A quiet conversation with Amy Grant
DETAILS:
Amy Grant
When: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 5
Where: The Palace Theatre, Greensburg
Admission: $35-$75
Tickets: 724-836-8000
Amy Grant is ready for a quiet conversation with her fans.
In her latest album “Be Still and Know…Hymns & Faith” the six-time Grammy winner shares the classic songs that buoyed her faith since childhood and help lay the foundation for her creative journey.
“What I love about projects like these, to me they feel like musical conversations just between two people,” Grant said in an interview with GO! Magazine. “If somebody were not opting for total silence, this is the music for them.”
The youngest of four daughters, hymns that were the staple of the Grant family songbook
“They were so much a part of my childhood and there’s nowhere you can go any more to get the intensity of that relationship with hymns,” she said. “We sang hymns like people sing the national anthem before a ballgame. It was hymns before everything. We sang hymns in our homes, in our church three times a week. There would be some Sunday nights where all we did was sing hymns. A lot of times on Wednesday nights we would actually re-learn old hymns. It was part of the worship service to learn how to sing all the parts. It was so interactive.”
Grant’s lengthy relationship with the gospel music she grew up with has also been featured on previously released projects “Legacy…Hymns & Faith” and “Rock of Ages…Hymns & Faith,” which together have sold more than 800,000 copies.
The third collection of hymns project, ‘Be Still’ marks a special place in Grant’s life.
“At this point in my life, I’m turning 55 this year, I’m enjoying the simplicity of quiet,” she said.
‘Be Still’ includes timeless hymns as “Rock of Ages,” “‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus,” “Softly and Tenderly” and “Holy, Holy, Holy.” and “Be Still And Know,” which is an original composition.
“I did a final re-write of that song, but I’ve actually been playing it in my shows and have had a lot of requests for that song. I had never recorded it, so I was glad to have a chance to record it for this record.”
Grant recorded “Be Still and Know” as well as “Power in the Blood,” for the latest album with husband, Country Music Hall of Famer, Vince Gill.
“He’s probably the most gifted musician I’ve ever worked with,” Grant said of her husband. “I fell asleep last night to his music. We have a studio across the hall from our bedroom and he was in there. He spends a lot of time in there. Music is the enormous heart of our home.”
Grant’s latest project also includes “Deep as It is Wide,” a modern gem written by country newcomer Eric Paslay, that features Paslay and Sheryl Crow joining Grant on vocals.
“I love that song,” Grant simply states. “When my mom was at the end of her life it was the nonstop soundtrack in my car.”
Grant and her three sisters cared for their mother, Gloria, after she was diagnosed with a rare form of dementia in 2008, the same year Grant’s father, Burton, also began exhibiting symptoms of dementia as well.
Gloria died in 2011, Burton, a once prominent radiation oncologist, continues his journey his daughter said.
“I was with dad Monday, we went to the farm,” said Grant. “He has round the clock care and he’s not in a home because he would have to be medicated all the time. Walking my dad home, it’s been a long trip. But that’s just what our lives look like.”
Grant has been delivering truth through music for more than 30 years. She first rose to prominence as a fresh-faced teen with an engaging voice and a compelling gift as a songwriter. Though she earned her college education at Vanderbilt University, music was Grant’s calling.
“My senior year in college everybody was interviewing for real jobs and that was the fork in the road for me,” said Grant. “That’s when I realized that music wasn’t just a hobby. I had this amazing opportunity to do something that I loved, that – miracle of miracles – looked like it was going to pay the bills. I’ve loved it and it’s brought me into a community with so many interesting people.”
After becoming the top-selling artist in Christian music, Grant expanded her creative reach into mainstream pop with such upbeat hits as “Baby Baby” and “Every Heartbeat” from her chart topping 1991 “Heart in Motion” album. Grant became the first Contemporary Christian artist to score a platinum album, the first to hit No. 1 on the pop charts, and the first to perform at the Grammys.
Since then she’s sold more than 30 million albums, won six Grammy Awards and 26 Dove Awards, including four Artist of the Year honors. She was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2006 and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame the same year.
Grant said she continues to embrace the regular rhythm of life and she loves touring and bringing her music to fans.
“Mostly people want to hear the songs they grew up with and I want to play what people want to hear,” she said. “Four other musicians and I just get on stage and go where the audience wants to go.”
Grant’s tour will make a stop in Greensburg at the Palace Theatre, Nov. 5.
“We’re gonna make that theater feel like a living room. Comfortable. I will show up with four other musicians and enough fire power to do sizzle on the pop stuff but mostly to make everything feel immediate and like a warm conversation.”