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Amy Grant ties-in with Philosophy skin care product
GRAMMY Award winning Amy Grant will release her first new, non-Christmas music in five years with the release of 'She Colors My Day EP'. The project is being released on iTunes and is a tie-up with the skin care product Philosophy. The EP will contain the title track, "a fun pop-song about a mother's love for her daughter," and "Unafraid", a tribute to Amy's own mother. 'She Colors My Day' will also feature Grant's hits "Baby Baby" and "Oh, How The Years Go By". A music video for "She Colors My Day" will have an exclusive Amazon.com debut on 12th May.Amy Grant and songwriters Cristina Carlino (Philosophy founder and creator) and Stuart Mathis are donating all artist and publishing royalties generated by the sale of the song "She Colors My Day" to the Entertainment Industry Foundation's Women's' Cancer Research Fund. Alongside Grant's EP, Philosophy is partnering with online photo and artwork company Snapfish to create personalised books for Mother's Day. For each book that is created, Snapfish will donate 50 per cent of the net proceeds to the "She Colors My Day" project, a Philosophy non-profit initiative to assist in raising funds to create a cure for breast cancer. Philosophy is also releasing a bubble bath in honour of the charity.
Christian Music News Source
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
AMY GRANT TO RELEASE NEW 4 SONG EP TITLED SHE COLORS MY DAY ON MAY 5 IN CELEBRATION OF MOTHER’S DAY
Nashville, Tenn. Apr. 28, 2009… GRAMMY ® Award Winning Singer/Songwriter, philanthropist and mother, Amy Grant will release her first new, non-Christmas music in five years with the release of She Colors My Day EP exclusively on iTunes ® the week of May 5 and in partnership with the skin care brand philosophy.Grant will debut two new songs for Mother’s Day: “She Colors My Day”, a fun pop-song about a mother’s love for her daughter, and the beautiful soul-stirring “Unafraid” which is a tribute to Amy’s own mother. Available May 5 with a debut exclusively on iTunes ®, the 4-song EP also includes classic Grant hits “Baby Baby” and “Oh, How The Years Go By”. The colorful music video for “She Colors My Day” will have an exclusive Amazon.com debut on May 12.
“I’m so glad to be releasing some new music,” says Grant. “I’ve been working on a lot of new material and two of the new songs seemed to fit perfectly for a special Mother’s Day release. ‘Unafraid’ is motherhood from every angle --- partner, parent, caregiver -- a perspective that every 40-something mom knows all too well. And ‘She Colors My Day’ makes me smile thinking of how my own daughters brighten up my life.”
Amy Grant and songwriters Cristina Carlino (philosophy founder and creator) & Stuart Mathis are donating all artist and publishing royalties generated by the sale of the song “She Colors My Day” to the Entertainment Industry Foundation’s Women’s’ Cancer Research Fund.
Alongside Grant’s EP, philosophy is partnering with online photo and artwork company Snapfish to create personalized books for Mother’s Day. For each book that is created, Snapfish will donate 50 percent of the net proceeds to the “She Colors My Day” project, a philosophy non-profit initiative to assist in raising funds to create a cure for breast cancer. philosophy is also releasing a bubble bath in honor of the charity.
about philosophy
philosophy is a lifestyle brand that celebrates feeling well and living joyously and wants to inspire its customers to live a better life by being better to themselves. Long before the “doctor” skincare brands of today, there was philosophy. Born from biomedic, the acclaimed medical company that pioneered some of today’s most popular in-office treatments such as the micropeel. philosophy skincare has long been recommended by dermatologists and plastic surgeons around the country. philosophy is an international skincare and cosmetic company founded in 1996 and headquartered in phoenix, arizona. For more information please visit our website at www.philosophy.com.
about Amy Grant
Amy Grant’s career spans over 25 years and stretches from her roots in gospel into an iconic pop star, songwriter, television personality, and philanthropist. Grant has sold more than 30 million albums and won six Grammys ® in multiple categories, beginning with the platinum selling Age to Age in 1982. She also has six #1 hits, including “Baby, Baby,” and “Every Heartbeat” and is one of only two Christian artists to be awarded a star on the legendary Walk of Fame in Hollywood. Grant released her first live recording in 25 years with Time Again...Amy Grant Live in September 2006, and then announced her first ever label shift to EMI Music Group where her entire music catalog was re-mastered and released via a GREATEST HITS CD and made available for the first time digitally. Last fall she released her first new Christmas music in 9 years, THE CHRISTMAS COLLECTION, which in addition to four new songs, features tracks that were hand-picked by Grant to include the best songs from her previous albums that result in a classic Christmas album reminiscent of the Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, etc. albums of old. For more information, visit www.amygrant.com.
Christian Music News Source
AMY GRANT AND VINCE GILL ANNOUNCE JUNE MUSICAL EVENT, LAUNCHING CHALLENGE AMERICA, HONORING WOUNDED WARRIORS AT THE JOHN F. KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PER
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (April 28, 2009) - Amy Grant and Vince Gill recently announced plans to host an evening of music at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, on Monday, June 8, 2009, at 8 p.m., honoring wounded warriors and launching the nationwide Challenge America initiative. Challenge America will work with communities across America to support the development of recreational and occupational programs for returning injured military and their families.
Special musical guests slated to join Grant and Gill at the Monday night Kennedy Center launch event include Michael McDonald, Alison Krauss, Darius Rucker, Melinda Doolittle and Mac McAnally with NY Times bestselling author Stephen Mansfield. Tickets go on sale Saturday, May 2, and are priced at $50, $75 and $95 for general admission and $500 for Gold Circle Seating to include a post-show reception. Tickets are available at the Kennedy Center Box Office, via InstantCharge by calling (202) 467-4600, and online at www.kennedy-center.org.
"I'm excited about getting to play on stage with all of these talented folks and to share what we believe in so deeply. We want to make an impact on the individuals who have given to us in unimaginable ways. Challenge America is our way of honoring the men and women who truly are heroes," explains Vince Gill.
Challenge America is an outgrowth of Challenge Aspen, a non-profit organization that has provided adaptive recreation for people with disabilities since 1995. Since 2000, Amy Grant and Vince Gill have served Challenge Aspen in various capacities, hosting golf tournaments, providing entertainment during fundraisers, and volunteering, raising more than $3.5 million. The Kennedy Center concert event to launch Challenge America is a natural progression for Grant and Gill and for Challenge Aspen.
"Amy and Vince have been among our most ardent supporters," said Houston Cowan, CEO and Co-Founder of Challenge Aspen and Founder of Challenge America. "What we hear from wounded warriors is their simple desire to find a new normal life---a job they can be proud of, a home, and recreational opportunities with their families in their own communities. We are delighted that Amy and Vince are hosting an event of this magnitude to launch our organization to help provide access to these opportunities," explains Cowan.
"Every person in every community across the country has the opportunity to welcome home our wounded heroes with open arms," explains Amy Grant. "Vince and I want this event at The Kennedy Center to be a special night for launching Challenge America, and to inspire us all to find ways in our own communities to serve the ones who have served us," she adds.
Established in 1995, Challenge Aspen (http://www.challengeaspen.org) has provided adaptive recreational, cultural and competitive opportunities to thousands of individuals with disabilities from around the world. Based in Aspen/Snowmass, Colorado, Challenge Aspen is an internationally established charitable organization.
Challenge America (http://www.challengeamerica.com) is an outgrowth of Challenge Aspen that will be launched on June 8, 2009. The organization will work with new and existing organizations for the development of recreational and occupational programs for injured military and their families.
Vince Gill has sold more than 26 million albums and earned 18 CMA Awards, including Entertainer of the Year in 1993 and 1994. He is a member of the Grand Ole Opry, with 20 Grammy® Awards to date (more than any male country music artist) and was inducted into the prestigious Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007.
