29.75-$49.75.
Chrisian Music News Source
deep Cowtown ties — Will Rogers Auditorium was the site of Grant’s inaugural paid performance in 1978, and she recorded a concert at Bass
Hall that became 2006’s Time Again .Amy Grant Live. She will return to Will Rogers at 8 p.m. for a gig blending gospel and pop. $29.75-$49.75.
Chrisian Music News Source
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Amy Grant has been guided by faith all her life, without becoming that ‘preachy Church Lady'
Amy Grant has been guided by faith all her life, without becoming that ‘preachy Church Lady'
With 30 million albums sold worldwide, nine platinum albums, six Grammy Awards and 26 Dove Awards under her belt, Grant also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
But she has said she prefers an evening of hanging out with her family to life in the spotlights, and that her faith is a simple gift that she relies on, both in tough days and good ones.
Married to country star Vince Gill, Grant has three children from her first marriage - Matt, 21, Millie, 19, and Sarah, 16. Gill has a daughter from his first marriage, Jenny, 26. And the couple has a daughter, Corrina, 7.
We caught up with Grant last week at her home near Nashville for a discussion of her faith and family.
Q: You've said that you went to church regularly with your parents. When and how did you make that relationship with Christ your own?
A: It sort of was in two phases. I remember that May evening when I was 12. I knew I was going to walk down the aisle that Sunday evening (to accept Christ). It was very thought out. I just remember how special it was.
Then, two years later, when I was 14, and on through high school, I started going to a different church. My two oldest sisters went to school in Boston and started going to a church that was very active. When they came home, they looked around and got active in a Nashville church on Music Row. It was musical, but people were in blue jeans and barefoot. Street people came. A lot of college kids.
I had so much Bible; I knew it like I knew history and my math facts. But it was in that free-form setting at Belmont Church that I came to know a relationship with Jesus. All the dots were connecting. I prayed a lot as a little kid, but it was a lot of King James speaking - a lot of reverence. I loved it. I loved the old hymns. At my all-girls high school, it was a very intense education; really high standards. I saw a lot of mental, emotional, spiritual need, but it's easy to medicate when you have money - new clothes, a new car. But I wasn't around a lot of physical need.
When I went to the (Belmont) youth group, we walked into an apartment. These kids were so welcoming, so inviting. None came from my school. They were so easygoing and open. There were drug problems, a couple of unexpected pregnancies, people whose parents couldn't pay the rent. I loved my school, but I plugged into that youth group.
I began writing songs and asked another friend to do songs with me in a school assembly. We sang and shared stories. After that, I found letters stuffed in my locker, in my books, from a lot of upperclassmen saying, "Can we talk?" More needs than I knew.
Q: Do you have a favorite Bible verse?
A: So many. When I was in college, a group of us used to run, or jog or limp, and for a time, we had to bring a verse and then we had to memorize it while we were jogging. I think that lasted maybe one week. Mine was Hebrews 10:23 - "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful."
Q: You've gone through a lot of challenges and changes in the past 10 years. How has your faith helped you?
A: For all of us, our faith shapes how we see life. My husband came back a while ago after having lunch with a new friend. This man had opened up about his war experiences (in Vietnam), about the killing and the horrors. This man said, "My faith saved me from the war." That's true. Our faith saves us from ourselves, our circumstances. There have been times of amazing growth and times of feeling stagnant for a lot of reasons.
I think a great thing happens after you turn 40. I have found that my emotional pendulum doesn't swing as wide, and my emotional and spiritual roots feel deeper. I remember looking at my parents' spiritual maturity when I was a kid and wondering, "When am I going to feel like that?" I think it's the hard times, whether they're imposed on us or whether we bring them on ourselves, that brings it.
Q: Are you doing anything different in sharing your faith and beliefs with your youngest daughter, Corrina, than you did with your older three children?
A: Probably. I guess I'd have to ask them. I'm older and probably more relaxed. I would imagine that hopefully at times, I'm a better listener than I was as a young mom.
Q: Now that you're the mom of a couple of young adults, how has your spiritual advice or practices changed? Do you ever want to throttle them for some of the choices they're making?
A: I find I say less the older I get. They're not going to listen anyway, unless they want to hear. When they're children, you're sort of gearing toward them. As adults, I talk to them like I would talk to myself, only I say a lot less. Mostly, I try to be encouraging. Life is the greatest teacher. At this point, it's not going to be mom's words.
One of my kids, I won't say which one, was having a really tough time the other night. We were out on the front porch. You know, you can't fix it. We sat in the rocking chair. I said, "Two things come to mind right now. One was a verse your grandmother used to quote all the time - 'All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.' And then I added, 'You know, all of us are called according to his purpose.' That might not be other people's theology, but it's what I believe - that all of us are called for his purpose.
Second, I heard Bruce Springsteen once say, "Great enlightenment is always preceded by a f - -up." I don't talk that way, but it was a quote. It's life. The things in heaven and things on earth are so articulated by Bruce and God. That's the way I've raised my kids - I'm not preachy Church Lady.
Q: What's the best part of being God's daughter?
A: The best part is knowing if I never lifted a finger, it wouldn't change his love for me. That's true of everybody. We just live in such a performance-based world - who looks the best, who serves the best, who tries the hardest, who does the most. I mean I don't want to lay around in bed and eat bon bons. But I'm so thankful that I don't have to work to earn his love.
Christian Music News Source
With 30 million albums sold worldwide, nine platinum albums, six Grammy Awards and 26 Dove Awards under her belt, Grant also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
But she has said she prefers an evening of hanging out with her family to life in the spotlights, and that her faith is a simple gift that she relies on, both in tough days and good ones.
Married to country star Vince Gill, Grant has three children from her first marriage - Matt, 21, Millie, 19, and Sarah, 16. Gill has a daughter from his first marriage, Jenny, 26. And the couple has a daughter, Corrina, 7.
We caught up with Grant last week at her home near Nashville for a discussion of her faith and family.
Q: You've said that you went to church regularly with your parents. When and how did you make that relationship with Christ your own?
A: It sort of was in two phases. I remember that May evening when I was 12. I knew I was going to walk down the aisle that Sunday evening (to accept Christ). It was very thought out. I just remember how special it was.
Then, two years later, when I was 14, and on through high school, I started going to a different church. My two oldest sisters went to school in Boston and started going to a church that was very active. When they came home, they looked around and got active in a Nashville church on Music Row. It was musical, but people were in blue jeans and barefoot. Street people came. A lot of college kids.
I had so much Bible; I knew it like I knew history and my math facts. But it was in that free-form setting at Belmont Church that I came to know a relationship with Jesus. All the dots were connecting. I prayed a lot as a little kid, but it was a lot of King James speaking - a lot of reverence. I loved it. I loved the old hymns. At my all-girls high school, it was a very intense education; really high standards. I saw a lot of mental, emotional, spiritual need, but it's easy to medicate when you have money - new clothes, a new car. But I wasn't around a lot of physical need.
When I went to the (Belmont) youth group, we walked into an apartment. These kids were so welcoming, so inviting. None came from my school. They were so easygoing and open. There were drug problems, a couple of unexpected pregnancies, people whose parents couldn't pay the rent. I loved my school, but I plugged into that youth group.
I began writing songs and asked another friend to do songs with me in a school assembly. We sang and shared stories. After that, I found letters stuffed in my locker, in my books, from a lot of upperclassmen saying, "Can we talk?" More needs than I knew.
Q: Do you have a favorite Bible verse?
A: So many. When I was in college, a group of us used to run, or jog or limp, and for a time, we had to bring a verse and then we had to memorize it while we were jogging. I think that lasted maybe one week. Mine was Hebrews 10:23 - "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful."
Q: You've gone through a lot of challenges and changes in the past 10 years. How has your faith helped you?
A: For all of us, our faith shapes how we see life. My husband came back a while ago after having lunch with a new friend. This man had opened up about his war experiences (in Vietnam), about the killing and the horrors. This man said, "My faith saved me from the war." That's true. Our faith saves us from ourselves, our circumstances. There have been times of amazing growth and times of feeling stagnant for a lot of reasons.
I think a great thing happens after you turn 40. I have found that my emotional pendulum doesn't swing as wide, and my emotional and spiritual roots feel deeper. I remember looking at my parents' spiritual maturity when I was a kid and wondering, "When am I going to feel like that?" I think it's the hard times, whether they're imposed on us or whether we bring them on ourselves, that brings it.
Q: Are you doing anything different in sharing your faith and beliefs with your youngest daughter, Corrina, than you did with your older three children?
A: Probably. I guess I'd have to ask them. I'm older and probably more relaxed. I would imagine that hopefully at times, I'm a better listener than I was as a young mom.
Q: Now that you're the mom of a couple of young adults, how has your spiritual advice or practices changed? Do you ever want to throttle them for some of the choices they're making?
A: I find I say less the older I get. They're not going to listen anyway, unless they want to hear. When they're children, you're sort of gearing toward them. As adults, I talk to them like I would talk to myself, only I say a lot less. Mostly, I try to be encouraging. Life is the greatest teacher. At this point, it's not going to be mom's words.
One of my kids, I won't say which one, was having a really tough time the other night. We were out on the front porch. You know, you can't fix it. We sat in the rocking chair. I said, "Two things come to mind right now. One was a verse your grandmother used to quote all the time - 'All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.' And then I added, 'You know, all of us are called according to his purpose.' That might not be other people's theology, but it's what I believe - that all of us are called for his purpose.
Second, I heard Bruce Springsteen once say, "Great enlightenment is always preceded by a f - -up." I don't talk that way, but it was a quote. It's life. The things in heaven and things on earth are so articulated by Bruce and God. That's the way I've raised my kids - I'm not preachy Church Lady.
Q: What's the best part of being God's daughter?
A: The best part is knowing if I never lifted a finger, it wouldn't change his love for me. That's true of everybody. We just live in such a performance-based world - who looks the best, who serves the best, who tries the hardest, who does the most. I mean I don't want to lay around in bed and eat bon bons. But I'm so thankful that I don't have to work to earn his love.
Christian Music News Source
Amy Grant aims for timeless holiday moods on 'Christmas Collection'
Amy Grant has become a familiar voice during Christmastime.
She's sold more than 6 million Christmas albums, her Christmas tour has become part of many families' Christmas traditions and "Tennessee Christmas" has become a new Christmas favorite.
Amy Grant has become a familiar voice during Christmastime.
She's sold more than 6 million Christmas albums, her Christmas tour has become part of many families' Christmas traditions and "Tennessee Christmas" has become a new Christmas favorite.
Christian Music News Source
She's sold more than 6 million Christmas albums, her Christmas tour has become part of many families' Christmas traditions and "Tennessee Christmas" has become a new Christmas favorite.
Amy Grant has become a familiar voice during Christmastime.
She's sold more than 6 million Christmas albums, her Christmas tour has become part of many families' Christmas traditions and "Tennessee Christmas" has become a new Christmas favorite.
Christian Music News Source
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Vince Gill and Amy Grant: Singing couple talk life, love, politics before big shows
Contemporary Christian and pop music singer Amy Grant and her Country Music Hall of Fame husband Vince Gill like to schedule their tours at the same time so they can relax together when they’re back home in Nashville.
Sometimes their separate agents end up booking them in the same cities and venues, Grant said. Which is why both will soon be appearing in Bakersfield’s Fox Theater just a few days apart.
And it will be ladies first, as Grant performs for the San Joaquin Community Hospital Foundation’s 2008 Gala fundraiser Saturday, and Gill shines on the same stage Oct. 23 as part of his Vince Gill Acoustic Tour.
AMY
San Joaquin Hospital Foundation director Mimi Audelo is especially excited about Grant’s visit.
“She is a good fit for our organization,” Audelo said, adding that Grant would be “good for the community.”
As, no doubt, will be the hospital’s long-awaited burn center scheduled to open in December, which will benefit directly from the fundraiser’s proceeds, Audelo said.
“I’m thrilled,” is how Grant, during a phone interview, described her feeling about helping to raise funds for the center, which will include a five-bed intensive care unit and an outpatient office.
“I know that people are losing their jobs” in today’s troubled economy, she said, “but many people aren’t and I know those are the people who are buying tickets.”
Grant’s concert Saturday will be part of her “Lead Me On” 20th Anniversary Celebration Tour, which is named for her 1988 platinum album. “It’s truly a one-time opportunity for me to do my old songs,” the five-time Grammy winner said, particularly those from her first 10 years as a recording artist, 1978 to 1988.
That first decade was a purer, more innocent time for her and it was reflected in her music, Grant said. “The message got diluted when I went after pop radio. You can just tell I wrote these songs when no one was looking.”
Her feeling behind her upcoming concert’s theme is, “Let’s look back and remind ourselves of who we were before we lived so much life, before we were impassioned and made so many mistakes. And with the gift of looking back, let’s move ahead.”
But the audience can also expect two or three of Grant’s new songs and some encores as well. “I am wide open to anyone shouting out a song,” she said.
She might even do a new one she just wrote called “Find,” Grant said.
“What would they find if they uncovered all of my tracks?...Secrets and so much more,” the song says.
“We will find what we’re looking for in each other,” Grant said. “We’ll find the good, we’ll find the bad, because it’s present in all of us.”
The song sometimes makes her think of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, for whom Grant has felt a lot of compassion — Christian female role model to Christian female role model — since Palin was suddenly thrust into the national spotlight following her nomination.
“I don’t remember ever being so compelled to pray for somebody,” Grant said about Palin, although she says she makes it a point to pray for national leaders in general. “I wake up in the morning and just pray for all of them.”
VINCE
“I’m probably not as devoted to prayer as my wife is,” said Grant’s 19-Grammy-winning husband. “I have more of a common-sense approach to life than Amy does, based more on hoping that people do the right thing.
“In my view, what’s going on in our country,” Gill said, referring to the financial chaos happening during this election year, “is that we need to look at ourselves for the answers to the problems rather than pointing the finger at Washington. I think the mirror would be a good place to look. People want more stuff than they can afford,” he said, but “none of the politicians would be crazy enough to say anything like that” because it would cost them votes.
