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| Power Style Wellness Connections |
AN ARTS INSIDER MUST-SEE
By Gioia Patton
“It’s all about capturing something…” began the singer/songwriter/ musician
Amy Grant, on the subject of songwriting.
“I usually hear a phrase…the song usually comes from a lyric or a picture in
my mind,” continues the soft-spot
Amy Grant, multi Grammy and Dove Award wining artist, who recorded her
first album 31 years ago while a senior at her Nashville high school.
“I’ve written a lot of songs for someone who’s handed me the music, and I had
to dig around to try to think of an idea and then squeeze my phrases into
that,” she adds. “But my favorite way to write a song is when something is so
compelling that I cannot let it go until I finish it!” she enthuses, speaking by
phone from her Nashville home.
Even a winning idea doesn’t necessarily guarantee a swift songwriting
process, Grant admits, and by way of example tells a charming story about
the catalyst behind the song Heaven, a track on her next CD.
“An older male friend of mine, who I’ve known since I was in my early twenties,
was nearing the end of his life due to many health issues. One day, while
awaiting some blood test results, my friend, who had been a preacher in his
younger years, turned to his worried daughter sitting beside him and said
‘baby what’s the worst (they) can do…threaten me with heaven?’ Ah hah! I
thought to myself upon hearing the phrase ‘threaten me with heaven’ plus I
knew at that moment exactly how the word ‘heaven’ was going to lay on top of
minor cords,” Grant recalls excitedly.
“Two weeks later at a songwriting session, I shared the phrase with some
other songwriters. And even though it took us five or six hours before finishing
the song, each one of us throwing in a line that topped the last writer’s (lyrics)
the entire process was like fishing with a really hot fishing pole!” she says with
a laugh.
When the subject turns to Grant’s 1985 album, Unguarded and the
controversy that followed the release of its first single Find a Way, the artist
noticeably sighs. Because the single found its way onto mainstream radio and
even birthed a video for MTV network the then 25-year-old Grant received
harsh criticism from a lot of her fans and those in the Christian/Gospel music
industry, who were furious for her ‘crossing over’ from that of a Christian
music artist to that of a pop singer.
“Well, in hindsight it all sounds so directed,” she says today about “crossing
over.” “But I will say this, what I’ve always tried to do is to create music that is
familiar to me. And I did not grow up with a church that had a choir, nor did I
grow up with a collection of gospel records. I had a faith experience, and I
began writing songs. But even then what was familiar to me was the whole tie.
The emotional songs, the heartbreak songs, the friendship songs,” she
explains. “And it would have really been unfamiliar to say ‘from now on I will
only write (Christian) music’ because it wasn’t my life experience. Unless (you’
re) the product of someone else’s (music) machine, I think as songwriter’s (we’
re) always trying to create what feels like home to us. I was in high school and
then college at the time of my early recordings, and I just thought that what
made the most sense to me was to create ‘life’ music and my faith was part of
that. Looking back to ’85 it sounds like I was trying to break down barriers
(laughs) but I wasn’t!”
Amy Grant is a Louisville Pop’s Guest Artist with the Louisville Orchestra
WHEN May 10 @ 8pm
WHERE Louisville Palace
TICKETS $37, $54, $70, $87 CONTACT d 502.587.8681.
‘What I love about doing symphony performances is that is really cross-
pollinates markets. It’s all in support of live music.
I rarely last the entire night with my shoes on because I just don’t feel very
comfortable really dressed up. I always call my (symphony) concerts a
‘barefoot-dressed-up night!’”
Gioia Patton is an arts & entertainment celebrity writer.
By Gioia Patton
“It’s all about capturing something…” began the singer/songwriter/ musician
Amy Grant, on the subject of songwriting.
“I usually hear a phrase…the song usually comes from a lyric or a picture in
my mind,” continues the soft-spot
Amy Grant, multi Grammy and Dove Award wining artist, who recorded her
first album 31 years ago while a senior at her Nashville high school.
“I’ve written a lot of songs for someone who’s handed me the music, and I had
to dig around to try to think of an idea and then squeeze my phrases into
that,” she adds. “But my favorite way to write a song is when something is so
compelling that I cannot let it go until I finish it!” she enthuses, speaking by
phone from her Nashville home.
Even a winning idea doesn’t necessarily guarantee a swift songwriting
process, Grant admits, and by way of example tells a charming story about
the catalyst behind the song Heaven, a track on her next CD.
“An older male friend of mine, who I’ve known since I was in my early twenties,
was nearing the end of his life due to many health issues. One day, while
awaiting some blood test results, my friend, who had been a preacher in his
younger years, turned to his worried daughter sitting beside him and said
‘baby what’s the worst (they) can do…threaten me with heaven?’ Ah hah! I
thought to myself upon hearing the phrase ‘threaten me with heaven’ plus I
knew at that moment exactly how the word ‘heaven’ was going to lay on top of
minor cords,” Grant recalls excitedly.
“Two weeks later at a songwriting session, I shared the phrase with some
other songwriters. And even though it took us five or six hours before finishing
the song, each one of us throwing in a line that topped the last writer’s (lyrics)
the entire process was like fishing with a really hot fishing pole!” she says with
a laugh.
When the subject turns to Grant’s 1985 album, Unguarded and the
controversy that followed the release of its first single Find a Way, the artist
noticeably sighs. Because the single found its way onto mainstream radio and
even birthed a video for MTV network the then 25-year-old Grant received
harsh criticism from a lot of her fans and those in the Christian/Gospel music
industry, who were furious for her ‘crossing over’ from that of a Christian
music artist to that of a pop singer.
“Well, in hindsight it all sounds so directed,” she says today about “crossing
over.” “But I will say this, what I’ve always tried to do is to create music that is
familiar to me. And I did not grow up with a church that had a choir, nor did I
grow up with a collection of gospel records. I had a faith experience, and I
began writing songs. But even then what was familiar to me was the whole tie.
The emotional songs, the heartbreak songs, the friendship songs,” she
explains. “And it would have really been unfamiliar to say ‘from now on I will
only write (Christian) music’ because it wasn’t my life experience. Unless (you’
re) the product of someone else’s (music) machine, I think as songwriter’s (we’
re) always trying to create what feels like home to us. I was in high school and
then college at the time of my early recordings, and I just thought that what
made the most sense to me was to create ‘life’ music and my faith was part of
that. Looking back to ’85 it sounds like I was trying to break down barriers
(laughs) but I wasn’t!”
Amy Grant is a Louisville Pop’s Guest Artist with the Louisville Orchestra
WHEN May 10 @ 8pm
WHERE Louisville Palace
TICKETS $37, $54, $70, $87 CONTACT d 502.587.8681.
‘What I love about doing symphony performances is that is really cross-
pollinates markets. It’s all in support of live music.
I rarely last the entire night with my shoes on because I just don’t feel very
comfortable really dressed up. I always call my (symphony) concerts a
‘barefoot-dressed-up night!’”
Gioia Patton is an arts & entertainment celebrity writer.