Amy Grant has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. She is best known for her Grammy® Award winning contemporary Christian and pop music, and recently received acclaim as a New York Times Best Selling author for Mosaic: Pieces of My Life So Far. Grant is a six-time Grammy® Award winner, 26-time Gospel Music Association Dove Award winner, and a member of the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame.
Christian Music News Source
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
AMY GRANT TO RELEASE NEW 4 SONG EP TITLED SHE COLORS MY DAY ON MAY 5 IN CELEBRATION OF MOTHER’S DAY
Nashville, Tenn. Apr. 28, 2009… GRAMMY ® Award Winning Singer/Songwriter, philanthropist and mother, Amy Grant will release her first new, non-Christmas music in five years with the release of She Colors My Day EP exclusively on iTunes ® the week of May 5 and in partnership with the skin care brand philosophy.
Grant will debut two new songs for Mother’s Day: “She Colors My Day”, a fun pop-song about a mother’s love for her daughter, and the beautiful soul-stirring “Unafraid” which is a tribute to Amy’s own mother. Available May 5 with a debut exclusively on iTunes ®, the 4-song EP also includes classic Grant hits “Baby Baby” and “Oh, How The Years Go By”. The colorful music video for “She Colors My Day” will have an exclusive Amazon.com debut on May 12.
“I’m so glad to be releasing some new music,” says Grant. “I’ve been working on a lot of new material and two of the new songs seemed to fit perfectly for a special Mother’s Day release. ‘Unafraid’ is motherhood from every angle --- partner, parent, caregiver -- a perspective that every 40-something mom knows all too well. And ‘She Colors My Day’ makes me smile thinking of how my own daughters brighten up my life.”
Amy Grant and songwriters Cristina Carlino (philosophy founder and creator) & Stuart Mathis are donating all artist and publishing royalties generated by the sale of the song “She Colors My Day” to the Entertainment Industry Foundation’s Women’s’ Cancer Research Fund.
Alongside Grant’s EP, philosophy is partnering with online photo and artwork company Snapfish to create personalized books for Mother’s Day. For each book that is created, Snapfish will donate 50 percent of the net proceeds to the “She Colors My Day” project, a philosophy non-profit initiative to assist in raising funds to create a cure for breast cancer. philosophy is also releasing a bubble bath in honor of the charity.
about philosophy
philosophy is a lifestyle brand that celebrates feeling well and living joyously and wants to inspire its customers to live a better life by being better to themselves. Long before the “doctor” skincare brands of today, there was philosophy. Born from biomedic, the acclaimed medical company that pioneered some of today’s most popular in-office treatments such as the micropeel. philosophy skincare has long been recommended by dermatologists and plastic surgeons around the country. philosophy is an international skincare and cosmetic company founded in 1996 and headquartered in phoenix, arizona. For more information please visit our website at www.philosophy.com.
about Amy Grant
Amy Grant’s career spans over 25 years and stretches from her roots in gospel into an iconic pop star, songwriter, television personality, and philanthropist. Grant has sold more than 30 million albums and won six Grammys ® in multiple categories, beginning with the platinum selling Age to Age in 1982. She also has six #1 hits, including “Baby, Baby,” and “Every Heartbeat” and is one of only two Christian artists to be awarded a star on the legendary Walk of Fame in Hollywood. Grant released her first live recording in 25 years with Time Again...Amy Grant Live in September 2006, and then announced her first ever label shift to EMI Music Group where her entire music catalog was re-mastered and released via a GREATEST HITS CD and made available for the first time digitally. Last fall she released her first new Christmas music in 9 years, THE CHRISTMAS COLLECTION, which in addition to four new songs, features tracks that were hand-picked by Grant to include the best songs from her previous albums that result in a classic Christmas album reminiscent of the Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, etc. albums of old. For more information, visit www.amygrant.com.
Christian Music News Source
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Amy's Long and Winding Road
IT'S FRIDAY AFTERNOON, and Amy Grant's ten-year-old son, Matt, bursts home from school, itching to play drums with a drummer friend who's come over to give him a lesson. "Hey, Mom, is it alright?" Matt eagerly asks Amy, who's sitting on the flowered couch in their great room, strumming a guitar and smiling for TCW's photographer. "Sure, Matt, go ahead," Amy, grinning, replies.
Before long, the sound of drumrolls reverberates through the rambling, sixty-year-old farmhouse Amy, thirty-seven, shares with husband Gary Chapman, Matt, eight-year-old Millie, and five-year-old Sarah. "Today's his first real lesson," Amy explains. "He's loud and fast, but he's catching on!" Amy's delight in Matt's experimentation is an emotion this fellow mom instantly recognizes.
During the time I spent with Amy at Riverstone Farm, her sprawling 250-acre spread outside Nashville, it was obvious she's someone who treasures family and friends. Snapshots and framed portraits—Sarah among wildflowers, Gary on his Harley, assorted nieces and nephews—adorn walls, furniture, even her refrigerator. Millie's prescription bottle sits on a kitchen windowsill; kids' stickers plaster a computer monitor. I'm reminded of the common bond we share as busy wives and moms.
Source
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Wild Adventures Spotlights Vince Gill and Amy Grant Tonight
Apr. 18--VALDOSTA -- Taking the Wild Adventures stage tonight, Vince Gill will reportedly perform his hits alone. Amy Grant will then perform her hits alone. By the show's end, reportedly, the husband and wife singers will perform a few songs together.
Gill has performed previously at Wild Adventures. Last time around, his wife visited the park with him, but Grant did not perform.
Though not available for interviews this go-round, Gill told The Valdosta Daily Times in a past interview that he enjoys his stardom, but it is his marriage to Amy Grant that is his life.
"We're crazy for each other," he said in 2005. "It is a great blessing to find that companionship.
"We started with a very real and healthy respect for each other as musicians and as we got to know each other as people that respect has only grown through the years. Amy and I both have 25- to 30-year careers behind us, too. So, we feel no pressure to be on the road all of the time or record as we would have earlier in our careers."
One of Gill's first professional gigs, back as a teen in the 1970s, was opening for KISS with his Oklahoma-based bluegrass band Mountain Smoke. KISS fans booed Vince Gill off the stage.
He has worked in music for decades with several bands, including Pure Prairie League, but his big breaks came at the end of the 1980s and early 1990s. Vince Gill's stardom came with hits like "Cinderella," "When I Call Your Name," "Pocket Full of Gold," "Take Your Memory," "I Still Believe in You," "Don't Let Our Love Start Slippin' Away," "The Heart Won't Lie," "No Future in the Past," "One More Last Chance," "Tryin' To Get Over You," "Whenever You Come Around," "What The Cowgirls Do," "When Love Finds You," "Which Bridge To Cross (Which Bridge To Burn)," "You'd Better Think Twice," "Worlds Apart," "Pretty Little Adriana," "A Little More Love," "You and You Alone," "If You Ever Have Forever in Mind," etc.
"I never planned on being a star," Gill said. "I dreamed of being a working musician. I wanted to be a great session musician. I wanted to work with some of the greatest stars and musicians, but I didn't dream of being a star. That's just been something extra."
Grant started as a contemporary Christian singer and became the first contemporary Christian artist to make platinum with "Age to Age." She switched to pop and had several Top 10 hits, including "Baby, Baby," "Every Heartbeat," and "That's What Love Is For."
Gill and Grant are the second Wild Adventures concert this year.
--SHOWTIME
Vince Gill and Amy Grant perform.
When: Show starts at 8 p.m. today.
Where: Wild Adventures, Old Clyattville Road.
Admission: Concert is included in the park's regular admission or as part of Passport.
More information: www.wildadventures.com
Christian Music News Source
Simply Complicated III
In stories I've read, it seems like you've been seeking forgiveness for your divorce. Does it seem that Christians have been slow to extend grace and forgiveness?