“I wish everybody would embrace everybody and say, ‘Let’s do what’s best for everybody instead of what’s best for me,’” Gill said.
Such casual, good-spirited honesty, combined with an unexpected sense of humor, makes Gill popular with his fans. They’ll get to see this very informal side of him during his concert on Oct. 23, which he described as “the opposite of show business.”
“It’s an acoustic show,” he said. “Me and three musicians, we sit down and there’s no set list.
There’s no plan. It winds down to what people want to hear. It’s very informal. I talk a lot of how the songs were made. We’ll do some new songs.”
And, yes, he too will take requests from the audience — “As long as I know how to play the song,” he quipped.
His tour is taking Gill to 42 cities in four months. There are a few two-week respites for going back to Nashville between strings of shows, but “it’s no fun” being away from home and his and Amy’s kids, Gill said.
He’s excited about coming to Bakersfield, however.
“It’s one of my favorite places to play,” he said, because some of his biggest country music heroes, Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, come from here.
“Bakersfield has a real honored place in my heart for this kind of music. I think some of the best country music came out of Bakersfield. I was as drawn to Buck and Merle as any other artist that came along.”
Christian Music News Source
Sometimes their separate agents end up booking them in the same cities and venues, Grant said. Which is why both will soon be appearing in Bakersfield’s Fox Theater just a few days apart.
And it will be ladies first, as Grant performs for the San Joaquin Community Hospital Foundation’s 2008 Gala fundraiser Saturday, and Gill shines on the same stage Oct. 23 as part of his Vince Gill Acoustic Tour.
AMY
San Joaquin Hospital Foundation director Mimi Audelo is especially excited about Grant’s visit.
“She is a good fit for our organization,” Audelo said, adding that Grant would be “good for the community.”
As, no doubt, will be the hospital’s long-awaited burn center scheduled to open in December, which will benefit directly from the fundraiser’s proceeds, Audelo said.
“I’m thrilled,” is how Grant, during a phone interview, described her feeling about helping to raise funds for the center, which will include a five-bed intensive care unit and an outpatient office.
“I know that people are losing their jobs” in today’s troubled economy, she said, “but many people aren’t and I know those are the people who are buying tickets.”
Grant’s concert Saturday will be part of her “Lead Me On” 20th Anniversary Celebration Tour, which is named for her 1988 platinum album. “It’s truly a one-time opportunity for me to do my old songs,” the five-time Grammy winner said, particularly those from her first 10 years as a recording artist, 1978 to 1988.
That first decade was a purer, more innocent time for her and it was reflected in her music, Grant said. “The message got diluted when I went after pop radio. You can just tell I wrote these songs when no one was looking.”
Her feeling behind her upcoming concert’s theme is, “Let’s look back and remind ourselves of who we were before we lived so much life, before we were impassioned and made so many mistakes. And with the gift of looking back, let’s move ahead.”
But the audience can also expect two or three of Grant’s new songs and some encores as well. “I am wide open to anyone shouting out a song,” she said.
She might even do a new one she just wrote called “Find,” Grant said.
“What would they find if they uncovered all of my tracks?...Secrets and so much more,” the song says.
“We will find what we’re looking for in each other,” Grant said. “We’ll find the good, we’ll find the bad, because it’s present in all of us.”
The song sometimes makes her think of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, for whom Grant has felt a lot of compassion — Christian female role model to Christian female role model — since Palin was suddenly thrust into the national spotlight following her nomination.
“I don’t remember ever being so compelled to pray for somebody,” Grant said about Palin, although she says she makes it a point to pray for national leaders in general. “I wake up in the morning and just pray for all of them.”
VINCE
“I’m probably not as devoted to prayer as my wife is,” said Grant’s 19-Grammy-winning husband. “I have more of a common-sense approach to life than Amy does, based more on hoping that people do the right thing.
“In my view, what’s going on in our country,” Gill said, referring to the financial chaos happening during this election year, “is that we need to look at ourselves for the answers to the problems rather than pointing the finger at Washington. I think the mirror would be a good place to look. People want more stuff than they can afford,” he said, but “none of the politicians would be crazy enough to say anything like that” because it would cost them votes.
“I wish everybody would embrace everybody and say, ‘Let’s do what’s best for everybody instead of what’s best for me,’” Gill said.
Such casual, good-spirited honesty, combined with an unexpected sense of humor, makes Gill popular with his fans. They’ll get to see this very informal side of him during his concert on Oct. 23, which he described as “the opposite of show business.”
“It’s an acoustic show,” he said. “Me and three musicians, we sit down and there’s no set list.
There’s no plan. It winds down to what people want to hear. It’s very informal. I talk a lot of how the songs were made. We’ll do some new songs.”
And, yes, he too will take requests from the audience — “As long as I know how to play the song,” he quipped.
His tour is taking Gill to 42 cities in four months. There are a few two-week respites for going back to Nashville between strings of shows, but “it’s no fun” being away from home and his and Amy’s kids, Gill said.
He’s excited about coming to Bakersfield, however.
“It’s one of my favorite places to play,” he said, because some of his biggest country music heroes, Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, come from here.
“Bakersfield has a real honored place in my heart for this kind of music. I think some of the best country music came out of Bakersfield. I was as drawn to Buck and Merle as any other artist that came along.”
Christian Music News Source
Amy Grant Launches 20th Anniversary 'Lead Me On' Tour
Earlier this summer EMI Christian Music Group commemorated the multi-platinum selling “Lead Me On,” one of the most popular, treasured albums in Amy Grant’s spectacular 30 year history, with a 20th Anniversary two disc set.
This week, in support of these songs and season of life for so many who loved this project, Grant is launching the “Lead Me On” 20th Anniversary Celebration Tour” in Phoenix tonight, October 16th. About kicking off the tour, Grant had this to say:
“I am so excited to get this tour started – so much so that it’s even hard to express.
Being able to re-engage audiences with these songs, with so many old friends on stage is a dream come true.
As we’ve rehearsed, we’ve all felt the passion and inspiration these songs come flooding back, and we can’t wait to share that.”
• Featuring six of the original band members from the first “Lead Me On Tour,” Grant will make her way through 20 U.S. cities (see dates below).
• Following such, and in support of the newly released “The Christmas Collection,” Grant and husband Vince Gill will embark on a 15-date Christmas With Amy & Vince Tour starting Dec. 4, in Manchester, NH (also see dates below).
www.amygrant.com
Amy Grant has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, and she has achieved unparalleled success as a crossover Contemporary Christian artist. In the U.S. alone, Grant’s achievements include nine platinum and platinum-plus albums and nine gold albums, six Grammy Awards and 21 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards. She is well-known as the pioneering Christian singer whose success on mainstream radio opened doors for other Christian artists. Grant’s impact was recently celebrated with a star on the legendary Hollywood Walk of Fame, making her the only artist with roots in Contemporary Christian music other than Andrae Crouch to receive such an honor.
LEAD ME ON Reunion Tour (Dates subject to change)
Date City/State/Venue
Oct 16 Phoenix, AZ Celebrity Theatre
Oct 17 Irvine, CA Mariners Church
Oct 18 Bakersfield, CA Bakersfield Fox Theater
Oct 19 Visalia, CA Visalia Fox Theater
Oct 22 Escondido, CA CA Center for the Arts
Oct 23 Morgan Hill, CA ARTTEC Amph at Ann Sobrato PAC
Oct 24 Modesto, CA Gallo Center for the Arts
Oct 25 Wendover, NV Peppermill Concert Hall
Oct 27 Portland, OR Rolling Hills Community Church
Oct 28 Redmond, WA Overlake Christian Church -
Oct 29 Spokane, WA INB Performing Arts Center
Nov 01 Prior Lake, MN Mystic Lake Casino Hotel
Nov 11 Las Vegas, NV The Orleans Arena
Nov 13 The Woodlands, TX Fellowship of the Woodlands
Nov 14 Ft. Worth, TX Will Rogers Auditorium
Nov 15 Branson, MO The Mansion
Nov 16 Wichita, KS Central Christian Church
Nov 18 Greeneville, TN Niswonger Performing Arts Center
Nov 20 Hershey, PA Hershey Theatre
Nov 21 Morristown, NJ Community Theatre
Nov 22 Upper Darby, PA Tower Theatre
Christmas With Amy & Vince tour (all dates subject to change):
Dec. 4 Manchester, NH/Verizon Wireless Arena
Dec. 5 Augusta, ME/Augusta Civic Center
Dec. 6 West Point, NY/Eisenhower Hall Theatre
Dec. 7 Mashantucket, CT/MGM Grand Theatre at Foxwoods
Dec. 10 Baltimore, MD/Lyric Opera House
Dec. 11 Albany, NY/Times Union Center
Dec. 12 Worcester, MA/DCU Center
Dec. 13 Elmira, NY/First Arena
Dec. 15 Atlanta, GA/Fox Theatre
Dec. 16 Charlotte, NC/Ovens Auditorium
Dec. 18 Grand Rapids, MI/Van Andel Arena
Dec. 19 St. Louis, MO/Scottrade Center
Dec. 20 Bloomington, IL/US Cellular Colliseum
Dec. 22 & 23 Nashville, TN/Ryman Auditorium
Christian Music News Source
This week, in support of these songs and season of life for so many who loved this project, Grant is launching the “Lead Me On” 20th Anniversary Celebration Tour” in Phoenix tonight, October 16th. About kicking off the tour, Grant had this to say:
“I am so excited to get this tour started – so much so that it’s even hard to express.
Being able to re-engage audiences with these songs, with so many old friends on stage is a dream come true.
As we’ve rehearsed, we’ve all felt the passion and inspiration these songs come flooding back, and we can’t wait to share that.”
• Featuring six of the original band members from the first “Lead Me On Tour,” Grant will make her way through 20 U.S. cities (see dates below).
• Following such, and in support of the newly released “The Christmas Collection,” Grant and husband Vince Gill will embark on a 15-date Christmas With Amy & Vince Tour starting Dec. 4, in Manchester, NH (also see dates below).
www.amygrant.com
Amy Grant has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, and she has achieved unparalleled success as a crossover Contemporary Christian artist. In the U.S. alone, Grant’s achievements include nine platinum and platinum-plus albums and nine gold albums, six Grammy Awards and 21 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards. She is well-known as the pioneering Christian singer whose success on mainstream radio opened doors for other Christian artists. Grant’s impact was recently celebrated with a star on the legendary Hollywood Walk of Fame, making her the only artist with roots in Contemporary Christian music other than Andrae Crouch to receive such an honor.
LEAD ME ON Reunion Tour (Dates subject to change)
Date City/State/Venue
Oct 16 Phoenix, AZ Celebrity Theatre
Oct 17 Irvine, CA Mariners Church
Oct 18 Bakersfield, CA Bakersfield Fox Theater
Oct 19 Visalia, CA Visalia Fox Theater
Oct 22 Escondido, CA CA Center for the Arts
Oct 23 Morgan Hill, CA ARTTEC Amph at Ann Sobrato PAC
Oct 24 Modesto, CA Gallo Center for the Arts
Oct 25 Wendover, NV Peppermill Concert Hall
Oct 27 Portland, OR Rolling Hills Community Church
Oct 28 Redmond, WA Overlake Christian Church -
Oct 29 Spokane, WA INB Performing Arts Center
Nov 01 Prior Lake, MN Mystic Lake Casino Hotel
Nov 11 Las Vegas, NV The Orleans Arena
Nov 13 The Woodlands, TX Fellowship of the Woodlands
Nov 14 Ft. Worth, TX Will Rogers Auditorium
Nov 15 Branson, MO The Mansion
Nov 16 Wichita, KS Central Christian Church
Nov 18 Greeneville, TN Niswonger Performing Arts Center
Nov 20 Hershey, PA Hershey Theatre
Nov 21 Morristown, NJ Community Theatre
Nov 22 Upper Darby, PA Tower Theatre
Christmas With Amy & Vince tour (all dates subject to change):
Dec. 4 Manchester, NH/Verizon Wireless Arena
Dec. 5 Augusta, ME/Augusta Civic Center
Dec. 6 West Point, NY/Eisenhower Hall Theatre
Dec. 7 Mashantucket, CT/MGM Grand Theatre at Foxwoods
Dec. 10 Baltimore, MD/Lyric Opera House
Dec. 11 Albany, NY/Times Union Center
Dec. 12 Worcester, MA/DCU Center
Dec. 13 Elmira, NY/First Arena
Dec. 15 Atlanta, GA/Fox Theatre
Dec. 16 Charlotte, NC/Ovens Auditorium
Dec. 18 Grand Rapids, MI/Van Andel Arena
Dec. 19 St. Louis, MO/Scottrade Center
Dec. 20 Bloomington, IL/US Cellular Colliseum
Dec. 22 & 23 Nashville, TN/Ryman Auditorium
Christian Music News Source
Amy Grant to perform at the Gallo Center
Amy Grant is feeling a bit retrospective.
Or, more accurately, her music is retrospective, thanks to her 20th anniversary "Lead Me On" celebration tour. The tour coincides with a special anniversary rerelease of the 1988 "Lead Me On" album, which remains one of the most popular and influential Christian records to date.
The 20-city tour reunites Grant with most of the band members from her sold-out "Lead Me On" tour from two decades ago. The new CD includes the original album and a bonus disc with new, acoustic recordings of three tracks, as well as four previously unreleased live performances from the original 1989 tour.
The singer/songwriter has sold some 30 million albums and won six Grammy Awards over the years while moving among the musical worlds of Christian, pop and country.
Grant spoke with The Bee last week on lunch break while rehearsing for the start of the new tour. In between bites of homemade taco soup, Grant spoke about the tour, her crossover career and finding time on tour for her famous husband.
Q: Why did you want celebrate "Lead Me On" in this way?
A: EMI Records asked me and asked if I had any kind of bonus material to include. But I hadn't thought about it for over a decade. When we made the original recording, we paid to have two nights multi-track recorded. And then I had just put them in the vault. I had never even heard them.
So earlier this year, we located the tapes, which was a minor miracle. The equipment was outdated, so we had to bake the tapes in a 200-degree oven overnight to get the moisture out. But when the engineer heard the music, he said, "I didn't know you back then, but this is one of the best live bands I've heard in my life."
Q: The tour reunites you with original band members. How is it working with them again?
A: It's been unbelievable. We had three weeks of rehearsal. It has been so easy. We sang through them (the old songs) one time and went OK. I guess it was like an old football team that won the state championship and got back together. It was such a joy to see all of these people.
Q: What can people expect to hear on this tour?
A: Basically, nothing recorded after 1988 will appear, which is interesting. I've made music for 30 years. ... So as far as picking songs goes, it's so easy to just have 10 years of material to deal with. I'm doing songs I haven't performed live in 25 years.
Then, if all goes well and everyone stays to the end and we get an encore, my plan is to go out and sing songs that I have yet to record. What is interesting about the whole concept of this tour is that when you look back to remind yourself of who you are and where you came from, hopefully it inspires you to look ahead.
To blow the dust off these old songs has been loads of fun. I joked with my husband that in my own way, I'm having my Dara Torres moment. Twenty years later, I'm trying to scream out these songs.
Q: You've been very successful as a crossover artist. Why do you think you were able to connect with those varied audiences?
A: I'm not sure. I think the consistent element of my music is that I write most of it, at least the lyrics. That has allowed me to go between genres with a certain amount of integrity. It's the same person talking about different things. The highest compliment I can receive is someone saying, "When I heard that song, you said what I feel."
Crowds come and go; a lot of talented performers can't sell tickets. I've played my share of shows where we didn't sell enough seats and when we went home we said, "OK, there was a big hole there." That's just the bell curve of what is popular. But songwriting doesn't require a big budget and you can share it anywhere anytime.
We were rehearsing right by the river in Nashville and a friend of mine invited me to go to a meeting for the homeless under the Jefferson Bridge. They serve a hot meal and have music and have a mission of hope. So I left work and went.
I went from planning this big-guns musical production seen in theaters and nice places to singing with my guitar under the Jefferson Street Bridge for homeless people. And, you know what, it was just as exciting ... We had a little pulled-together band. That is the glorious thing about music is that it brings people together. It highlights everything that we have in common.
Q: You'll be in Modesto the same night your husband is just down the road in Turlock. Did you coordinate that?
A: Well, it's not coordinated because we probably won't actually see each other. We have to tear down and get on the bus. We call ourselves the two ships passing in the night. The last two weekends ago, we were both in Iowa. I told the crowd it was so weird because my husband was 110 miles away. Someone shouted out a truck stop we could meet at.
Christian Music News Source
Or, more accurately, her music is retrospective, thanks to her 20th anniversary "Lead Me On" celebration tour. The tour coincides with a special anniversary rerelease of the 1988 "Lead Me On" album, which remains one of the most popular and influential Christian records to date.
The 20-city tour reunites Grant with most of the band members from her sold-out "Lead Me On" tour from two decades ago. The new CD includes the original album and a bonus disc with new, acoustic recordings of three tracks, as well as four previously unreleased live performances from the original 1989 tour.
The singer/songwriter has sold some 30 million albums and won six Grammy Awards over the years while moving among the musical worlds of Christian, pop and country.
Grant spoke with The Bee last week on lunch break while rehearsing for the start of the new tour. In between bites of homemade taco soup, Grant spoke about the tour, her crossover career and finding time on tour for her famous husband.
Q: Why did you want celebrate "Lead Me On" in this way?
A: EMI Records asked me and asked if I had any kind of bonus material to include. But I hadn't thought about it for over a decade. When we made the original recording, we paid to have two nights multi-track recorded. And then I had just put them in the vault. I had never even heard them.
So earlier this year, we located the tapes, which was a minor miracle. The equipment was outdated, so we had to bake the tapes in a 200-degree oven overnight to get the moisture out. But when the engineer heard the music, he said, "I didn't know you back then, but this is one of the best live bands I've heard in my life."
Q: The tour reunites you with original band members. How is it working with them again?
A: It's been unbelievable. We had three weeks of rehearsal. It has been so easy. We sang through them (the old songs) one time and went OK. I guess it was like an old football team that won the state championship and got back together. It was such a joy to see all of these people.
Q: What can people expect to hear on this tour?
A: Basically, nothing recorded after 1988 will appear, which is interesting. I've made music for 30 years. ... So as far as picking songs goes, it's so easy to just have 10 years of material to deal with. I'm doing songs I haven't performed live in 25 years.
Then, if all goes well and everyone stays to the end and we get an encore, my plan is to go out and sing songs that I have yet to record. What is interesting about the whole concept of this tour is that when you look back to remind yourself of who you are and where you came from, hopefully it inspires you to look ahead.
To blow the dust off these old songs has been loads of fun. I joked with my husband that in my own way, I'm having my Dara Torres moment. Twenty years later, I'm trying to scream out these songs.
Q: You've been very successful as a crossover artist. Why do you think you were able to connect with those varied audiences?
A: I'm not sure. I think the consistent element of my music is that I write most of it, at least the lyrics. That has allowed me to go between genres with a certain amount of integrity. It's the same person talking about different things. The highest compliment I can receive is someone saying, "When I heard that song, you said what I feel."
Crowds come and go; a lot of talented performers can't sell tickets. I've played my share of shows where we didn't sell enough seats and when we went home we said, "OK, there was a big hole there." That's just the bell curve of what is popular. But songwriting doesn't require a big budget and you can share it anywhere anytime.
We were rehearsing right by the river in Nashville and a friend of mine invited me to go to a meeting for the homeless under the Jefferson Bridge. They serve a hot meal and have music and have a mission of hope. So I left work and went.
I went from planning this big-guns musical production seen in theaters and nice places to singing with my guitar under the Jefferson Street Bridge for homeless people. And, you know what, it was just as exciting ... We had a little pulled-together band. That is the glorious thing about music is that it brings people together. It highlights everything that we have in common.
Q: You'll be in Modesto the same night your husband is just down the road in Turlock. Did you coordinate that?
A: Well, it's not coordinated because we probably won't actually see each other. We have to tear down and get on the bus. We call ourselves the two ships passing in the night. The last two weekends ago, we were both in Iowa. I told the crowd it was so weird because my husband was 110 miles away. Someone shouted out a truck stop we could meet at.
Christian Music News Source
Risky show pays off for Amy Grant
The concept of Amy Grant’s new show is a risky one. Essentially, she is recreating her 1988 Lead Me On tour, down to regrouping the original band and sticking to the original arrangements. It also means skipping material that she has created in the past two decades, including such crowd-pleasing favorites as “Baby Baby” and “Takes a Little Time.”
“I don’t know if this is a hideous idea,” Grant confessed during the opening night of the tour at the Celebrity Theatre on Thursday. But if the point was to rekindle memories and to leave the crowd feeling energized and uplifted, she achieved all she set out to do.
Grant joked about the nostalgic nature of the evening. “I’m going to be 48 next month,” she announced. “What am I doing?” And while the show did proudly revel in the trappings of the era, with arena-rock guitars, booming drums and even some dreaded audience participation, it also felt remarkably vital.
Much of that was due to the power of Grant’s music. The best of her early material is timeless, including the stirring “El Shaddai” and “Sing Your Praise to the Lord,” a classic written by the late Rich Mullins. The songs from the Lead Me On album are often darker, but equally effective. The self-penned “Shadows” boldly addresses the subject of temptation, while Janis Ian’s “What About the Love” is stark and chilling in Grant’s hands. There’s a reason the disc was named the No. 1 Christian-music album of all time by industry publication CCM Magazine; the material is mostly wonderful.
The arrangements offered by her eight band members were pretty much unchanged from the original tour. “Shadows” boasted a hypnotic keyboard hook that lodges in your brain permanently. The reassuring gospel rocker “All Right” featured some screaming guitar work from Jerry McPherson and Chris Rodriguez; the latter looks like he hasn’t aged a day in 20 years. Keyboardist Chris Eaton, a solo performer in his own right, got a moment in the spotlight with a devotional number called "I Will." It broke the evening's no-new-songs rule, but it was sweetly plaintive.
In recent years, Grant has mellowed into a folksy performer whose shows have an almost Lilith Fair quality. However, she seemed completely revitalized by the night’s theme, singing with a ferocious intensity. During the reggae tinged “Everywhere I Go,” she even swayed her hips like a teenager. “This was about as much as a Church of Christ girl could do,” she cracked. Even better was the cautionary “Wise Up,” which sported a bass-heavy Paisley Park vibe that was completely infectious. Grant flubbed the lyric at one point, but who cared? It was simply fun, and the entire crowd was on its feet.
One of Grant’s gifts is the ability to make people in a big venue feel like they’re in an intimate, one-on-one setting with the singer. She achieved that several times during the night, but particularly on a lovely and understated reading of “Say Once More” that she used during the encore. Even fans who have followed her career for decades probably walked away feeling that they knew her a little better.
Set list: My Father’s Eyes
Love of Another Kind
Wait For the Healing
Shadows
1974
Everywhere I Go
Saved By Love
What About the Love
All Right
El Shaddai
Sing Your Praise to the Lord
All I Ever Have to Be
I Will (Chris Eaton solo)
Lead Me On
Find a Way
Wise Up
Angels
Fight
Encore:
Stay For Awhile
What Would They Think
Say Once More
Second Encore:
Turn! Turn! Turn!
Christian Music News Source
“I don’t know if this is a hideous idea,” Grant confessed during the opening night of the tour at the Celebrity Theatre on Thursday. But if the point was to rekindle memories and to leave the crowd feeling energized and uplifted, she achieved all she set out to do.
Grant joked about the nostalgic nature of the evening. “I’m going to be 48 next month,” she announced. “What am I doing?” And while the show did proudly revel in the trappings of the era, with arena-rock guitars, booming drums and even some dreaded audience participation, it also felt remarkably vital.
Much of that was due to the power of Grant’s music. The best of her early material is timeless, including the stirring “El Shaddai” and “Sing Your Praise to the Lord,” a classic written by the late Rich Mullins. The songs from the Lead Me On album are often darker, but equally effective. The self-penned “Shadows” boldly addresses the subject of temptation, while Janis Ian’s “What About the Love” is stark and chilling in Grant’s hands. There’s a reason the disc was named the No. 1 Christian-music album of all time by industry publication CCM Magazine; the material is mostly wonderful.
The arrangements offered by her eight band members were pretty much unchanged from the original tour. “Shadows” boasted a hypnotic keyboard hook that lodges in your brain permanently. The reassuring gospel rocker “All Right” featured some screaming guitar work from Jerry McPherson and Chris Rodriguez; the latter looks like he hasn’t aged a day in 20 years. Keyboardist Chris Eaton, a solo performer in his own right, got a moment in the spotlight with a devotional number called "I Will." It broke the evening's no-new-songs rule, but it was sweetly plaintive.
In recent years, Grant has mellowed into a folksy performer whose shows have an almost Lilith Fair quality. However, she seemed completely revitalized by the night’s theme, singing with a ferocious intensity. During the reggae tinged “Everywhere I Go,” she even swayed her hips like a teenager. “This was about as much as a Church of Christ girl could do,” she cracked. Even better was the cautionary “Wise Up,” which sported a bass-heavy Paisley Park vibe that was completely infectious. Grant flubbed the lyric at one point, but who cared? It was simply fun, and the entire crowd was on its feet.
One of Grant’s gifts is the ability to make people in a big venue feel like they’re in an intimate, one-on-one setting with the singer. She achieved that several times during the night, but particularly on a lovely and understated reading of “Say Once More” that she used during the encore. Even fans who have followed her career for decades probably walked away feeling that they knew her a little better.
Set list: My Father’s Eyes
Love of Another Kind
Wait For the Healing
Shadows
1974
Everywhere I Go
Saved By Love
What About the Love
All Right
El Shaddai
Sing Your Praise to the Lord
All I Ever Have to Be
I Will (Chris Eaton solo)
Lead Me On
Find a Way
Wise Up
Angels
Fight
Encore:
Stay For Awhile
What Would They Think
Say Once More
Second Encore:
Turn! Turn! Turn!
Christian Music News Source
Amy Grant has been guided by faith all her life, without becoming that ‘preachy Church Lady’
Amy Grant is the best-selling female Christian music artist in the world.
With 30 million albums sold worldwide, nine platinum albums, six Grammy Awards and 26 Dove Awards under her belt, Grant also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
But she has said she prefers an evening of hanging out with her family to life in the spotlights, and that her faith is a simple gift that she relies on, both in tough days and good ones.
Married to country star Vince Gill, Grant has three children from her first marriage — Matt, 21, Millie, 19, and Sarah, 16. Gill has a daughter from his first marriage, Jenny, 26. And the couple have a daughter, Corrina, 7.
We caught up with Grant this week at her home near Nashville for a discussion of her faith and family.
Q: You've said that you went to church regularly with your parents. When and how did you make that relationship with Christ your own?
A: It sort of was in two phases. I remember that May evening when I was 12. I knew I was going to walk down the aisle that Sunday evening (to accept Christ). It was very thought out. I just remember how special it was.
Then, two years later, when I was 14, and on through high school, I started going to a different church. My two oldest sisters went to school in Boston and started going to a church that was very active. When they came home, they looked around and got active in a Nashville church on Music Row. It was musical, but people were in blue jeans and barefoot. Street people came. A lot of college kids.
I had so much Bible; I knew it like I knew history and my math facts. But it was in that free-form setting at Belmont Church that I came to know a relationship with Jesus. All the dots were connecting. I prayed a lot as a little kid, but it was a lot of King James speaking — a lot of reverence. I loved it. I loved the old hymns. At my all-girls high school, it was a very intense education; really high standards. I saw a lot of mental, emotional, spiritual need, but it's easy to medicate when you have money — new clothes, a new car. But I wasn't around a lot of physical need.