Grant: That depends who you're talking to. I just did an interview with a Christian radio station, and he asked, "How have you found people to be?" He was anticipating that my personal experience was that people have been very judgmental. But my experience is that people who have been through painful, difficult times are filled with compassion. And those compassionate people were the first to say, "Keep putting one foot in front of the other. God's merciful in Plan B. Don't give up. It was never about your goodness in the first place." Those were the people who filled the horizon of my world. Those were the people who said, "Hey let's just say a prayer right now," and they would lead me through the most merciful prayer that reminded me of God's love. I have not had one face-to-face lambasting from anybody.
Everybody's entitled to think whatever they want and to express that, but my personal day-to-day experience does not come into contact with any of those people. I'm not surrounded by "yes men"—far from it. But I think people are a lot braver to say things from their own soapbox. From a distance, it's easy to be judgmental and grandiose about your opinions. But none of us, face-to-face with a wounded human being, often chooses to be cruel. Do I think I've been the emotional piñata at a few parties? Maybe, but they were never parties that I was invited to.
On your new CD, the song "Eye to Eye" includes the line, "I'd like to figure out a way to leave a troubled past behind." Have you figured that out yet?
Grant: From a songwriting standpoint, I'd give an A to "Eye to Eye." But it was a group effort; Keith Thomas and I wrote the song together. So, don't read it as entirely autobiographical. The line you quoted, part of it is true, and part of it is poetic license.
"Happy," the opening song on Simple Things, begins with a line that includes the words "behind your eyes." Your last pop album was called Behind the Eyes. That's no coincidence, right?
Grant: It was just a coincidence. The decision to start the album with "Happy" was not my choice.
What was your first choice?
Grant: I wanted to start with "Out in the Open," because that was the first song written for the album. I wrote it in 1999, when I finally started being creative again, when I felt the first real experiences of forgiveness and moving past shame to something better. As for the sequencing of songs on the album, I have a circle of people I work with, and we all have an equal vote. Even though I wanted to start with "Out in the Open," I got voted down! (Laughs.)
There's a nice mix of good old-fashioned love songs and songs of faith. How do you decide the mix?
Grant: I want to hear both types of songs. I am a music lover. For me, the backdrop of half the experiences of life includes music. It never crosses my mind, This is what people want to hear. My thinking is, This is a song I wrote thinking about my niece. Or, This is an idea that came to me when I looked at Vince across the table the other night. Every one of those songs, even the two I didn't write, was so life appropriate, though not necessarily autobiographical.
What's it like working with Vince on your records?
Grant: We didn't work together much on this one, but it's always the easiest thing in the world. I'm a huge fan of his, and I think he's an incredible talent. On this record, he played mandolin on one song, and sang a duet and a background part. It was very different with Legacy (Word, 2002), when he was a producer, directing me. When he produced Legacy, he was very encouraging, very nurturing.
Do your kids dig your music?
Grant: None of them have listened to the new record. The only one I asked to listen to it was Millie, who's 13. I put it up in her room about four months ago and said, "Would you listen to this, and tell me your three least favorite songs?"
That's an interesting way to ask!
Grant: That's what I'm always curious about. But she never did listen! But we were in the car yesterday with a couple of my teenage nieces, and they have really connected with this record.
So, what are your kids listening to?
Grant: Matt (15) has diverse tastes. He loves Radiohead and Coldplay. He likes Incubus, but their language gets a little bit rough. He likes some harder stuff, like Linkin Park. Millie is more into soundtrack stuff. Sarah (10) leans more toward Dixie Chicks and Jo Dee Messina and country. Corinna is actually the only one who listens to my stuff, and it's because she's only 2! I put her to sleep every night to Legacy.
But around my house, the release of Simple Things is no big deal. The much bigger news around my house is that Sarah, who's entering fifth grade, is getting contact lenses. That's the big news bulletin in our home. But that's real life!
Source
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Simply Complicated II
ChristianityToday.com interviewed Grant on the day before Simple Things released. Here's what she had to say:
This is your first pop album in six years. Some are calling it a comeback. Would you agree?
Grant: That depends on how well it does! (Laughs).
Even though it's titled Simple Things, your life has been anything but simple for the last few years. Why didn't you call it Complicated Things?
Grant: Because that's not how I feel. The hard times are several years behind me now. This is probably the most peaceful stretch of life I've known as an adult.
You've decided to focus on the simple things that bring you peace?
Grant: A good friend once described me to somebody by saying, "She's actually a very simple person." I wondered if I should have been insulted. I said, "Look, I'm highly educated. I've traveled the world. I work hard." But then I got to thinking, It's true. I'm a simple person. Some people tend to live from trauma to trauma, and that energizes them. I have a hectic schedule, but my mind seeks simplicity—like being in nature, a long bike ride, or sitting on the back porch. My son Matt, who's almost 16, is just a whirling dervish of energy. One plan is ending, and he's always making five more plans. But if I wake up and have a great cup of coffee first thing in the morning, I have pegged the Thrill Meter for the day. I'm not looking for the Next Big Thing.
Many Christian media kind of backed away from Amy Grant stories after your divorce. Many Christian radio stations and bookstores stopped carrying your music. And many of your fans were disappointed in what had happened in your personal life. Do you understand why people felt that way, and do you think it was fair?
Grant: I would rather not comment on any of that. Anybody who's ever gone through a hard time—any outsider's perception, no matter how much information they're given, they have no idea what the person's life is like. It's two different worlds. But my energy was focused on trying to find my way out of a deep, dark wood, and getting good help that I trusted, and being involved with the people I was responsible for and responsible to. Beyond that extended family/friends/church base, there was no energy to consider who was putting the ban on me. If somebody made that choice, I totally respect that. But I had no interest in trying to justify anything to anybody.
You didn't feel like you had to do any kind of damage control?
Grant: With so much public perception, that's like trying to put out a grass fire. And whenever I thought I was being dealt with unjustly, I would think, Some day, this is all going to play out in heaven, and everybody will see the full picture, and it won't even matter. That was always my thought process, just doing the things I felt I needed to do, and letting other people do what they felt they needed to do.
Source
MORE ARTISTS AND SPEAKERS ADDED TO GMA MUSIC WEEK 2009
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – April 3, 2009 – Charlie Peacock, Amy Grant, Natalie Grant, Dan Haseltine, Barbara Mandrell and Rush of Fools are among the additional artists lining up to be a part of GMA Music Week April 18 to 22 in Nashville. They join a growing list of artists, speakers and industry leaders that are scheduled to participate in the five-day convention.
In addition, GMA previously announced that Brandon Heath, Jars of Clay, Mandisa, Bart Millard, Francesca Battistelli, Point of Grace, Diamond Rio, Group 1 Crew, Meredith Andrews, BarlowGirl, Remedy Drive, Mark Schultz and more will be a part of GMA Music Week 2009. And, previously announced speakers taking part in GMA Music Week 2009 include Louie Giglio, authors Gabe Lyons (unChristian, Baker Books) and William P. Young (The Shack, Windblown Media), and financial experts Michael Q. Pink and Bethany and Scott Palmer.
The Christian and gospel music community gathers every April in Music City for GMA Music Week. Artists, radio, retail, managers, agents, promoters, record companies, publishers, media, marketing and public relations professionals and others join together for artist performances, educational seminars, spiritual enrichment, and unparalleled networking opportunities. With all music genres represented including pop, rock, praise & worship, black gospel, R&B, hip hop, southern gospel, country, and more, GMA Music Week is the must-attend convention of the year for anyone doing business in or with the Gospel music community.
All the confirmed details are available at www.gospelmusic.org. A discounted registration rate of $299 for GMA Members is still available until April 10. Registration for GMA Music Week 2009 is now available online at http://www.gospelmusic.org/events/summaryDetail.aspx?aid=9&pid=33.