When I went to the (Belmont) youth group, we walked into an apartment. These kids were so welcoming, so inviting. None came from my school. They were so easygoing and open. There were drug problems, a couple of unexpected pregnancies, people whose parents couldn't pay the rent. I loved my school, but I plugged into that youth group.
I began writing songs and asked another friend to do songs with me in a school assembly. We sang and shared stories. After that, I found letters stuffed in my locker, in my books, from a lot of upperclassmen saying, "Can we talk?" More needs than I knew.
Q: Do you have a favorite Bible verse?
A: So many. When I was in college, a group of us used to run, or jog or limp, and for a time, we had to bring a verse and then we had to memorize it while we were jogging. I think that lasted maybe one week. Mine was Hebrews 10:23 — "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful."
Q: You've gone through a lot of challenges and changes in the past 10 years. How has your faith helped you?
A: For all of us, our faith shapes how we see life. My husband came back a while ago after having lunch with a new friend. This man had opened up about his war experiences (in Vietnam), about the killing and the horrors. This man said, "My faith saved me from the war." That's true. Our faith saves us from ourselves, our circumstances. There have been times of amazing growth and times of feeling stagnant for a lot of reasons.
I think a great thing happens after you turn 40. I have found that my emotional pendulum doesn't swing as wide, and my emotional and spiritual roots feel deeper. I remember looking at my parents' spiritual maturity when I was a kid and wondering, "When am I going to feel like that?" I think it's the hard times, whether they're imposed on us or whether we bring them on ourselves, that brings it.
Q: Are you doing anything different in sharing your faith and beliefs with your youngest daughter, Corrina, than you did with your older three children?
A: Probably. I guess I'd have to ask them. I'm older and probably more relaxed. I would imagine that hopefully at times, I'm a better listener than I was as a young mom.
Q: Now that you're the mom of a couple of young adults, how has your spiritual advice or practices changed? Do you ever want to throttle them for some of the choices they're making?
A: I find I say less the older I get. They're not going to listen anyway, unless they want to hear. When they're children, you're sort of gearing toward them. As adults, I talk to them like I would talk to myself, only I say a lot less. Mostly, I try to be encouraging. Life is the greatest teacher. At this point, it's not going to be mom's words.
One of my kids, I won't say which one, was having a really tough time the other night. We were out on the front porch. You know, you can't fix it. We sat in the rocking chair. I said, "Two things come to mind right now. One was a verse your grandmother used to quote all the time — 'All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.' And then I added, 'You know, all of us are called according to his purpose.' That might not be other people's theology, but it's what I believe — that all of us are called for his purpose.
Second, I heard Bruce Springsteen once say, "Great enlightenment is always preceded by a f---up." I don't talk that way, but it was a quote. It's life. The things in heaven and things on earth are so articulated by Bruce and God. That's the way I've raised my kids — I'm not preachy Church Lady.
Q: What's the best part of being God's daughter?
A: The best part is knowing if I never lifted a finger, it wouldn't change his love for me. That's true of everybody. We just live in such a performance-based world — who looks the best, who serves the best, who tries the hardest, who does the most. I mean I don't want to lay around in bed and eat bon bons. But I'm so thankful that I don't have to work to earn his love.
Christian Music News Source
With 30 million albums sold worldwide, nine platinum albums, six Grammy Awards and 26 Dove Awards under her belt, Grant also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
But she has said she prefers an evening of hanging out with her family to life in the spotlights, and that her faith is a simple gift that she relies on, both in tough days and good ones.
Married to country star Vince Gill, Grant has three children from her first marriage — Matt, 21, Millie, 19, and Sarah, 16. Gill has a daughter from his first marriage, Jenny, 26. And the couple have a daughter, Corrina, 7.
We caught up with Grant this week at her home near Nashville for a discussion of her faith and family.
Q: You've said that you went to church regularly with your parents. When and how did you make that relationship with Christ your own?
A: It sort of was in two phases. I remember that May evening when I was 12. I knew I was going to walk down the aisle that Sunday evening (to accept Christ). It was very thought out. I just remember how special it was.
Then, two years later, when I was 14, and on through high school, I started going to a different church. My two oldest sisters went to school in Boston and started going to a church that was very active. When they came home, they looked around and got active in a Nashville church on Music Row. It was musical, but people were in blue jeans and barefoot. Street people came. A lot of college kids.
I had so much Bible; I knew it like I knew history and my math facts. But it was in that free-form setting at Belmont Church that I came to know a relationship with Jesus. All the dots were connecting. I prayed a lot as a little kid, but it was a lot of King James speaking — a lot of reverence. I loved it. I loved the old hymns. At my all-girls high school, it was a very intense education; really high standards. I saw a lot of mental, emotional, spiritual need, but it's easy to medicate when you have money — new clothes, a new car. But I wasn't around a lot of physical need.
When I went to the (Belmont) youth group, we walked into an apartment. These kids were so welcoming, so inviting. None came from my school. They were so easygoing and open. There were drug problems, a couple of unexpected pregnancies, people whose parents couldn't pay the rent. I loved my school, but I plugged into that youth group.
I began writing songs and asked another friend to do songs with me in a school assembly. We sang and shared stories. After that, I found letters stuffed in my locker, in my books, from a lot of upperclassmen saying, "Can we talk?" More needs than I knew.
Q: Do you have a favorite Bible verse?
A: So many. When I was in college, a group of us used to run, or jog or limp, and for a time, we had to bring a verse and then we had to memorize it while we were jogging. I think that lasted maybe one week. Mine was Hebrews 10:23 — "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful."
Q: You've gone through a lot of challenges and changes in the past 10 years. How has your faith helped you?
A: For all of us, our faith shapes how we see life. My husband came back a while ago after having lunch with a new friend. This man had opened up about his war experiences (in Vietnam), about the killing and the horrors. This man said, "My faith saved me from the war." That's true. Our faith saves us from ourselves, our circumstances. There have been times of amazing growth and times of feeling stagnant for a lot of reasons.
I think a great thing happens after you turn 40. I have found that my emotional pendulum doesn't swing as wide, and my emotional and spiritual roots feel deeper. I remember looking at my parents' spiritual maturity when I was a kid and wondering, "When am I going to feel like that?" I think it's the hard times, whether they're imposed on us or whether we bring them on ourselves, that brings it.
Q: Are you doing anything different in sharing your faith and beliefs with your youngest daughter, Corrina, than you did with your older three children?
A: Probably. I guess I'd have to ask them. I'm older and probably more relaxed. I would imagine that hopefully at times, I'm a better listener than I was as a young mom.
Q: Now that you're the mom of a couple of young adults, how has your spiritual advice or practices changed? Do you ever want to throttle them for some of the choices they're making?
A: I find I say less the older I get. They're not going to listen anyway, unless they want to hear. When they're children, you're sort of gearing toward them. As adults, I talk to them like I would talk to myself, only I say a lot less. Mostly, I try to be encouraging. Life is the greatest teacher. At this point, it's not going to be mom's words.
One of my kids, I won't say which one, was having a really tough time the other night. We were out on the front porch. You know, you can't fix it. We sat in the rocking chair. I said, "Two things come to mind right now. One was a verse your grandmother used to quote all the time — 'All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.' And then I added, 'You know, all of us are called according to his purpose.' That might not be other people's theology, but it's what I believe — that all of us are called for his purpose.
Second, I heard Bruce Springsteen once say, "Great enlightenment is always preceded by a f---up." I don't talk that way, but it was a quote. It's life. The things in heaven and things on earth are so articulated by Bruce and God. That's the way I've raised my kids — I'm not preachy Church Lady.
Q: What's the best part of being God's daughter?
A: The best part is knowing if I never lifted a finger, it wouldn't change his love for me. That's true of everybody. We just live in such a performance-based world — who looks the best, who serves the best, who tries the hardest, who does the most. I mean I don't want to lay around in bed and eat bon bons. But I'm so thankful that I don't have to work to earn his love.
Christian Music News Source
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Amy Grant in Concert 13
"stay for a while" in concert plus intro to a new song
Irvine, CA 10/17/08
Go see Amy Grant Lead Me on Reunion Tour www.amygrant.com
Christian Music News Source
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Tickets Still Available For Sunday’s Amy Grant Concert and Family Y Fundraiser
Augusta native, Amy Grant will perform at First Tee, Sunday, October 12th. It’s a fundraiser for the Family Y. The event is also an attempt to be inducted into the Guinness Book Of World Records for the world’s largest family picnic. There are tickets still available.
Christian Music News Source
Christian Music News Source
Vince Gill, Amy Grant coming to Coliseum for Christmas show
BLOOMINGTON -- The holiday music scene just got a little merrier with the addition of “Christmas with Vince and Amy” to the U.S. Cellular Coliseum’s December slate. | Interactive graphic: Coliseum attendance, revenues, events
Featuring the husband-wife duo of country singer Vince Gill and former Christian pop queen Amy Grant, the concert is slated for 8 p.m. Dec. 20.
Tickets are priced at $39.50 to $59.50, and go on sale at 10 a.m. Oct. 18 at the Coliseum box office and area Ticketmaster locations.
Also available at that time will be a special $159.50 ticket that includes admission to a pre-show reception attended by Grant and Gill. Also featured will be dinner and drinks, a signed memorabilia raffle and premium floor seating for the concert.
A portion of the reception’s proceeds will go to support Bloomington’s Clare House food pantry.
In addition to Grant and Gill, the concert will feature a 12-piece band that includes a horn section and Gill’s daughter, Jenny, serving as harmony vocalist.
Showcased will be songs from Grant’s recently released album, “The Holiday Collection,” featuring songs from her previous holiday albums, along with four new songs, one of them — “Baby It’s Christmas” — co-penned by Gill.
Christian Music News Source
Featuring the husband-wife duo of country singer Vince Gill and former Christian pop queen Amy Grant, the concert is slated for 8 p.m. Dec. 20.
Tickets are priced at $39.50 to $59.50, and go on sale at 10 a.m. Oct. 18 at the Coliseum box office and area Ticketmaster locations.
Also available at that time will be a special $159.50 ticket that includes admission to a pre-show reception attended by Grant and Gill. Also featured will be dinner and drinks, a signed memorabilia raffle and premium floor seating for the concert.
A portion of the reception’s proceeds will go to support Bloomington’s Clare House food pantry.
In addition to Grant and Gill, the concert will feature a 12-piece band that includes a horn section and Gill’s daughter, Jenny, serving as harmony vocalist.
Showcased will be songs from Grant’s recently released album, “The Holiday Collection,” featuring songs from her previous holiday albums, along with four new songs, one of them — “Baby It’s Christmas” — co-penned by Gill.
Christian Music News Source
Vince Gill & Amy Grant coming to U.S. Cellular Coliseum
U.S. Cellular Coliseum has announced that Vince Gill and Amy Grant will perform a special Christmas show on Saturday, December 20th at 8 p.m. Tickets for 'Christmas with Vince and Amy' will go on sale on Saturday, October 18th. Tickets range from $39.50 to $59.50.
The coliseum will also host an exclusive pre-show reception with Vince Gill and Amy Grant for $159.50, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Clare House of Bloomington.
Christian Music News Source
The coliseum will also host an exclusive pre-show reception with Vince Gill and Amy Grant for $159.50, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Clare House of Bloomington.
Christian Music News Source
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Amy Grant, Vince Gill Launch 15-Date Christmas Tour Dec. 4
Amy Grant and Vince Gill will embark on a 15-date Christmas With Amy & Vince Tour Dec. 4, in Manchester, NH, and bring it home Dec. 22 and 23 with two shows in Nashville at the Ryman Auditorium.
“The job of spreading Christmas cheer has simply gotten too big for Santa and Rudolph to do alone,” Gill explains. “So Amy and I are pitching in. Besides, these holiday tours have become our favorites.”
Grant agrees: “Christmas audiences are special. They tend to involve the whole family, and their emotions are a wonderful mix of anticipation and reverence. It’s a thrilling experience for both of us.”
In their two hour program of cherished standards and newer seasonal fare, the Grammy-winning husband-and-wife team will be backed by a 12-piece band that features a horn section and two harmony singers, one of whom is Gill’s daughter, Jenny. “Some of our earlier Christmas tours were with a symphony orchestra,” Gill notes. “This time, though, we wanted to create more of an intimate, living room feel.” Plans are underway to work with local charities in order to give back to these communities.
On Sept. 30, Grant will release her first new Christmas album in nine years. Called The Christmas Collection, it is made up of selections from her three earlier Christmas CDs—plus four new tunes, including “Baby It’s Christmas,” a song Grant and Gill wrote together. Keeping with the festive mood, Grant will tape on Nov. 11 an NBC-TV special, Holiday Celebration On Ice. It co-stars Michael W. Smith and a corps of world-famous skating champions and will air Nov. 30.
One of the most beloved and respected performers in American music, Gill was inducted last year into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He is a long-time member of the Grand Ole Opry and winner of 19 Grammy awards. Gill boasts three best-selling Christmas albums of his own: Let There Be Peace On Earth, Breath Of Heaven and Christmas Collection.
Here are the dates, cities and venues for Christmas With Amy & Vince:
Dec. 4 Manchester, NH/Verizon Wireless Arena
Dec. 5 Augusta, ME/Augusta Civic Center
Dec. 6 West Point, NY/Eisenhower Hall Theatre
Dec. 7 Mashantucket, CT/MGM Grand Theatre at Foxwoods
Dec. 10 Baltimore, MD/Lyric Opera House
Dec. 11 Albany, NY/Times Union Center
Dec. 12 Worcester, MA/DCU Center
Dec. 13 Elmira, NY/First Arena
Dec. 15 Atlanta, GA/Fox Theatre
Dec. 16 Charlotte, NC/Ovens Auditorium
Dec. 18 Grand Rapids, MI/Van Andel Arena
Dec. 19 St. Louis, MO/Scottrade Center
Dec. 20 Bloomington, IL/US Cellular Colliseum
Dec. 22 & 23 Nashville, TN/Ryman Auditorium
Christian Music News Source
“The job of spreading Christmas cheer has simply gotten too big for Santa and Rudolph to do alone,” Gill explains. “So Amy and I are pitching in. Besides, these holiday tours have become our favorites.”
Grant agrees: “Christmas audiences are special. They tend to involve the whole family, and their emotions are a wonderful mix of anticipation and reverence. It’s a thrilling experience for both of us.”
In their two hour program of cherished standards and newer seasonal fare, the Grammy-winning husband-and-wife team will be backed by a 12-piece band that features a horn section and two harmony singers, one of whom is Gill’s daughter, Jenny. “Some of our earlier Christmas tours were with a symphony orchestra,” Gill notes. “This time, though, we wanted to create more of an intimate, living room feel.” Plans are underway to work with local charities in order to give back to these communities.
On Sept. 30, Grant will release her first new Christmas album in nine years. Called The Christmas Collection, it is made up of selections from her three earlier Christmas CDs—plus four new tunes, including “Baby It’s Christmas,” a song Grant and Gill wrote together. Keeping with the festive mood, Grant will tape on Nov. 11 an NBC-TV special, Holiday Celebration On Ice. It co-stars Michael W. Smith and a corps of world-famous skating champions and will air Nov. 30.
One of the most beloved and respected performers in American music, Gill was inducted last year into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He is a long-time member of the Grand Ole Opry and winner of 19 Grammy awards. Gill boasts three best-selling Christmas albums of his own: Let There Be Peace On Earth, Breath Of Heaven and Christmas Collection.
Here are the dates, cities and venues for Christmas With Amy & Vince:
Dec. 4 Manchester, NH/Verizon Wireless Arena
Dec. 5 Augusta, ME/Augusta Civic Center
Dec. 6 West Point, NY/Eisenhower Hall Theatre
Dec. 7 Mashantucket, CT/MGM Grand Theatre at Foxwoods
Dec. 10 Baltimore, MD/Lyric Opera House
Dec. 11 Albany, NY/Times Union Center
Dec. 12 Worcester, MA/DCU Center
Dec. 13 Elmira, NY/First Arena
Dec. 15 Atlanta, GA/Fox Theatre
Dec. 16 Charlotte, NC/Ovens Auditorium
Dec. 18 Grand Rapids, MI/Van Andel Arena
Dec. 19 St. Louis, MO/Scottrade Center
Dec. 20 Bloomington, IL/US Cellular Colliseum
Dec. 22 & 23 Nashville, TN/Ryman Auditorium
Christian Music News Source
6 Questions With Amy Grant
Few artists, if any, have had a more powerful impact on the Christian music industry than Amy Grant. She burst on the scene as a fresh-faced teen who helped define the contemporary Christian genre before becoming a pop crossover success with such hits as "Baby Baby" and "Every Heartbeat."
After 30 years with Word, the six-time Grammy Award winner signed with EMI Christian Music Group last year, which recently issued a 20th-anniversary edition of her landmark "Lead Me On" album. She'll embark on a reunion tour this fall that features most of the band that accompanied her on the original "Lead Me On" trek. She's also promoting "The Christmas Collection," which hit the streets Sept. 30. And, she and husband Vince Gill will embark on a Christmas tour around the holidays.
Did you have any idea "Lead Me On" would have such lasting significance?
No. When you're recording, you're just hoping someone will listen to it then. I remember just thinking, "I'm not going to be one of those women that's just way past her prime and if I'm still singing when I'm 40, somebody get a hook and come drag me offstage." That's how I felt in my 20s, but then you get to be in your 40s and go, "I've got so much more to say now."
What was going on in your life at that time that is reflected on "Lead Me On"?
I was pregnant with [my first child] Matt and my grandmother had just died. I was wrestling with facing some more adult issues. [Ex-husband] Gary [Chapman] and I had been married five years, which is long enough to have gone through some rough patches. I had just realized that life can't be tied up in a neat bow and I wanted to reflect on that. I think I had done a lot of pompom waving up until that point because of my real love for Jesus and my love of hearing songs that would build people's faith up. I remember back then just going, "You know, life is really messy and there's a lot of heartache." I was more interested in exploring the harder things in life.
What's the reunion tour going to look like?
Seven of the original 10 people from that tour are going back out with me to do 20 anniversary shows. So it's going to be a fun walk down memory lane for all of us because we've all gone on to other lives and other jobs. I'm excited about being back with everybody. That's what has been so amazing—people have wanted to come back and participate.
You've recorded three successful Christmas albums. What will this new project be like?
Signing with EMI, they have brought so much enthusiasm for my catalog. It was their idea to do a "best of" Christmas record and they just asked for two new songs, but I did two new songs and two old songs and they actually liked all four of them. For the other songs, I sat down one night and went through each of those three earlier Christmas records and I picked moments that were favorite moments for me. [I chose] "O Come All Ye Faithful" because it's Phil Keaggy playing guitar. I'm singing. It's really not a good performance; I'm very pitchy, but I love knowing that Phil is playing on this compilation.
What can you tell us about the new original songs?
I wrote "I Need a Silent Night" with Chris Eaton. He and I had not written together for eight years. The verses in that song talk about how crazy Christmas has become and the chorus is sort of our response to that—"It's so commercialized, but I need a silent night."
On "Baby It's Christmas," Vince was kind of messing around with those chords and it just sounded romantic. We wrote that over a cup of coffee one morning. I don't think anybody really thinks about Christmas Eve as being the most romantic time, especially if you have children, because you are exhausted. But if you could have a very romantic Christmas Eve, what would it be like?
Are you writing songs for your next studio album yet?
I've got a dozen songs that I'm ready to record and I hope to be back in the studio and get at least a few of them recorded before I do this tour. There's a song I wrote about Vince and there's a song that a friend and I wrote when she found her birth mom. "Shovel in Hand" I wrote on the airplane flying out to the [Academy of Country Music Awards] in Las Vegas. I was meeting Vince, but I had come from the cemetery watching my son and his friends bury one of their classmates. It's always songs inspired by people in my life.
Christian Music News Source
After 30 years with Word, the six-time Grammy Award winner signed with EMI Christian Music Group last year, which recently issued a 20th-anniversary edition of her landmark "Lead Me On" album. She'll embark on a reunion tour this fall that features most of the band that accompanied her on the original "Lead Me On" trek. She's also promoting "The Christmas Collection," which hit the streets Sept. 30. And, she and husband Vince Gill will embark on a Christmas tour around the holidays.
Did you have any idea "Lead Me On" would have such lasting significance?
No. When you're recording, you're just hoping someone will listen to it then. I remember just thinking, "I'm not going to be one of those women that's just way past her prime and if I'm still singing when I'm 40, somebody get a hook and come drag me offstage." That's how I felt in my 20s, but then you get to be in your 40s and go, "I've got so much more to say now."
What was going on in your life at that time that is reflected on "Lead Me On"?
I was pregnant with [my first child] Matt and my grandmother had just died. I was wrestling with facing some more adult issues. [Ex-husband] Gary [Chapman] and I had been married five years, which is long enough to have gone through some rough patches. I had just realized that life can't be tied up in a neat bow and I wanted to reflect on that. I think I had done a lot of pompom waving up until that point because of my real love for Jesus and my love of hearing songs that would build people's faith up. I remember back then just going, "You know, life is really messy and there's a lot of heartache." I was more interested in exploring the harder things in life.
What's the reunion tour going to look like?
Seven of the original 10 people from that tour are going back out with me to do 20 anniversary shows. So it's going to be a fun walk down memory lane for all of us because we've all gone on to other lives and other jobs. I'm excited about being back with everybody. That's what has been so amazing—people have wanted to come back and participate.
You've recorded three successful Christmas albums. What will this new project be like?
Signing with EMI, they have brought so much enthusiasm for my catalog. It was their idea to do a "best of" Christmas record and they just asked for two new songs, but I did two new songs and two old songs and they actually liked all four of them. For the other songs, I sat down one night and went through each of those three earlier Christmas records and I picked moments that were favorite moments for me. [I chose] "O Come All Ye Faithful" because it's Phil Keaggy playing guitar. I'm singing. It's really not a good performance; I'm very pitchy, but I love knowing that Phil is playing on this compilation.
What can you tell us about the new original songs?
I wrote "I Need a Silent Night" with Chris Eaton. He and I had not written together for eight years. The verses in that song talk about how crazy Christmas has become and the chorus is sort of our response to that—"It's so commercialized, but I need a silent night."
On "Baby It's Christmas," Vince was kind of messing around with those chords and it just sounded romantic. We wrote that over a cup of coffee one morning. I don't think anybody really thinks about Christmas Eve as being the most romantic time, especially if you have children, because you are exhausted. But if you could have a very romantic Christmas Eve, what would it be like?
Are you writing songs for your next studio album yet?
I've got a dozen songs that I'm ready to record and I hope to be back in the studio and get at least a few of them recorded before I do this tour. There's a song I wrote about Vince and there's a song that a friend and I wrote when she found her birth mom. "Shovel in Hand" I wrote on the airplane flying out to the [Academy of Country Music Awards] in Las Vegas. I was meeting Vince, but I had come from the cemetery watching my son and his friends bury one of their classmates. It's always songs inspired by people in my life.
Christian Music News Source
10/16: Amy Grant
The old Doris Day chestnut Sentimental Journey will not be among the tunes Amy Grant sings when she takes the stage at the Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix on Oct. 16. However, it perfectly sums up Grant's emotional state of mind.
Twenty years ago, the singer-songwriter released Lead Me On, a landmark album in the contemporary Christian music industry. To celebrate the anniversary, a deluxe two-disc edition recently appeared in stores.
Now, Grant has reunited with seven musicians from her 1988 touring band to revisit the material. The 20-city tour kicks off with the Phoenix concert.
"I feel like I'm going to this really cool family reunion," Grant says while driving to a business meeting in her Nashville hometown. "We literally get to go back emotionally to a younger, more innocent time. It's really energized all of us."
Surprisingly, the album that inspired the tour isn't the biggest seller in Grant's deep catalog of material. That would be Heart In Motion, her 1991 release that sold more than 5 million copies and turned the singer into a mainstream pop star. Bubbly, effervescent singles such as Baby Baby, Good for Me and Every Heartbeat dominated radio for months.
The bold Lead Me On was an altogether darker and more candid album. Rather than merely focusing on praise and worship, Grant created a disc that dealt with many of the gray areas of life and faith in such songs as Shadows and What About the Love.
The self-penned Faithless Heart is perhaps the disc's most nakedly honest tune. In the song, the narrator discusses the temptations that exist outside her marriage. "It scares me through and through / Cause I've a man at home who needs me to be true" goes the verse.
"I never, ever did that song live, but I am going to on this tour," says Grant, 47. "That one struck a little too close to the bone at the time, but I think if you're going to say something, you might as well be honest."
The honesty paid off: CCM Magazine, which covers the Christian-music industry, named the disc the top Christian album of all time. It also won honors from the Grammys and the Gospel Music Association, which gave it the Dove Award for album of the year.
"I didn't work any harder on that record than I did on any of the others," Grant says. "But the attention to detail in the production, the songs . . . it was like we were creatively fired on all pistons. It was a wonderful experience."
She hopes the experience translates to the live show. With the exception of harmonica player Terry McMillan, who died in 2007, and ex-husband Gary Chapman, she was able to regroup all the musicians from the 1988 tour.
No one hesitated before signing on. Guitarist Chris Rodriguez, who worked with Grant on two world tours, remembers he was hiking at Point Dume in Malibu when a text message arrived on his cellphone.
"I hadn't heard from Amy in ages, and out of the blue I get this message saying that she's doing a reunion tour for Lead Me On and would I be interested," he recalls. "I wrote back three words: 'Yes, yes, yes.' "
He says there is a reason people were quick to get on board.
"Amy's the best," he says. "People who work with her love her. She's generous and thoughtful, but she's not a pushover. She's the kind of person that the band will call on their day off and say, 'Hey, we're going bowling: You wanna come?' Not everyone you get to work with is like that."
Rodriguez tours with both Keith Urban and Kenny Loggins, so he has been doing what he calls "Amy homework" while on the road. In other words, listening to tapes from 1988 and relearning material he used to know by heart.
"Some things I'm very familiar with," he says. "Other things I forgot that we did a certain way. It will be interesting on certain songs to see if we stay true to the original and do it big '80s style, or if we rework them more organically."
With Grant, you imagine she'll opt for the latter. Despite the nostalgic nature of the tour, she seems like a very forward-thinking person. She signed with EMI last year and has written several songs. She plans to go into the studio in January to cut an album.
"I just left a meeting with (label president) Peter York," she says, laughing. "I played him a batch of 15 songs, and he liked four of them. You think that would be horrible, but it's not. It's great having somebody setting such a high bar. It's been a really fun, engaging experience."
Still, that's the future. Up next is a quick visit to the past.
"Going over this music, I remembered a part of myself that was gone," says Grant, who has been married to singer Vince Gill for eight years. "It's been lovely. This isn't a show for people to come to, thinking, 'Can she sing as high as she used to?' Well, I probably can't. But I do hope they are reminded of how they felt at that time in their life."
For her, the past ties into the present.
"Sometimes when you look back in a really constructive way," she says, "it can really re-ignite your fire for the future."
Christian Music News Source
Twenty years ago, the singer-songwriter released Lead Me On, a landmark album in the contemporary Christian music industry. To celebrate the anniversary, a deluxe two-disc edition recently appeared in stores.
Now, Grant has reunited with seven musicians from her 1988 touring band to revisit the material. The 20-city tour kicks off with the Phoenix concert.
"I feel like I'm going to this really cool family reunion," Grant says while driving to a business meeting in her Nashville hometown. "We literally get to go back emotionally to a younger, more innocent time. It's really energized all of us."