Here are some of the new highlights for GMA Music Week:
* Saturday night Indie Artist Showcase with hands on and practical instruction from live music producer Tom Jackson and guest teaching artist Rush Of Fools.
* Sunday Songwriter Showcase and Worship. The annual celebration of the year’s best songs is performed in an acoustic setting by the songwriters who wrote the hits. Hosted by Natalie Grant and Matthew West, the songwriter event will feature Chris Sligh, Sam Mizell, Tony Wood, Ian Eskelin, Francesca Battistelli, Ernie Haase, Wayne Haun, Joel Lindsey, Jason Ingram, Don Chaffer, Mike Weaver, Ben Fielding, Rueben Morgan and Ronny Hinson. The evening will end with a time of worship led by Brenton Brown and Laura Story. The Sunday night event is sponsored by BMI and ministry partner Compassion International.
* Monday “Fish Bowl” Forum with Steve Moore, Sr. V.P. of AEG Live! The forum is one of the many opportunities during GMA Music Week for participants to listen to a candid and informative discussion on a variety of subjects. This Monday morning forum will be a discussion of live touring and will include a number of industry leaders from TicketMaster, CAA, WAY-FM and others.
* Tuesday Worship Breakfast will feature Selah, Pocket Full of Rocks, and Sonicflood providing worship music with speaker and Glory Revealed author David Nasser.
* Wednesday GMA Community Gathering & Artist Symposium will first featuring a session moderated by freelance music writer Deborah Evans Price and including Amy Grant, Dan Haseltine, Stephen Petree (formerly of Shiny Toy Guns), Cedric Dent (Take 6) and Marty Roe (Diamond Rio) discussing how artists of faith can make a connection in several music genres and the challenges of rewards of living out their faith in mainstream entertainment environments, and using their platforms to impact culture for Christ. Beloved and respected artist/songwriter/producer/author Charlie Peacock will be the final keynote of GMA Music Week.
The 40th Annual GMA Dove Awards (www.doveawards.com) will take place April 23, 2009 at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tenn. Tickets to the 40th Annual GMA Dove Awards are on sale now at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 615-242-0303.
About GMA:
Founded in 1964, the Gospel Music Association serves as the face and voice for the gospel/Christian music community and is dedicated to exposing, promoting and celebrating the gospel through music of all styles including pop, rock, praise & worship, black gospel, R&B, hip hop, southern gospel, country, and more. The GMA community consists of 3,000 members including agents, artists, church leaders, managers, promoters, radio personnel, record company executives, retailers, songwriters and other industry visionaries. The GMA produces the GMA Dove Awards, GMA Music Week and the GMA Academy. For more information, please visit www.gospelmusic.org.
Christian Music News Source
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Simply Complicated
With the release of Simple Things, Amy Grant is making a comeback of sorts. But recent years have been anything but simple for Grant, who went through a very public divorce and remarriage. Just how complicated have things been? We asked, and here's what she had to say …
With last week's release of Simple Things (Word), her first pop album in six years, one might say Amy Grant is back.
Not that she ever left us, of course. Since her last pop album, 1997's contemplative Behind the Eyes, Grant has given us more warm yuletide fare (1999's A Christmas to Remember) and a marvelous collection of hymns (2002's Legacy).
For a few of those years, Grant laid relatively low while her personal life took center stage—much of it in the tabloids. In the late '90s, she had a much publicized friendship—and rumored romance—with country musician Vince Gill, who had divorced in 1997. Then came Grant's 1999 divorce from singer/songwriter Gary Chapman, her husband of 16 years and the father of their three children. A year later, the Grant-Gill romance rumors were confirmed as they walked down the aisle. And a year after that, Grant and Gill had a baby girl, Corinna.
In the wake of Grant's divorce, many Christian media—including Christianity Today International—avoided doing Amy Grant stories. Many Christian radio stations and bookstores refused to play her music or sell her records. Disillusioned fans turned their backs on her. It was open season on Amy Grant, and many Christians picked up their weapons. Some of the barbs were cruel, some merely speculative.
In early 2000, Christianity Today magazine questioned Grant's high visibility less than a year after her divorce ("Take a Little Time Out," February 7, 2000). The article noted that "neither Grant nor the Christian marketing industry, in promoting her concerts and albums, has missed a beat." That story noted Grant ads in two other CTI magazines, Today's Christian Woman and, irony of ironies, Marriage Partnership. The article concluded: "Whether Amy Grant and Vince Gill have found happiness amid the pain of others is a matter between them and their families, their church communities, and the Lord. But her dressing up and our propelling her public ministry, without taking time for serious reflection, violates what should be the Christian conviction about the sanctity of marriage."
Grant was aware of the backlash in the Christian community, but says she was mostly unfazed by it. She says all of her emotional energy was spent recovering from the pain of a broken marriage, investing in her new marriage and, soon thereafter, a new baby.
Over the next couple of years, Grant became more open about her regrets concerning her divorce. In May 2002, CCM magazine asked Grant what she would say to those who felt betrayed, confused or angry because of her divorce and remarriage. Grant replied, "The first thing I would say is, 'I'm sorry.' I did the best I could, and in some arenas, my best was not good enough. I've made some bad choices." And in a press release accompanying Simple Things (Word), released on August 19, Grant said she's had to "grapple with the shame that you feel when you've been through a divorce."
Simple Things is Grant's 18th CD. The multiple Grammy and Dove award winner has sold over 22 million albums; 1991's Heart in Motion, seen by some as the best contemporary Christian album of all time, sold more than 5 million copies.
Source
Steely Dan, Juan Gabriel, Marco-Antonio Solis, Amy Grant & Michael W. Smith Added to Pacific Amphitheatre Summer Concert Series
COSTA MESA, Calif., May 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Tickets for performances by Steely Dan, Juan Gabriel, Marco-Antonio Solis, Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith at the Pacific Amphitheatre will go on sale Saturday and Sunday, May 17 and 18. The Pacific Amphitheatre Summer Concert Series will feature 21 shows during the Orange County Fair July 11 - Aug. 3 (closed Mondays).
The pioneering, critically acclaimed and Grammy-winning Steely Dan kick off their first concert tour in three years on July 23. Led by longtime creative partners Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, the band has carved one of the most distinctive paths in contemporary music, sporting a highly distinctive, signature sound. On June 10, they're scheduled to release a new album, "Everything Must Go." Concert tickets go on sale Sunday, May 18, at 12 pm.
Performing at the Pacific Amphitheatre on July 12, Juan Gabriel is an enormously successful artist with an equally enormous following. He's sold upwards of 30 million albums and routinely sells out major concert venues throughout the world. Gabriel was the recipient of the ASCAP Songwriter of the Year award in 1995, and was inducted into the Billboard Latin Music Hall of Fame the following year. Tickets go on sale Sunday, May 18, at 10 a.m.
Marco-Antonio Solis who performs July 19, has been a major presence on the Latin American music scene for many years, but then again he had an early start. Solis formed his first band when he was 12, and was a mere teenager when he started his next band, Los Bukis, which proved to be a powerful, successful, influential and enduring group, which Solis led for some 20 years. While still guiding Los Bukis, he also launched a solo career, turning out a string of best-selling albums, including "Quiereme," "Inalcanzable," "Por Amor a Mi Pueblo," as well as the more recent "Trozos de Mi Alma." Solis tickets go on sale Saturday, May 17, at 10 a.m.
When Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith perform at the Pacific Amphitheatre on July 20, it will be a significant evening, as it will mark their first concert together in four years. Grant has racked up five Grammys, including one for Best Female Gospel Performance, three Doves (Gospel music's most prestigious award) and scored huge hits with both "Baby Baby," as well as "Next Time I Fall." Smith, who has won Grammy and Dove awards himself, has also sold more than eight million records and enjoyed 25 Number One hits. Tickets for the Grant-Smith show go on sale Saturday, May 17, at 10 a.m.