Surprisingly, the album that inspired the tour isn't the biggest seller in Grant's deep catalog of material. That would be Heart In Motion, her 1991 release that sold more than 5 million copies and turned the singer into a mainstream pop star. Bubbly, effervescent singles such as Baby Baby, Good for Me and Every Heartbeat dominated radio for months.
The bold Lead Me On was an altogether darker and more candid album. Rather than merely focusing on praise and worship, Grant created a disc that dealt with many of the gray areas of life and faith in such songs as Shadows and What About the Love.
The self-penned Faithless Heart is perhaps the disc's most nakedly honest tune. In the song, the narrator discusses the temptations that exist outside her marriage. "It scares me through and through / Cause I've a man at home who needs me to be true" goes the verse.
"I never, ever did that song live, but I am going to on this tour," says Grant, 47. "That one struck a little too close to the bone at the time, but I think if you're going to say something, you might as well be honest."
The honesty paid off: CCM Magazine, which covers the Christian-music industry, named the disc the top Christian album of all time. It also won honors from the Grammys and the Gospel Music Association, which gave it the Dove Award for album of the year.
"I didn't work any harder on that record than I did on any of the others," Grant says. "But the attention to detail in the production, the songs . . . it was like we were creatively fired on all pistons. It was a wonderful experience."
She hopes the experience translates to the live show. With the exception of harmonica player Terry McMillan, who died in 2007, and ex-husband Gary Chapman, she was able to regroup all the musicians from the 1988 tour.
No one hesitated before signing on. Guitarist Chris Rodriguez, who worked with Grant on two world tours, remembers he was hiking at Point Dume in Malibu when a text message arrived on his cellphone.
"I hadn't heard from Amy in ages, and out of the blue I get this message saying that she's doing a reunion tour for Lead Me On and would I be interested," he recalls. "I wrote back three words: 'Yes, yes, yes.' "
He says there is a reason people were quick to get on board.
"Amy's the best," he says. "People who work with her love her. She's generous and thoughtful, but she's not a pushover. She's the kind of person that the band will call on their day off and say, 'Hey, we're going bowling: You wanna come?' Not everyone you get to work with is like that."
Rodriguez tours with both Keith Urban and Kenny Loggins, so he has been doing what he calls "Amy homework" while on the road. In other words, listening to tapes from 1988 and relearning material he used to know by heart.
"Some things I'm very familiar with," he says. "Other things I forgot that we did a certain way. It will be interesting on certain songs to see if we stay true to the original and do it big '80s style, or if we rework them more organically."
With Grant, you imagine she'll opt for the latter. Despite the nostalgic nature of the tour, she seems like a very forward-thinking person. She signed with EMI last year and has written several songs. She plans to go into the studio in January to cut an album.
"I just left a meeting with (label president) Peter York," she says, laughing. "I played him a batch of 15 songs, and he liked four of them. You think that would be horrible, but it's not. It's great having somebody setting such a high bar. It's been a really fun, engaging experience."
Still, that's the future. Up next is a quick visit to the past.
"Going over this music, I remembered a part of myself that was gone," says Grant, who has been married to singer Vince Gill for eight years. "It's been lovely. This isn't a show for people to come to, thinking, 'Can she sing as high as she used to?' Well, I probably can't. But I do hope they are reminded of how they felt at that time in their life."
For her, the past ties into the present.
"Sometimes when you look back in a really constructive way," she says, "it can really re-ignite your fire for the future."
Christian Music News Source
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Vince Gill, Amy Grant announced holiday tour
Friday, September 26, 2008 – Vince Gill and Amy Grant will embark on a 16-date Christmas With Amy & Vince Tour Dec. 4, in Manchester, N.H. and bring it home Dec. 22 and 23 with two shows in Nashville at the Ryman Auditorium.
"The job of spreading Christmas cheer has simply gotten too big for Santa and Rudolph to do alone," Gill joked. "So Amy and I are pitching in. Besides, these holiday tours have become our favorites."
"Christmas audiences are special," said Grant. "They tend to involve the whole family, and their emotions are a wonderful mix of anticipation and reverence. It's a thrilling experience for both of us."
In their two hour program of cherished standards and newer seasonal fare, the Grammy-winning husband-and-wife team will be backed by a 12-piece band that features a horn section and 2 harmony singers, including Gill's daughter, Jenny. "Some of our earlier Christmas tours were with a symphony orchestra," Gill said. "This time, though, we wanted to create more of an intimate, living room feel." Plans are underway to work with local charities in order to give back to these communities.
On Sept. 30, Grant will release her first new Christmas album in nine years. Called "The Christmas Collection," it is made up of selections from her three earlier Christmas CDs plus four new tunes, including "Baby It's Christmas," a song Grant and Gill wrote together. Grant will tape on Nov. 11 an NBC-TV special, Holiday Celebration On Ice. It co-stars Michael W. Smith and skating champions and will air Nov. 30.
Dates are:
Dec. 4 Manchester, NH/Verizon Wireless Arena
Dec. 5 Augusta, ME/Augusta Civic Center
Dec. 6 West Point, NY/Eisenhower Hall Theatre
Dec. 7 Mashantucket, CT/MGM Grand Theatre at Foxwoods
Dec. 10 Baltimore, MD/Lyric Opera House
Dec. 11 Albany, NY/Times Union Center
Dec. 12 Worcester, MA/DCU Center
Dec. 13 Elmira, NY/First Arena
Dec. 15 Atlanta, GA/Fox Theatre
Dec. 16 Charlotte, NC/Ovens Auditorium
Dec. 18 Grand Rapids, MI/Van Andel Arena
Dec. 19 St. Louis, MO/Scottrade Center
Dec. 20 Bloomington, IL/US Cellular Colliseum
Dec. 22-23 Nashville, TN/Ryman Auditorium
Christian Music News Source
"The job of spreading Christmas cheer has simply gotten too big for Santa and Rudolph to do alone," Gill joked. "So Amy and I are pitching in. Besides, these holiday tours have become our favorites."
"Christmas audiences are special," said Grant. "They tend to involve the whole family, and their emotions are a wonderful mix of anticipation and reverence. It's a thrilling experience for both of us."
In their two hour program of cherished standards and newer seasonal fare, the Grammy-winning husband-and-wife team will be backed by a 12-piece band that features a horn section and 2 harmony singers, including Gill's daughter, Jenny. "Some of our earlier Christmas tours were with a symphony orchestra," Gill said. "This time, though, we wanted to create more of an intimate, living room feel." Plans are underway to work with local charities in order to give back to these communities.
On Sept. 30, Grant will release her first new Christmas album in nine years. Called "The Christmas Collection," it is made up of selections from her three earlier Christmas CDs plus four new tunes, including "Baby It's Christmas," a song Grant and Gill wrote together. Grant will tape on Nov. 11 an NBC-TV special, Holiday Celebration On Ice. It co-stars Michael W. Smith and skating champions and will air Nov. 30.
Dates are:
Dec. 4 Manchester, NH/Verizon Wireless Arena
Dec. 5 Augusta, ME/Augusta Civic Center
Dec. 6 West Point, NY/Eisenhower Hall Theatre
Dec. 7 Mashantucket, CT/MGM Grand Theatre at Foxwoods
Dec. 10 Baltimore, MD/Lyric Opera House
Dec. 11 Albany, NY/Times Union Center
Dec. 12 Worcester, MA/DCU Center
Dec. 13 Elmira, NY/First Arena
Dec. 15 Atlanta, GA/Fox Theatre
Dec. 16 Charlotte, NC/Ovens Auditorium
Dec. 18 Grand Rapids, MI/Van Andel Arena
Dec. 19 St. Louis, MO/Scottrade Center
Dec. 20 Bloomington, IL/US Cellular Colliseum
Dec. 22-23 Nashville, TN/Ryman Auditorium
Christian Music News Source
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Review: Amy Grant relaxes Orpheum audience
The Orpheum Theatre became Amy Grant's living room Friday night.
Drawing in the crowd with a laid-back approach to hits, misses and some that weren't even fully written, she seemed like an old friend, reminiscing about the past and hoping for the future.
Indeed, Friday's concert -- done to benefit Girls Inc. -- was her first in months. It had a few rocky moments (even she admitted as much) but so much heart the audience couldn't help but love her. Grant, in fact, preceded just about every song with a story -- some funny, most telling, all touching. She didn't shy away from her past, either. She talked about first husband Gary Chapman and admitted his father was the inspiration for many good lines -- including "threaten me with heaven."
She said daughter Millie was the inspiration behind "Baby Baby" and told how she planted fruit trees on a family farm that never seemed to bear fruit while she lived there. When she revisited in recent years, those trees were blooming. The song that resulted, "Better Not to Know," captured Grant's current state of mind.
Indeed, Friday's performance was ripe with new songs -- including one that she had worked on earlier in the day. When it came to the second verse of "Find What They're Looking For," she simply vamped and said it would have something to do with her children. That laid-back approach said plenty about Grant's current state of mind. If she hasn't thought of a title for the next CD, she might think about "Revelations." At 47, she's deeper than ever and filled with introspection.
Interestingly, some of the old stuff had falsetto parts that now sound a bit like a yodel. Grant still hits the notes (in a self-critique, said the audience would probably say she was a "little rusty") but there's a soulfulness that wasn't present before. Even "Thy Word is a Lamp Unto My Feet" had a different resonance.
Grant joked with the audience -- even offering someone in the front row some of her potato chips -- and forgot to plug in her guitar so often the crowd took to reminding her.
Like husband Vince Gill, she's the kind of person who makes those around her feel comfortable immediately. She started the show with an acoustic number (how many performers do that?) and wasn't afraid to start over a couple of times when she didn't get the chords right.
She offered up a cover of Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi" and sounded like Bonnie Raitt often enough to suggest where her career is headed.
Still, nothing beat those contemporary Christian numbers that made her a star. When Grant performed them, it felt like she was home and we were invited in with her.
Christian Music News Source
Drawing in the crowd with a laid-back approach to hits, misses and some that weren't even fully written, she seemed like an old friend, reminiscing about the past and hoping for the future.
Indeed, Friday's concert -- done to benefit Girls Inc. -- was her first in months. It had a few rocky moments (even she admitted as much) but so much heart the audience couldn't help but love her. Grant, in fact, preceded just about every song with a story -- some funny, most telling, all touching. She didn't shy away from her past, either. She talked about first husband Gary Chapman and admitted his father was the inspiration for many good lines -- including "threaten me with heaven."
She said daughter Millie was the inspiration behind "Baby Baby" and told how she planted fruit trees on a family farm that never seemed to bear fruit while she lived there. When she revisited in recent years, those trees were blooming. The song that resulted, "Better Not to Know," captured Grant's current state of mind.
Indeed, Friday's performance was ripe with new songs -- including one that she had worked on earlier in the day. When it came to the second verse of "Find What They're Looking For," she simply vamped and said it would have something to do with her children. That laid-back approach said plenty about Grant's current state of mind. If she hasn't thought of a title for the next CD, she might think about "Revelations." At 47, she's deeper than ever and filled with introspection.
Interestingly, some of the old stuff had falsetto parts that now sound a bit like a yodel. Grant still hits the notes (in a self-critique, said the audience would probably say she was a "little rusty") but there's a soulfulness that wasn't present before. Even "Thy Word is a Lamp Unto My Feet" had a different resonance.
Grant joked with the audience -- even offering someone in the front row some of her potato chips -- and forgot to plug in her guitar so often the crowd took to reminding her.
Like husband Vince Gill, she's the kind of person who makes those around her feel comfortable immediately. She started the show with an acoustic number (how many performers do that?) and wasn't afraid to start over a couple of times when she didn't get the chords right.
She offered up a cover of Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi" and sounded like Bonnie Raitt often enough to suggest where her career is headed.
Still, nothing beat those contemporary Christian numbers that made her a star. When Grant performed them, it felt like she was home and we were invited in with her.
Christian Music News Source
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Amy Grant - A Christmas To Remember
By charlie bear "Music Maven" (Big Sky Country)
Amy's third Christmas CD (the 4th if you count the "Animals Christmas" collaboration with Art Garfunkel) is by far the weakest of the batch.
There's little of the festive frolic or energy of the earlier releases and in fact Amy's vocal performance sounds just plain tired and melancholy on many of these songs.
The project starts off with a pretty good bang with the title song and then it's all downhill from there.
>The bonus track of "Merry Christmas Darling" is not on this version but it's no great loss. Amy's take on the Carpenters classic contains little of the sparkle or passion of the original.
By James Donovan "movie lover" (Plainfield, Vermont USA)
To me, Christmas isn't Christmas without an Amy Grant CD being played. I wait impatiently for the holiday season to roll around so I can dig her holidays CDs out and play them incessantly. My favorite of hers is the now classic "Home For Christmas" which should be in every Christmas lover's CD collection. I place this offering, her third, right behind that one and before her first one, "The Christmas Album."(Which hasn't aged well). Heresy, you say? Not really. Granted, she doesn't really offer much here as a songwriter, but she still has an amazing gift for making a song her own. Her voice and delivery bring out so much emotion and is well suited to this, for the most part, well-chosen collection. There really isn't a bad track here, though as a few people have noted, the addition of "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Mr. Santa" stand out in a less than flattering way. They're not terrible, but they don't really belong here among such serious and thematic songs; they're more suited to a children's album. The best songs on the album are surprisingly the more melancoly and reflective ones, such as "Till The Season Comes Round Again" and "Christmas Lullaby (I Will Lead You Home)", which is my favorite off the album and never fails to tear me up! Her use of choir and strings on "Silent Night" give it an almost ethereal feeling and "Welcome To Our World" is simply stunning. If there's a downside to this album, it's simply that it's too short, clocking in just shy of 40 minutes. I highly recommend this often overlooked album by one of the best vocalists around. Merry Christmas!!...
Continue Reading at this Christian Music Review
Amy's third Christmas CD (the 4th if you count the "Animals Christmas" collaboration with Art Garfunkel) is by far the weakest of the batch.