Tickets will be available at all Ticketmaster outlets, online at http://www.ticketmaster.com/ , by phone at (714) 740-2000 or (213) 480-3232, and at the Orange County Fair box office. Concert ticket prices include Fair admission. Gates open 90 minutes before show time. Concertgoers are encouraged to arrive early to avoid traffic and parking delays. The remaining concerts to be performed at the newly reopened Pacific Amphitheatre will be announced in the coming weeks.
The 111th annual Orange County Fair, themed "Red, Ripe and Rockin'," is July 11 - Aug. 3 at the Orange County Fair & Exposition Center. The Fair will be closed on Mondays (July 14, 21 and 28).
Conveniently located off the 405 and 55 freeways at 88 Fair Drive in the heart of Costa Mesa, the 160-acre Orange County Fair & Exposition Center is a popular Southern California destination, hosting over 100 events and shows a year and attracting 4.3 million visitors annually. It is the home of the annual Orange County Fair, Youth Expo and Centennial Farm. Orange County Fair & Exposition Center
CONTACT: Pam Highwart or Ruby Lau, both of Orange County Fair &Exposition Center, +1-714-708-1543
Web site: http://www.ocfair.com/
Christian Music News Source
MORE ARTISTS AND SPEAKERS ADDED TO GMA MUSIC WEEK 2009
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – April 3, 2009 – Charlie Peacock, Amy Grant, Natalie Grant, Dan Haseltine, Barbara Mandrell and Rush of Fools are among the additional artists lining up to be a part of GMA Music Week April 18 to 22 in Nashville. They join a growing list of artists, speakers and industry leaders that are scheduled to participate in the five-day convention.
In addition, GMA previously announced that Brandon Heath, Jars of Clay, Mandisa, Bart Millard, Francesca Battistelli, Point of Grace, Diamond Rio, Group 1 Crew, Meredith Andrews, BarlowGirl, Remedy Drive, Mark Schultz and more will be a part of GMA Music Week 2009. And, previously announced speakers taking part in GMA Music Week 2009 include Louie Giglio, authors Gabe Lyons (unChristian, Baker Books) and William P. Young (The Shack, Windblown Media), and financial experts Michael Q. Pink and Bethany and Scott Palmer.
The Christian and gospel music community gathers every April in Music City for GMA Music Week. Artists, radio, retail, managers, agents, promoters, record companies, publishers, media, marketing and public relations professionals and others join together for artist performances, educational seminars, spiritual enrichment, and unparalleled networking opportunities. With all music genres represented including pop, rock, praise & worship, black gospel, R&B, hip hop, southern gospel, country, and more, GMA Music Week is the must-attend convention of the year for anyone doing business in or with the Gospel music community.
All the confirmed details are available at www.gospelmusic.org. A discounted registration rate of $299 for GMA Members is still available until April 10. Registration for GMA Music Week 2009 is now available online at http://www.gospelmusic.org/events/summaryDetail.aspx?aid=9&pid=33.
Here are some of the new highlights for GMA Music Week:
* Saturday night Indie Artist Showcase with hands on and practical instruction from live music producer Tom Jackson and guest teaching artist Rush Of Fools.
* Sunday Songwriter Showcase and Worship. The annual celebration of the year’s best songs is performed in an acoustic setting by the songwriters who wrote the hits. Hosted by Natalie Grant and Matthew West, the songwriter event will feature Chris Sligh, Sam Mizell, Tony Wood, Ian Eskelin, Francesca Battistelli, Ernie Haase, Wayne Haun, Joel Lindsey, Jason Ingram, Don Chaffer, Mike Weaver, Ben Fielding, Rueben Morgan and Ronny Hinson. The evening will end with a time of worship led by Brenton Brown and Laura Story. The Sunday night event is sponsored by BMI and ministry partner Compassion International.
* Monday “Fish Bowl” Forum with Steve Moore, Sr. V.P. of AEG Live! The forum is one of the many opportunities during GMA Music Week for participants to listen to a candid and informative discussion on a variety of subjects. This Monday morning forum will be a discussion of live touring and will include a number of industry leaders from TicketMaster, CAA, WAY-FM and others.
* Tuesday Worship Breakfast will feature Selah, Pocket Full of Rocks, and Sonicflood providing worship music with speaker and Glory Revealed author David Nasser.
* Wednesday GMA Community Gathering & Artist Symposium will first featuring a session moderated by freelance music writer Deborah Evans Price and including Amy Grant, Dan Haseltine, Stephen Petree (formerly of Shiny Toy Guns), Cedric Dent (Take 6) and Marty Roe (Diamond Rio) discussing how artists of faith can make a connection in several music genres and the challenges of rewards of living out their faith in mainstream entertainment environments, and using their platforms to impact culture for Christ. Beloved and respected artist/songwriter/producer/author Charlie Peacock will be the final keynote of GMA Music Week.
The 40th Annual GMA Dove Awards (www.doveawards.com) will take place April 23, 2009 at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tenn. Tickets to the 40th Annual GMA Dove Awards are on sale now at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 615-242-0303.
About GMA:
Founded in 1964, the Gospel Music Association serves as the face and voice for the gospel/Christian music community and is dedicated to exposing, promoting and celebrating the gospel through music of all styles including pop, rock, praise & worship, black gospel, R&B, hip hop, southern gospel, country, and more. The GMA community consists of 3,000 members including agents, artists, church leaders, managers, promoters, radio personnel, record company executives, retailers, songwriters and other industry visionaries. The GMA produces the GMA Dove Awards, GMA Music Week and the GMA Academy. For more information, please visit www.gospelmusic.org.
Christian Music News Source
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Reminiscing with Amy III
It's funny you say that because you're currently on a major Christmas tour with costume changes!
Grant: It is a very beautiful and lush show that actually does have three costume changes. But that's more of a specialty show, not my own solo, non-seasonal show. The response [to the Christmas show] has been great. It's basically a three-hour evening between myself, my husband, and comedian Henry Cho. We work music into his comedy, laughing at family dysfunction and celebrating faith by reading the Christmas story from Luke.
I've also heard about your commitment to sending the show, via satellite, to our troops overseas.
Grant: We did a show in San Antonio that was really amazing. The military helped us do a satellite to Baghdad where during intermission we had eight families seated in the front row and one by one they were able to communicate with their loved ones using the cameras to see each other. It was so emotional and nobody moved even though it was the intermission. As long as we had the link, we figured we might as well have them talk face to face!
How does your family traditionally celebrate Christmas?
Grant: This year all the children are coming out on the last two shows of the Christmas tour once they are out of school. That's become one of our newer traditions, as it is a time to go shopping for one another. We have days off before the performances, so we're always running to a mall together, then getting back and watching Christmas movies on the bus. Come Christmas Eve, we usually go to my mom and dad's. Everybody brings one gift and then we play that game when we all steal it from each other. Some are really cool, others are useful and some are a bit out there. Last year my 13-year-old nephew got 100 pounds of dog food, and Vince wound up with a talking scale because he's the biggest in the family. Christmas Day we'll keep the fire going and all be together as a family again.
What's coming up for you in the new year?
Grant: We're actually a few sessions away from finishing a second hymns record that will come out in April. I loved doing the first, but this one really has a great spirit to it that will be different. Then we'll clean the slate and I'm going to write some new songs, so we'll just have to wait and see what comes of all that!
Source
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Granting Wishes II
How did you catch NBC's eye for Three Wishes?
Grant: This happened in a very interesting way. My manager was in the hospital over Christmas for a month and was very sick. She only answered two e-mails during that entire time, and one was to NBC because she heard they were looking for a host for a new reality show. She had read the premise of the show and said, "Oh my goodness, this is right up Amy's alley!" I don't watch much TV and I'm not a big fan of reality shows, so she didn't tell me that she sent this. She answered the e-mail, saying she felt I would be great for this job. She sent them a press kit, including the very best video work I've ever done-like if I was on Oprah and made Oprah laugh. She tailor made this to really make me look fabulous-without telling me.