There's little of the festive frolic or energy of the earlier releases and in fact Amy's vocal performance sounds just plain tired and melancholy on many of these songs.
The project starts off with a pretty good bang with the title song and then it's all downhill from there.
>The bonus track of "Merry Christmas Darling" is not on this version but it's no great loss. Amy's take on the Carpenters classic contains little of the sparkle or passion of the original.
By James Donovan "movie lover" (Plainfield, Vermont USA)
To me, Christmas isn't Christmas without an Amy Grant CD being played. I wait impatiently for the holiday season to roll around so I can dig her holidays CDs out and play them incessantly. My favorite of hers is the now classic "Home For Christmas" which should be in every Christmas lover's CD collection. I place this offering, her third, right behind that one and before her first one, "The Christmas Album."(Which hasn't aged well). Heresy, you say? Not really. Granted, she doesn't really offer much here as a songwriter, but she still has an amazing gift for making a song her own. Her voice and delivery bring out so much emotion and is well suited to this, for the most part, well-chosen collection. There really isn't a bad track here, though as a few people have noted, the addition of "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Mr. Santa" stand out in a less than flattering way. They're not terrible, but they don't really belong here among such serious and thematic songs; they're more suited to a children's album. The best songs on the album are surprisingly the more melancoly and reflective ones, such as "Till The Season Comes Round Again" and "Christmas Lullaby (I Will Lead You Home)", which is my favorite off the album and never fails to tear me up! Her use of choir and strings on "Silent Night" give it an almost ethereal feeling and "Welcome To Our World" is simply stunning. If there's a downside to this album, it's simply that it's too short, clocking in just shy of 40 minutes. I highly recommend this often overlooked album by one of the best vocalists around. Merry Christmas!!...
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Amy Grant - Behind The Eyes
When Behind the Eyes came out in 1997, Amy Grant had been recording for 20 years. And it was obvious that she still had a lot left to say. In contrast to the high-tech slickness that characterized some of her previous A&M efforts, the earthy Eyes finds Grant playing a lot of jangly acoustic guitar and bringing a folk appeal to her pop-rock. Most of the writing is excellent, and Grant offers some of the most meaningful, insightful songs of her career. "Nobody Home" describes the economic hardship that has ravaged a small town, while the country-influenced "Curious Thing" examines the ways in which a person's life can change radically. "Turn This World Around," "Takes a Little Time" and "Somewhere Down the Road" offer a message of hope and optimism without being Pollyanna-ish -- Grant acknowledges that life is hard and difficult, but insists that there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Both musically and lyrically, Behind the Eyes is one of Grant's best albums ever. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
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Continue Reading at this Christian Music Review
Amy Grant - House of Love
By Josh Andrews (El Paso, TX USA)
This is the third Amy Grant CD that I own (the other two is her 1991 release Heart In Motion and her 1992 Christmas release Home For Christmas). With the ingredient of Pop, House Of Love produces simple, yet irresistible Pop songs.
The highlights of House of Love are:
"Lucky One" - A semi-upbeat, yet beautiful ballad. (5/5)
"Say You'll Be Mine" - A more upbeat, beautiful, fun love ballad. (5/5)
"House Of Love" - A beautiful duet between Amy and husband Vince Gill. (5/5)
"Whatever It Takes" - A beautiful ballad of devotion, but softer and more serious than "Say You'll Be Mine" and "Lucky One". (5/5)
"Big Yellow Taxi" - Not a favorite of mine, but it's a nice, fun cover of the original song. (4/5)
Even though this may seem to be a Pop album, "Children of the World" shows that she hasn't departed from her Christian roots.
I recommend House of Love to any fan of Amy Grant or any lover of fun, beautiful ballads, and social awareness songs. I wish Amy would release more Pop albums.. she does a good job of not going overboard and her songs are nice to listen to at any time in any mood.
By Tim Drake "Author and Journalist" (Saint Joseph, Minnesota)
Listening to this album by Grant you can't help but wonder if she wasn't singing quite a bit about her troubled relationship with husband Gary Chapman. (The two divorced in 1999).
Still, it's a solid album with a couple of great songs, a beautiful pro-life melody, and the pop hits that listeners have come to expect from Amy.
I could listen to the guitar on "Big Yellow Taxi" over and over and never tire of it. It's my favorite song on the album.
In "Children of the World" Amy gets some help from a children's choir. The refrain carries a hopeful message. It's nice to see that Amy hasn't departed from Christian themes altogether.
"For the children of the world Every single little boy and girl Heaven plants a special seed And we must have faith for these Red and yellow, black and white They are precious in the Father's eyes Like the Father may we see That they have a destiny And give them the light of love to lead" ....
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This is the third Amy Grant CD that I own (the other two is her 1991 release Heart In Motion and her 1992 Christmas release Home For Christmas). With the ingredient of Pop, House Of Love produces simple, yet irresistible Pop songs.
The highlights of House of Love are:
"Lucky One" - A semi-upbeat, yet beautiful ballad. (5/5)
"Say You'll Be Mine" - A more upbeat, beautiful, fun love ballad. (5/5)
"House Of Love" - A beautiful duet between Amy and husband Vince Gill. (5/5)
"Whatever It Takes" - A beautiful ballad of devotion, but softer and more serious than "Say You'll Be Mine" and "Lucky One". (5/5)
"Big Yellow Taxi" - Not a favorite of mine, but it's a nice, fun cover of the original song. (4/5)
Even though this may seem to be a Pop album, "Children of the World" shows that she hasn't departed from her Christian roots.
I recommend House of Love to any fan of Amy Grant or any lover of fun, beautiful ballads, and social awareness songs. I wish Amy would release more Pop albums.. she does a good job of not going overboard and her songs are nice to listen to at any time in any mood.
By Tim Drake "Author and Journalist" (Saint Joseph, Minnesota)
Listening to this album by Grant you can't help but wonder if she wasn't singing quite a bit about her troubled relationship with husband Gary Chapman. (The two divorced in 1999).
Still, it's a solid album with a couple of great songs, a beautiful pro-life melody, and the pop hits that listeners have come to expect from Amy.
I could listen to the guitar on "Big Yellow Taxi" over and over and never tire of it. It's my favorite song on the album.
In "Children of the World" Amy gets some help from a children's choir. The refrain carries a hopeful message. It's nice to see that Amy hasn't departed from Christian themes altogether.
"For the children of the world Every single little boy and girl Heaven plants a special seed And we must have faith for these Red and yellow, black and white They are precious in the Father's eyes Like the Father may we see That they have a destiny And give them the light of love to lead" ....
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Amy Grant - Home For Christmas
Amy Grant's Home for Christmas showcases her mellifluent vocal chops in a variety of settings and succeeds mightily. There's a sophisticated touch of Streisand in Grant's clear and bright timbre, but there's also a young tenderness and innocence there, as well, that captures peoples' hearts. Grant puts a batch of standards, more recent works by Carly Simon and David Foster, and her own songs through big but tasty orchestral swells, rock & roll reveries, acoustic pieces, and mild pop surroundings. Most surprising are Grant's two contributions (cowritten with Chris Eaton and Robert Marshal, respectively,) "Breath of Heaven/Mary's Song" and the powerful and humbling "Emmanuel, God with Us." Exquisitely produced and arranged, Home for Christmas is a highly rewarding mainstream Christmas masterpiece without flaw or pretense. --Martin Keller
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Amy Grant - Heart In Motion
Heart in Motion is the 1991 album that broke Amy Grant into the mainstream pop-music charts, yielding five top 20 singles and two No. 1 hits ("Baby Baby" and "Every Heartbeat"). But while the release is filled with upbeat beboppin' singles, it also displays a more serious side and a depth of songwriting ability from Christian music's first lady. The urgent "Ask Me" introduces you to a sexually abused girl who miraculously grips tightly to her faith while struggling through a difficult history, while "I Will Remember You" and "How Can We See That Far" are haunting ballads dripping with echo-laden guitars. Indeed, Grant showcases a wide variety of sounds and flavors on this, her multiplatinum introduction to the secular music world. --Michael Lyttle
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You have to admire Amy Grant. She has always resisted the temptation to exactly fulfill the expectations of a Christian music market which tends to prefer the safe, the jargonistic, and the predictable. Rather, she has continually pushed the boundaries of Christian artistry outward. In that regard her 12th album, Heart in Motion, does not disappoint.
Lets get right to the first question: Is this a Christian album? The immediate answer is no, it is not a contemporary gospel album. But if you ask if the lyrics express Christian values and whether its clear from listening to the album that Amy Grant believes in Jesus Christ (rather than in a capitalized pronoun), the answer is clearly yes.
There is no question, however, that this album was made with the mainstream pop market in mind. The first six cuts in particular sport memorable hooks and polished, radio-ready production. Brown Bannister, who produced all of Grants previous albums, is back again on four of the songs, but big time L.A. producer Michael Omartian was brought in for five others and rising star Keith Thomas for two.
In fact, it is the two Thomas productions which lead off the album "Good for Me" and "Baby Baby" (the latter dedicated, Grant says in the liner notes, "to Millie, whose six-week-old face was my inspiration"). These two sings, in which only Jerry McPherson's guitars augment Thomas synths, sound big and bright rather than brittle and mechanized. Next comes the rollicking "Every Heartbeat," produced by Bannister, which features the killer drum/bass duo if Chris McHugh and Tommy Sims with McPherson again on guitar and Charlie Peacock on keyboards, all backed by fun 50's style bgvs. (Peacock, who co-wrote the song with Grant and Wayne Kirkpatrick, also contributed to the horn arrangements.) What follows is the Big Ballad, and Omartian-produced masterpiece called "That's What Love is For" which has "hit" written all over it....
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From CCM Magazine -- Subscribe Now!
You have to admire Amy Grant. She has always resisted the temptation to exactly fulfill the expectations of a Christian music market which tends to prefer the safe, the jargonistic, and the predictable. Rather, she has continually pushed the boundaries of Christian artistry outward. In that regard her 12th album, Heart in Motion, does not disappoint.
Lets get right to the first question: Is this a Christian album? The immediate answer is no, it is not a contemporary gospel album. But if you ask if the lyrics express Christian values and whether its clear from listening to the album that Amy Grant believes in Jesus Christ (rather than in a capitalized pronoun), the answer is clearly yes.
There is no question, however, that this album was made with the mainstream pop market in mind. The first six cuts in particular sport memorable hooks and polished, radio-ready production. Brown Bannister, who produced all of Grants previous albums, is back again on four of the songs, but big time L.A. producer Michael Omartian was brought in for five others and rising star Keith Thomas for two.
In fact, it is the two Thomas productions which lead off the album "Good for Me" and "Baby Baby" (the latter dedicated, Grant says in the liner notes, "to Millie, whose six-week-old face was my inspiration"). These two sings, in which only Jerry McPherson's guitars augment Thomas synths, sound big and bright rather than brittle and mechanized. Next comes the rollicking "Every Heartbeat," produced by Bannister, which features the killer drum/bass duo if Chris McHugh and Tommy Sims with McPherson again on guitar and Charlie Peacock on keyboards, all backed by fun 50's style bgvs. (Peacock, who co-wrote the song with Grant and Wayne Kirkpatrick, also contributed to the horn arrangements.) What follows is the Big Ballad, and Omartian-produced masterpiece called "That's What Love is For" which has "hit" written all over it....
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Amy Grant - Lead Me On
By Michael Janke (Placentia, CA)
Amy Grant had always been considered a good songwriter and had written much of the material on her previous records. But on Lead Me On Amy absolutely bared her soul. Her songs reflected an honesty and transparency that she'd never shown before and some of the tracks were almost embarrassingly stark and real. Catchy hooks were replaced with real life human struggles, heartaches and joy. This was an Amy Grant the world had never seen before. She was still the princess of Christian music but all of a sudden she had all of the human rough edges and angles that her audience had. It was a striking unveiling.
Opening the record is "1974," a poetic and beautiful retelling of the story of one's salvation. "Lead Me On," which continues the poetic use of imagery, is another in a long line of Amy's songs which have reached classic status. "Shadows" speaks of the struggle between our humanity and the Christ-life inside of us; a theme that is continued in "Faithless Heart." "What About the Love" stands as a powerful reminder that it is our love by which we should be known, lest we discover what it really means "to be crucified and judged, without love."
One of the CD bonus songs was actually one of the album's best tracks: "Wait For the Healing." Containing a unique violin accompaniment, it reflects on the 60's generation that went through so much turbulence. The second bonus track, "If You Have To Go Away," is a sweet mid-tempo love song dealing with both the dreams and realities of a long distance relationship. If you own the Lead Me On cassette you are strongly urged to pick it up in CD format so you don't miss out on these two gems.
It would be easy to touch upon every song on this album. "Saved By Love" is a song that is especially appreciated by many wives and mothers. "Say Once More" is a simple yet gorgeous ballad of love and devotion. Suffice to say, there is not a weak moment on the entire project. In fact, every track truly excels in the best of ways. Popular music is at its most powerful when it is the vehicle for a message that is real, honest, and, at its core, human. Music can challenge, music can change, and music can inspire. And on Lead Me On, Amy's songs did all of that in a way that we had never seen before. Time may have changed the way that some of these songs are understood (though musically it still sounds great). But the core theme of Lead Me On remains: the Christian walk is a daily struggle that is best dealt with in an honest and open manner, as opposed to the unrealistic picture of Christian perfection that ccm too often portrays.
In the end, Lead Me On is pure and unadulterated Amy Grant; a snapshot from a moment in her life that music fans should be thankful to have been given a glimpse of. It embodies everything that Christian music can and should be and if I had to choose one album to represent contemporary Christian music for the historical record this would be it. Lead Me On is the greatest Christian music project of all time, and a must-own for any serious collection....