She got a call back from NBC, and then she called me and said, "I sent in your resume without asking you because I think you'd be great for this job. And they've called back and want you to come for an interview." I went to NBC and said, "I'm not a big TV watcher, but I love the idea of your show. Somebody's going to make a great host and whoever that host is will have a front row seat to some pretty amazing things. I'm throwing my hat in the ring and you pick whoever you want." That was about as emotional as the meeting was. Then she called back and said, "They want you to do it."
How did your previous TV appearances prepare you for the program?
Grant: We filmed the first show and it was kind of long hours, but my mom called and asked how it was going. I said, "I feel like so many extraneous things in my life prepared me to do this TV show. None of it feels like work." It all feels like stuff I've done in other parts of my life-meeting with children, talking to people, going to hospitals. I think about all the houses I've built with Habitat for Humanity, and how many kids I've already met with Make-A-Wish Foundation. Now they're just doing it with a TV show to try and encourage people to get involved with their next door neighbor and be a better part of their community, and I think, "Oh my gosh, I feel like I'm following a bread crumb trail." It really felt like a gift to me at this point in life.
What's the basic premise of the show?
Grant: Each episode so far is based in a small town. Basically we're there for a week. The first day of the week we set up a wish tent and we invite people to come and bring their wishes. I get on the radio that morning, I go up and down the main street. We pick small towns just because it's possible to show up and actually have a presence. If we were going to show up in Chicago, people would go, "Oh great, a bigger traffic jam. Please leave." We solicit wishes and choose the ones we're going to grant. Fortunately I'm not part of that process because it would just be way too much emotional pressure.
The first day is a long day. I bet we saw 500 people that stood in line waiting to say, "My name is so and so and my wish is X, Y, Z." I knew we were onto something really special. I find myself getting a lump in my throat, because I realize most of us want the capacity to give back to people who've meant something to us. That sort of feeling prevails with the entire week. It's not Extreme Makeover: Home Edition; you're not redoing the world. But it's people talking to each other. Every week we'll pick these three wishes and then filming the process of granting those wishes.
Are there talks of continuing Three Wishes for another season?
Grant: Right now, I think they've ordered nine shows so that's as far as I'm looking down the road.
What advice would you give those hoping to have their wish granted on the program?
Grant: It sure doesn't hurt if you've got five minutes on your hands to log on and wish for something. It needs to be connected to a small town, but most of us have small town roots somewhere. That's just the way they've angled this show right now and there's no magic formula. Like with any reality show, the magic is what happens once you get there.
Source
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Granting Wishes
Amy Grant never seems to slow down. After releasing a CD and DVD last year comprising her Greatest Hits 1986-2004, the singer hit the studio for her twentieth album, Rock of Ages … Hymns & Faith. The follow-up to 2002's Legacy … Hymns & Faith (which recently reached gold certification) features production by husband Vince Gill and frequent collaborator Brown Bannister. But now Grant has another trick up her sleeve-in the television department. This fall she'll host NBC's Three Wishes, a reality show in which a team of experts helps make contestants' hopes and dreams come true. We recently caught up with Grant via phone between the show's tour stops.
Why another hymns record so soon?
Amy Grant: Well, there's just a timelessness to a hymns record. It doesn't matter if someone discovers it next week or five years from now or twenty years from now. For any other kind of music, you're basically trying to get things on the radio. I felt like [2003's pop album] Simple Things was a great creative effort, but I didn't feel like all the pieces were firing at the same time to make it do well. What I don't want to have to worry about right now is any kind of radio success. I thought, if it doesn't seem like there's an open window for what I'm doing in the radio world, I'd rather do this pet project that I started with Legacy and invest my time and energy there. I think those records are beautiful; I think the hymns are beautiful.
My mom and dad are both in their 70s, and I feel fortunate that they're still alive and well. My mom came over today to visit her grandkids and just said, "Amy, I play this record all the time, and it's my favorite thing you've ever done." It means more to me right now to make a record that means a great deal to my mom than it does to go headlong pursuing radio. Nobody could've told me at 25 I would say that, but hands down this means more to me right now than having done something else.
What are the similarities and differences between Legacy and Rock of Ages?
Grant: I think Rock of Ages is a little more developed musically. We took longer to do it [and] I feel like the production was bolder. Even though they're both are collections of hymns, I didn't want it to be the exact same experience as Legacy. The record starts with "Anywhere with Jesus," which has kind of a bluesy feel, but instead of just sticking its toe in the water, it goes way in. Then the record ends with "Oh Love That Will Not Let Me Go" and that's more of a long saxophone solo. So, just a little more production extremes as opposed to Legacy, which is a little more sparse.
How did you decide what songs to include the second time around?
Grant: I have a lot of songbooks around my house, hymnals, songbooks from the church I grew up in, and a couple of favorite publications I've purchased. I just flip through those and make a list, and then talk with Vince and Brown about the list. I made a master list of about 30 songs-each one was a song I grew up singing-and then we just tried to figure out musical directions to take the songs.
Source
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Lead Me On … Again III
When can we expect your next proper studio CD?
Grant: As soon as Christmas is over, I plan to go into the studio in January and not come out until it's done. All the songs have been written, so it shouldn't take that long!
Speaking of the holidays, how did you choose both the old and new songs to be included on The Christmas Collection?
Grant: The record company actually let me choose the songs. I sat at the computer, loaded in all three earlier records, and picked the ones that had moved me most—the ones that were executed well and married well to each other. I can't say that every one of those standing alone makes the most sense going from heavy production to a stripped down sound to an orchestra to a cappella, but I tried to create a musical journey that felt complete and had all my favorite songs on there.
The label just requested two new songs, but I came up with four, so they said, "Thank you, we'll take all four!" I took two unoriginal songs performed on past Christmas tours but never recorded, one being a Barbra Streisand-styled version of "Jingle Bells" and the other being a song I sang with CeCe Winans on a CBS special years ago "Count Your Blessings Instead Of Sheep." "Baby It's Christmas" is one of the original songs I wrote with Vince, which is a romantic Christmas Eve song that's kind of on the steamy side, but also a joke because I don't think anyone's really ready for romance after being so exhausted from the holiday experience! And I love the message of "I Need a Silent Night," which speaks for itself and has an appearance by my seven-year-old daughter Corrina.
Can you give us a preview of the Christmas tour?
Grant: Vince and I will be touring for the first time without a symphony, but will have a full band and horn section, the Sapphire Blues Horns. It will be all Christmas material and I'll probably be choosing songs from the 18 on The Christmas Collection. My guess is Vince and I will probably be out together the whole time, though we haven't officially decided yet. It's going to be conversational and a ton of fun with some songs stripped down and others where everybody plays with tons of energy.
How does your family plan to celebrate the holidays in spite of all this traveling?
Grant: We've been traveling a lot this year, but the last two shows are in Nashville, which means we'll be home the week of Christmas. It's awfully nice to get to see all the different lights in different cities, and once our kids are out of school, they've always chosen to live on the bus for a few days to end the Christmas tour with us and do some shopping. That's just the downside of a musician's life—we have to travel to do our job. But we've done a lot at home trying to kind of shore everybody up since we're gone so much this fall and winter.
Source
Grant: As soon as Christmas is over, I plan to go into the studio in January and not come out until it's done. All the songs have been written, so it shouldn't take that long!
Speaking of the holidays, how did you choose both the old and new songs to be included on The Christmas Collection?
Grant: The record company actually let me choose the songs. I sat at the computer, loaded in all three earlier records, and picked the ones that had moved me most—the ones that were executed well and married well to each other. I can't say that every one of those standing alone makes the most sense going from heavy production to a stripped down sound to an orchestra to a cappella, but I tried to create a musical journey that felt complete and had all my favorite songs on there.
The label just requested two new songs, but I came up with four, so they said, "Thank you, we'll take all four!" I took two unoriginal songs performed on past Christmas tours but never recorded, one being a Barbra Streisand-styled version of "Jingle Bells" and the other being a song I sang with CeCe Winans on a CBS special years ago "Count Your Blessings Instead Of Sheep." "Baby It's Christmas" is one of the original songs I wrote with Vince, which is a romantic Christmas Eve song that's kind of on the steamy side, but also a joke because I don't think anyone's really ready for romance after being so exhausted from the holiday experience! And I love the message of "I Need a Silent Night," which speaks for itself and has an appearance by my seven-year-old daughter Corrina.
Can you give us a preview of the Christmas tour?
Grant: Vince and I will be touring for the first time without a symphony, but will have a full band and horn section, the Sapphire Blues Horns. It will be all Christmas material and I'll probably be choosing songs from the 18 on The Christmas Collection. My guess is Vince and I will probably be out together the whole time, though we haven't officially decided yet. It's going to be conversational and a ton of fun with some songs stripped down and others where everybody plays with tons of energy.
How does your family plan to celebrate the holidays in spite of all this traveling?
Grant: We've been traveling a lot this year, but the last two shows are in Nashville, which means we'll be home the week of Christmas. It's awfully nice to get to see all the different lights in different cities, and once our kids are out of school, they've always chosen to live on the bus for a few days to end the Christmas tour with us and do some shopping. That's just the downside of a musician's life—we have to travel to do our job. But we've done a lot at home trying to kind of shore everybody up since we're gone so much this fall and winter.
Source
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Gospel Music Hall of Fame to Open Doors to 5 New Inductees
Michael W. Smith, Dolly Parton, Dr. Bobby Jones, The Dixie Hummingbirds and Lair Goss will be inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame on Monday, joining music legends including Elvis Presley, Amy Grant, Andrae Crouch, and Sandi Patty.
Established in 1971, the Gospel Music Association's Gospel Music Hall of Fame honors and celebrates the past and present economic, cultural, social and spiritual contributions that Christian and gospel music have made not only to Music City, but to the world.
"This year’s class of GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame inductees have all achieved great professional and personal success in many different areas of the music and entertainment industries,” stated John W. Styll, president and CEO of the Gospel Music Association Foundation (GMAF), “but each shares a common heritage of the Gospel’s powerful impact on their lives.”
This year’s induction ceremony and dinner will be held on Monday at The Richland Country Club in Nashville, starting with a medallion ceremony and reception at 6:30 p.m. The induction ceremony and dinner will begin at 7:30 p.m.
Christian Music News Source
Established in 1971, the Gospel Music Association's Gospel Music Hall of Fame honors and celebrates the past and present economic, cultural, social and spiritual contributions that Christian and gospel music have made not only to Music City, but to the world.
"This year’s class of GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame inductees have all achieved great professional and personal success in many different areas of the music and entertainment industries,” stated John W. Styll, president and CEO of the Gospel Music Association Foundation (GMAF), “but each shares a common heritage of the Gospel’s powerful impact on their lives.”
This year’s induction ceremony and dinner will be held on Monday at The Richland Country Club in Nashville, starting with a medallion ceremony and reception at 6:30 p.m. The induction ceremony and dinner will begin at 7:30 p.m.
Christian Music News Source
Lead Me On … Again III
What was it like calling them out of the blue to pitch the anniversary tour?
Grant: Well they all have jobs now, [many of them touring with other artists], but I simply asked if there was any chance they'd do a short tour with me in honor of this record. I started by calling [guitarist] Jerry McPherson, who's currently playing with Faith Hill, and he said, "I can't believe this because Faith is taking the fall off!" Then I called [guitarist] Chris Rodriguez, who's been touring with Keith Urban for years, and he said, "I cannot believe you're calling me because I was just talking about you and our days of touring together!" Then he told me Keith was taking the fall off because he and Nicole [Kidman] were having a baby, so he'd be available too.
Person after person kept signing on, except for [percussionist] Terry McMillan, who died and I had spoken at his funeral, and [vocalist] Donna McElroy, who teaches at Berklee [but will still appear on select dates]. Then my older kids' father [and ex-husband] Gary Chapman played bass and sang [on the original tour]—even though we get along really well, I felt like that was a little bit of a stretch for all of us. But we have Mike Brignardello, who was the original bassist on the record, which still helps to bring this all full circle.
That's incredible that nearly everyone was available. What was the chemistry like when you first started rehearsing together?
Grant: The reunion between all these musicians was just unbelievable. When we walked in on the first day, we said, "Let's not kill ourselves and just work on three songs a day," working from 10am to 5pm. But by 11am, we played the first three perfectly just like we had played them every night 20 years ago! So there was tons of laughing, with some tweaking with the background vocals. So far, everyone who's walked in says we sound just like the record!
Is there any footage of your original outing that could be a DVD someday? If not, will this tour be filmed?
Grant: We actually had a film crew [the first time], but it was on film, not video. And we only had a three-camera shoot, and one of them was out of focus the whole time. It was very disorganized. Everything's a possibility right now, but with the economy so bad right now, I'm not sure how much wiggle room we've got for creative things. There's not a plan for a DVD at this time, but I do have a good friend in the DC area who does commercials, and she said, "By any chance would you want me to bring up some hi-definition cameras and get some behind scenes footage?" I'm all for that!
Do you feel like Lead Me On as an album has adapted additional poignancy in light of current events?
Grant: I know hearing them sure has revived my faith and hope. Especially in a season where we're all overwhelmed with rhetoric, it's nice to hear something straightforward and honest. My hope is whoever can swing a concert ticket shows up and we can build them up and create a ripple effect to go and encourage people in their world. We're doing this tour on such a smaller scale then we did twenty years ago. Back then we'd play in one neighborhood to a crowd of 20,000. Now we're going back to the same neighborhood, playing a church that seats 3,600 people. That's just the natural bell curve of the artist draw these days, but the music and creativity have never been about size of audience. It's been about the impact of the song, whether that's sitting in your room singing to yourself or one other person. If we could do it for free, we would, but we're at least trying to keep overhead down. We have two buses pulling a trailer and we're all trying to make ends meet. I do think music is so powerful and it can have such an impact, especially in hard times.
What type of set list should fans expect from this show?
Grant: I'm looking at it right now, actually, and nothing that was recorded after 1988 is going to be played. Part of that is because it's such a unique opportunity to play the old songs—I don't feel like I've ever had that freedom. It's nice to have a rest from the next twenty years and the songs that tend to be expected during every set list. We have pulled some oldie moldies out of the closet, and then depending on the night, if the crowd wants to stick around after the proper set list played, I might ask, "You wanna hear something new?" And if one goes over well, we might do a second.
Do you think you'll ever do this type of anniversary tour behind Heart In Motion, especially because it was your best-selling CD?
Grant: I think not and the reason is because I don't feel like those songs have the same emotional pull. I feel this is a one-time deal.
Source
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
CompassionArt brings Christian music's elite together for charity
Apparently, many of Martin Smith's transatlantic phone calls come with a built-in feeling-out period.
"Aren't you supposed to ask my favorite color?" laughs the front man and songwriter for Delirious?, the British outfit long at the forefront of modern worship music's explosion over the past decade. "What about my cat's name?"
But small talk is more than a little counterintuitive when considering the scope of the endeavor Smith's had his hands in for the past two-plus years: the multiwriter, multiartist, multigenre charity project CompassionArt.