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Amy Grant had always been considered a good songwriter and had written much of the material on her previous records. But on Lead Me On Amy absolutely bared her soul. Her songs reflected an honesty and transparency that she'd never shown before and some of the tracks were almost embarrassingly stark and real. Catchy hooks were replaced with real life human struggles, heartaches and joy. This was an Amy Grant the world had never seen before. She was still the princess of Christian music but all of a sudden she had all of the human rough edges and angles that her audience had. It was a striking unveiling.
Opening the record is "1974," a poetic and beautiful retelling of the story of one's salvation. "Lead Me On," which continues the poetic use of imagery, is another in a long line of Amy's songs which have reached classic status. "Shadows" speaks of the struggle between our humanity and the Christ-life inside of us; a theme that is continued in "Faithless Heart." "What About the Love" stands as a powerful reminder that it is our love by which we should be known, lest we discover what it really means "to be crucified and judged, without love."
One of the CD bonus songs was actually one of the album's best tracks: "Wait For the Healing." Containing a unique violin accompaniment, it reflects on the 60's generation that went through so much turbulence. The second bonus track, "If You Have To Go Away," is a sweet mid-tempo love song dealing with both the dreams and realities of a long distance relationship. If you own the Lead Me On cassette you are strongly urged to pick it up in CD format so you don't miss out on these two gems.
It would be easy to touch upon every song on this album. "Saved By Love" is a song that is especially appreciated by many wives and mothers. "Say Once More" is a simple yet gorgeous ballad of love and devotion. Suffice to say, there is not a weak moment on the entire project. In fact, every track truly excels in the best of ways. Popular music is at its most powerful when it is the vehicle for a message that is real, honest, and, at its core, human. Music can challenge, music can change, and music can inspire. And on Lead Me On, Amy's songs did all of that in a way that we had never seen before. Time may have changed the way that some of these songs are understood (though musically it still sounds great). But the core theme of Lead Me On remains: the Christian walk is a daily struggle that is best dealt with in an honest and open manner, as opposed to the unrealistic picture of Christian perfection that ccm too often portrays.
In the end, Lead Me On is pure and unadulterated Amy Grant; a snapshot from a moment in her life that music fans should be thankful to have been given a glimpse of. It embodies everything that Christian music can and should be and if I had to choose one album to represent contemporary Christian music for the historical record this would be it. Lead Me On is the greatest Christian music project of all time, and a must-own for any serious collection....
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Amy Grant - The Collection
By A.Trendl HungarianBookstore.com "Hope is not ... (Glen Ellyn, IL USA)
I'm not a huge fan of Amy Grant's current offerings. What she sang early in her career, while she was still primarily a Christian pop-worship singer, ranks as her best and most powerful work.
The Michael Card cover, "El Shaddai" might be one of the best songs in Christian music in the last 25 years. She carefully places the emotion of each Hebrew name of God into the air, and compells the listener to ask for more. "Thy Word" is a perfect companion song, based on a well-known passage of Psalms.
She picks up the pace with the keyboard-heavy "Emmanuel," again, providing different names of God.
There is more. "Sing Your Praise to the Lord" is upbeat, charged with the vitality of an encouraged faith. In almost the mode of an old gospel tune, she belts, "I Have Decided" with anthem-like power.
"Ageless Medley" recognizes old favorite songs, like "Old Man's Rubble"
The triumphment "Angels" "angels watching over me..." needs a little volume. Crank it up.
"Father's Eyes" is a slower, but passion-packed song. It has not aged well as her other songs. The meaning is strong, and deserves to be remade.
Noticeably missing is her "Create in Me" (a clean heart). Based on Psalm 51, it is one of her stringest, most biblical songs. It should be on her best of collection.
I fully recommend "Collection" by Amy Grant.
By Mr. Wynn (State of Confusion)
An incredible body of work and this is just the first part of her career as a Christian pop artist.
This is a greatest hits compilation that she released in the 1980's. Great songs from the past and new songs she wrote in addition to our favorites are on this CD.
I always take this CD with me when I travel. When I'm in the air and listening to this CD, I feel at peace with where I am. Then when her song, "I'm Gonna Fly" plays, I look out the window and see the clouds and the earth beneath me and I can't help but smile widely and am so tempted to sing out loud. This live version is even better that the previously released version!
The highlight when listening to this CD for the first time was the last track, "Ageless Medley." It is a super-power medley mix (newly recorded) of all her hits in one song! This was more than a medley. It was not a rehashing of songs but a rebirth of the old tunes in a new format. What a great way to wrap up the album! If for anything, this last track is truly worth the investment into this album.
Some tunes are rare live versions that are even better than the studio recordings on previous albums! There are only a couple of live tracks but they so well deserve to be included on this "Collection" package.
I highly recommend this CD to all! It will inspire youa nd lift you higher and make you feel as if you were flying in a musical paradise! ...
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I'm not a huge fan of Amy Grant's current offerings. What she sang early in her career, while she was still primarily a Christian pop-worship singer, ranks as her best and most powerful work.
The Michael Card cover, "El Shaddai" might be one of the best songs in Christian music in the last 25 years. She carefully places the emotion of each Hebrew name of God into the air, and compells the listener to ask for more. "Thy Word" is a perfect companion song, based on a well-known passage of Psalms.
She picks up the pace with the keyboard-heavy "Emmanuel," again, providing different names of God.
There is more. "Sing Your Praise to the Lord" is upbeat, charged with the vitality of an encouraged faith. In almost the mode of an old gospel tune, she belts, "I Have Decided" with anthem-like power.
"Ageless Medley" recognizes old favorite songs, like "Old Man's Rubble"
The triumphment "Angels" "angels watching over me..." needs a little volume. Crank it up.
"Father's Eyes" is a slower, but passion-packed song. It has not aged well as her other songs. The meaning is strong, and deserves to be remade.
Noticeably missing is her "Create in Me" (a clean heart). Based on Psalm 51, it is one of her stringest, most biblical songs. It should be on her best of collection.
I fully recommend "Collection" by Amy Grant.
By Mr. Wynn (State of Confusion)
An incredible body of work and this is just the first part of her career as a Christian pop artist.
This is a greatest hits compilation that she released in the 1980's. Great songs from the past and new songs she wrote in addition to our favorites are on this CD.
I always take this CD with me when I travel. When I'm in the air and listening to this CD, I feel at peace with where I am. Then when her song, "I'm Gonna Fly" plays, I look out the window and see the clouds and the earth beneath me and I can't help but smile widely and am so tempted to sing out loud. This live version is even better that the previously released version!
The highlight when listening to this CD for the first time was the last track, "Ageless Medley." It is a super-power medley mix (newly recorded) of all her hits in one song! This was more than a medley. It was not a rehashing of songs but a rebirth of the old tunes in a new format. What a great way to wrap up the album! If for anything, this last track is truly worth the investment into this album.
Some tunes are rare live versions that are even better than the studio recordings on previous albums! There are only a couple of live tracks but they so well deserve to be included on this "Collection" package.
I highly recommend this CD to all! It will inspire youa nd lift you higher and make you feel as if you were flying in a musical paradise! ...
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Amy Grant - Unguarded
Unguarded, Amy Grant's sixth regular studio album (and ninth album overall), marked her big pop move. After 1982's Age to Age and 1984's Straight Ahead went gold despite distribution restricted mainly to Christian bookstores, Grant's management forged a distribution deal with major independent A&M Records for Unguarded, and the album was backed with a promotional campaign and national tour in keeping with a front-line pop act. Grant's producer, Brown Bannister, had been listening carefully to the pop charts throughout her career, and here he seemed determined to give her the kind of sound that would compete successfully on the secular airwaves of the day. For the mid-'80s, that meant synthesizers, programmed drums, and more synthesizers. And Bannister succeeded. It was easy to imagine the tracks on Unguarded being played alongside hits by the Cars, Duran Duran, and Thompson Twins on pop radio. What also made that transition easier was the only lightly spiritual content of the lyrics. In song after song, Grant (who contributed to seven of the ten tunes, mostly writing words) and her collaborators described life as a struggle and suggested encouragement; if you listened carefully, words like "God," "Jesus," "holy," and "pray" might turn up once per song, or might be only implied by context...
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Amy Grant - Straight Ahead
If you think that Amy Grant's Age to Age is her best album, then you will love this one. Straight Ahead has to be the very best of Amy's earlier works. Even though this CD was made in 1984, it possesses upbeat and catchy songs that will stick with you no matter how old it gets. One of the best songs is "Jehovah" which talks about how if God gives birds in the air everything, how much does He give to us. And possibly the most well-known track is the song "Thy Word," written with Michael W. Smith. It is about God's word being a light for us in this crazy world.
But there is a down-point to Straight Ahead, and that is the song "It's Not A Song." Written by Gary Chapman, this song says that a song is not a song until it tears you apart and that our life is our song. The song isn't a complete loss but it isn't up to par with the rest of the project. The title track is about how there are many different paths in life, and you will be able to see God's light to get you through the darkness and into His heart. If you only buy one of Amy's earlier album's, this one has to be it....
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But there is a down-point to Straight Ahead, and that is the song "It's Not A Song." Written by Gary Chapman, this song says that a song is not a song until it tears you apart and that our life is our song. The song isn't a complete loss but it isn't up to par with the rest of the project. The title track is about how there are many different paths in life, and you will be able to see God's light to get you through the darkness and into His heart. If you only buy one of Amy's earlier album's, this one has to be it....
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Amy Grant - A Christmas Album
Amy Grant's first Christmas album is not only one of the best recordings of her career, it's easily one of the best contemporary Christmas collections available. Grant's Christian beliefs have been incorporated into her music for years, and maybe it's the artistic translation of the depth of her faith that makes these songs so inspiring. "Emmanuel" and "Angels We Have Heard on High" have Grant's vocals soaring, especially on the sustained chorus of the latter. Her country roots show nicely in "Tennessee Christmas," while "Sleigh Ride" is as fun as it is romantic. "Heirlooms" is particularly poignant--maybe not to the point of "hand me a tissue," but it's powerful all the same. A must for fans, and a good holiday addition for those looking for a Christmas record that comes without the cobwebs. --Steve Gdula
While many recording artists secular and religious leave their normal musical style on record store shelves when setting out to record a Christmas album, Amy Grant stays true to herself and her listeners. Since Amy swept up Grammy and Dove Awards this year her fans have eagerly awaited her next release. Although a season LP, A Christmas Album (Myrrh) offers completely new material for Amy....
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While many recording artists secular and religious leave their normal musical style on record store shelves when setting out to record a Christmas album, Amy Grant stays true to herself and her listeners. Since Amy swept up Grammy and Dove Awards this year her fans have eagerly awaited her next release. Although a season LP, A Christmas Album (Myrrh) offers completely new material for Amy....
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Amy Grant - Age To Age
The transition from juvenile to adult is perilous for anyone, but it is especially difficult for popular artists, and many are unable to grow up without losing their audiences. But a few blossom remarkably. Stevie Wonder's Talking Book and Michael Jackson's Off the Wall are remembered, in a sense, as the first albums for these 21-year-old former child stars because they marked the beginnings of their mature careers, becoming commercial as well as artistic breakthroughs. Amy Grant's Age to Age, also recorded as she turned 21, was another such work. Grant had recorded three studio albums and two live albums previously, and they had contained indications of her abilities (and the abilities of her brain trust of producer Brown Bannister and managers Michael Blanton and Dan Harrell, plus songwriter Gary Chapman, by now Grant's fiancé). But Age to Age marked a quantum leap for her. Over the years of performing and recording, she had developed into an effective singer who could manage both a breathy intimacy in her ballads and an on-the-beat belt (usually much augmented by backup singers) on uptempo material. She, Chapman, and Bannister, meanwhile, had purveyed a lyrical style that might be dubbed "Christian lite," since it emphasized a "personal relationship" with God that often came off as if the singer were addressing an earthly father or even an idealized boyfriend. To these sentiments, Bannister produced musical tracks much in keeping with contemporary pop. On Age to Age, partly recorded at former Chicago manager James William Guercio's Caribou Ranch studio, Bannister turned to the emerging West Coast pop style being developed by David Foster for Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire, among others, a sophisticated pop/rock sound. That upped the ante sonically, but two other elements were brought into the picture that pushed the album beyond previous Grant efforts....
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Amy Grant - In Concert, Volume 2
In 1981, with only a few albums under her belt, Amy Grant released In Concert, Vol. 1 and 2. The double issue was somewhat premature because she had yet to find her real niche in the music industry and only sparked a few minor hits. (Her big break would come later the same year when she released her massively successful Age to Age). Hearing Grant speak live to the audience, she conveys a tone of shyness; her words are powerful, but somehow we wonder how much power she has inside her to back them up. Most of the songs center on grace and thanks to Christ, though other songs, like the inspirational ballad "I'm Gonna Fly," are ambiguous. The album is mellow and tranquil, reminding us that Grant was never big on personality or range, especially in her earlier days. Her rise to fame came from determinedness and a humble spirit. If it must be said, Grant is the un-Madonna of Christian music and will be around as long as she chooses to be around....
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Amy Grant - Never Alone
When you stop to think about it, it's difficult to pinpoint what it was that propelled Amy Grant to her unquestioned position as the reigning queen of Christian contemporary music. It wasn't her songwriting ability; Grant has rarely written, save for collaborations with greater talents like Michael W. Smith, Wayne Kirkpatrick, Keith Thomas, or (ex-)husband Gary Chapman. Nor did she achieve fame through any particular accomplishment as a musician, as was the case with her CCM contemporaries Smith, Phil Keaggy and Keith Green. The record jacket for Never Alone pictures her sitting next to an acoustic guitar, but all of the guitars on the record (as on all of her records) are handled by session artists. She is known primarily as a vocalist, but unlike Sandi Patti or Charlie Peacock, she is not a particularly powerful or distinctive singer. Her voice is pleasant, pretty, and appealing, but limited in range and, especially on early records like Never Alone, sometimes thin and breathy. It's tempting to speculate that her friendly Everywoman persona struck a chord with fans (as it undoubtedly did) or that she looked exceptionally attractive in leopard skin jackets and pink lamé pants (which probably helped)...
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