Christian music fans started hearing rumblings about the idea this time last year. A dozen big-name songwriters from across the globe were getting together to craft songs for charity. The first publicly available fruit appeared at last year's Dove Awards as the song "So Great" was debuted on the broadcast. The 15-song album and accompanying book were released in November in the United Kingdom and make their way onto stateside store shelves on Tuesday.
But the idea started percolating in Smith's psyche long before that, as he traveled around the world with his band, witnessing crushing poverty up close while constantly wondering what he could do to help alleviate it.
As detailed in the diary-drawn chapter written by Smith and wife Anna in the book The Art of Compassion, Smith's experiences with evangelist Joyce Meyer in front of 400,000 in India, combined with burgeoning success as a songwriting partner to artists such as Michael W. Smith, Matt Redman and Darlene Zschech, led him to wonder what could happen if he got a bunch of his songwriting friends together in the same place at the same time. Especially with a bigger purpose in mind: to create songs, and essentially give the proceeds away, including the writers' publishing royalties.
'The team thing'
To Martin Smith's astonishment, those friends said "yes," with virtually no hesitation.
"I actually got a call from Martin in the middle of 2006 telling me about the idea," says Israel Houghton, the Houston-based artist/worship leader known for his soulful, cross-genre musical style. "When he said he wanted to get together in the Scottish highlands for a week to write and then give it all away, I'm like, 'Tell me where to be.' "
Houghton wasn't the only one to respond to Martin Smith's call, as the roster of writers who descended on Loch Tay in central Scotland in January 2008 grew to include Redman, Zschech, Michael W. Smith, Paul Baloche, Steven Curtis Chapman, Stu Garrard from Delirious?, Tim Hughes, Graham Kendrick, Andy Park and Chris Tomlin.
The week that followed, say some of the project's principals, creatively exceeded what any of them could have imagined going in.
"I think what's been really mind-blowing about this whole project is the team thing," says Martin Smith. "The concept that 'two is better than one,' and in this case '12 is better than two.' Then to take that even further, you have other artists singing on the project, so you've got a team of almost 20 people.
"The idea of even getting four or five people of that caliber in the same space for a week would be enough, but I think that was just kind of a mini miracle. We put that week aside and everybody said, 'I'm in.' Everybody paid for their own flight to get there."
Once everyone arrived, though, Smith says, the real weight of the project kicked in — in a good way.
"I'm looking around the room, thinking 'I can't quite believe this is actually happening.' Then we're sitting there thinking, 'Oh my gosh, now we've actually got to come out with something. We've actually got to write some songs. Anybody got any?' " Smith laughs.
"Then we began the process and the more people got relaxed, the more music started coming out of people. I think it was just staggering to be in that mix and see what was going on."
And even for an artist as experienced and decorated as Michael W. Smith, the CompassionArt writing sessions had a profound effect, effectively changing the way he approaches music-making, he says.
"I promise when I say this, it was one of the most amazing times of my career," says the singer, who was recently announced as one of the newest members of the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. "In all the things I've done, and I've traveled all over and been with presidents and won awards, this one is very much at the top of what I'll remember the rest of my life. Because it was life changing for all of us.
"The temperature and the vibe of what we were in the middle of . . . we'd sort of find ourselves overcome with having little meltdowns every day over how unprecedented what we were doing was," he continues. "I think it was because we knew that none of what we were doing was going to benefit us at all in terms of (finances). So we found ourselves kind of being changed, like a picture perfect of the body of Christ.
"But here you found us all falling in love with each other, doing something together and no one person took credit for any of the songs," Smith says of the project, for which all of the songwriters received equal credit. "We were all the 'writers' whether we wrote a note on them or not, and everything will be relinquished. There was something awesome about that, plus we all got along. It was sort of a love fest for five days."
It's a tall order, getting a dozen relative strangers together in a room for five days, each with their different skill sets and methods of working, and expecting them to come up with anything cohesive. But the overarching purpose of the CompassionArt project, embodied in the album's subtitle, "Creating Freedom From Poverty," drove the songwriters' desire to create.
"We discovered that we had something very real on our hands. The first couple of days was just sort of that awkward dance that comes with meeting new people," Houghton says. "Day one, you say 'I have this idea.' Day two, it turns into 'What if we . . . ?' And by day three, it's everybody's thing. Everybody lost individual ownership and bought into corporate ownership in about 48 hours time."
That intent toward "corporate ownership," Houghton says, meant that creative rules were essentially absent — the group would just focusing on writing, whether that meant pop songs, worship songs, soul music, folk music or otherwise.
"(We'd) just bring it all and see where it ends up," he says. "By day three, Martin pulls me and (Michael W. Smith) aside and says, 'I think we have a record here. Would you guys help make that happen?'
"And I say, 'Sure, on one condition. That we do it at Abbey Road.' And what's amazing is that we rang up studios in London and Abbey Road was the only one available in that time period."
Making it work
If there's a pilgrimage destination for lovers of popular music, it might be the studios located at No. 3 Abbey Road in the city of Westminster, England. Almost every note The Beatles recorded in a studio were captured in this building, a fact not lost on Houghton as they prepared for recording sessions over a three-day span in February 2008.
"It only crossed my mind, maybe, two or three hundred times," he says, laughing at the memory. "Anybody who listened to Beatles records when they were young hopes to record at Abbey Road someday. To actually do it, you think 'Did this just happen?'
"When they say the ghosts are in there, they're not kidding. You just tap into some tones and vibes and you sit at the 'Lady Madonna' piano, and you realize this is the real thing."
The project's architects started shaping their songs within those music-friendly confines, ranging from driving rockers such as "We Won't Stay Silent" to the springy funk of "Shout Praise," from the bluesy stomp of "Fill My Cup" to the haunting honorific of "Highly Favoured," meshed with the hopeful energy provided by the Watoto Children's Choir on the project's bookends, opener "Come To the Water" and closer "There Is Always a Song."
All told, 12 of the CompassionArt songs were given form in that marathon recording session, with an additional three recorded in Nashville with guest artists such as Kirk Franklin, Amy Grant, Joel Houston, Leeland Mooring, Christy Nockels, tobyMac and CeCe Winans adding their talents to the mix, all waiving fees and royalties to contribute to the growing list of causes the charity project was compiling.
The original dozen songwriters arranged to distribute the proceeds from the project equally in two areas: one half to a set of projects they agreed on collectively, and the other half to individual causes close to their hearts.
With the influx of modern worship music making its way into churches, hymn books and services around the world, much of it generated by this very same set of songwriters, the potential for millions of dollars in proceeds exists across the lifetime of the songs' copyrights. It was a fact not lost on the songwriters' and guest vocalists' publishers and managers, not to mention Christian Copyright Licensing International, the global body charged with monitoring copyrights within the church system.
At virtually any point, one spoke in the complicated wheel of the music business could have sprung and derailed the entire project. But, as Martin Smith points out, when presented with the vision of what a project like this could accomplish, even the most fiscally minded music exec got on board.
"We all know that if you get a song into the 'church system,' which is a blessing and a curse to the church; it's wonderful and it can be distracting," Smith says. "If two or three of these become (like) 'Amazing Grace' and are still being sung in a hundred years' time, what an amazing result that could be. Not just financially, but in terms of leaving the church songs that came out of this retreat, together with this spirit of wanting to give everything away."
Hurdles, however, still remain.
While they've created a record and a book, and hope to play shows and produce a live DVD, "If we don't end up giving any money away, it will actually end up being really tragic," Smith says. "It would just become a glorified record company project.
"We're very mindful of that. I don't know the answer of how we can get around that unless people start giving serious cash to us to help us on our way, because the costs of running everything are more than what we're going to receive certainly in the first two years. It's a balancing act, but I do believe God's in it ultimately. What more can I say? I think he's asked us to do this, and he's going to make it work.
"There's your headline: 'He's ordered it, he's got to pay for it.' "
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