Amy Grant Reflects On 25 Years of Hymns and Faith
Fans waiting for Amy Grant's long-rumored pop album were surprised to learn that the CCM veteran's first nonholiday release in nearly five years would be a refreshingly intimate and gentle collection of hymns. While it may not follow in the footsteps of chart-toppers (and crossover hits) such as "Baby, Baby" and "Every Heartbeat," Legacy...Hymns & Faith actually commemorates Grant's 25 years in Christian music. The teenager who took message music to new heights in the '80s and '90s has grown up to see an entire industry built up around her trailblazing early work. Amy Grant chatted with Barnes & Noble.com's Lisa Zhito about the milestone, plus what lies ahead.
Barnes & Noble.com: For the last year or so we've been hearing talk that you are working on a new pop record! So where did Legacy come from?
Amy Grant: Well, for the last 18 months I've been working on a studio project with all new songs, and it's almost finished. That's slated for a September release, and the working title is Simple Things. But in January we were in a management meeting, and we're all friends, we've worked together forever; my manager said, "Gosh, 25 years ago you were making your first record! My how time flies!" You know, we don't expect the world to stand up and go "Woo-hoo!," but for those of us that have worked together, it's really something to be proud of. So one of the managers in this meeting said, "I don't even know if it's physically possible to put out two projects in one year, but before we put out Simple Things, do you think you can make a record that honors your roots?"
B&N.com: What was your immediate reaction to that?
AG: I said, "Well, you mean like an Andy Griffith or Cristy Lane kind of a thing? That sounds awful! That sounds like dig a hole, throw me in, and cover me up, you know?" But he just said, "What do you really feel about hymns? Not marketing, not your perception of a hymns record, not any of that, what do you feel about hymns?"
B&N.com: And what do you feel about hymns?
AG: If you go through my house and look on my bookshelves, I probably have between 40 and 50 hymnals; I mean I collect hymnals. I've probably purchased that many and been given another 10 or 12. They were just so much the fabric of my childhood, it shaped my understanding of God, mankind, all that stuff. Thinking about it, I got so excited about doing this record! Because I felt no commercial pressure at all, I'd been working so hard on the pop record! I'm not going, Oh my gosh, I'm trying to stage a comeback. The whole thing felt so honest and unpostured.
B&N.com: Why was the record done in 25 days?
AG: When my manager suggested this, he don't know if the record company even had a window for the project, because product has to be advanced and all that kind of stuff. And he came back and said, if you can deliver the album in 25 working days, they can put it into the system. Well, then it just became the ultimate challenge! To select the songs, secure the players, it was basically 20 hours a day -- not for me personally, but for the two guys who produced it, Brown Bannister and my husband, Vince Gill.
B&N.com: Are you and Vince on the same page musically?
AG: You never really know what the husband-and-wife dynamic is going to be when you're working. But he's so easygoing, it's great. I have so much respect for him. Vince and Brown co-produced this, and I think the reason that was such a great combination is because Brown and I share a long musical past and also a similar church past. Vince did not grow up singing these songs, so he brought fresh ears to songs that in my mind I had sung the same way for almost 40 years.
B&N.com: Let's talk about the 25-year milestone. Did you expect to have a career of such longevity?
AG: I kind of fell into making music through a side door. I always loved music; I enjoy being in the audience as much as I enjoy being on stage. Through all those years it seemed I always wound up working with people who believed in my talent more than I did. And so partly out of self-protection and partly because it was my natural tendency, I never had any big expectations. Every time something good would happen, I would just assume I was at the peak and the downward side of the curve was coming. Now, at 41, the thing that I kept expecting to end has hung around so long, it turned out to be my life!
B&N.com: Surprise!
AG: Yeah, I know! The great thing about 25 years is you don't feel like you have to prove anything anymore. I think the making of my music is going to continue be free of all the energy-sapping expectations that come along with a music career. You know, "Oh gosh, I've got to make a video, I think I'd better lose 15 pounds," or whatever. I'm so glad there are beautiful 20-year-olds out there wearing a midriff and piercing their navels! Now, after four births, it's not even like, "Will you go there?" People don't even ask! It is nice! It's great!
B&N.com: Speaking of those 20-year-olds, there's such a difference between these new kids and the music you made at the same age.
AG: Yeah, ain't that the truth! I never would have gotten a record deal if it had been now. I think I have, like, an 11-note range. People ask me, Hey come do this Divas show or whatever, and I'd be like, "Oh God, I hope this song that they pick for me doesn't go wider than 11 notes or I'm completely up a creek!" But it's your limitations that make you develop a sound.
B&N.com: Actually, I was thinking of the innocence in your performances at age 14 that today's teen singers seem to lack. And yet your first albums were really groundbreaking.
AG: It was just a different time. I mean nobody was putting faith lyrics to contemporary music, it was 1975! I wasn't going for a career, I just loved acoustic music and I loved playing guitar. I'm singing Joni Mitchell and James Taylor and Carole King -- you know, poorly, but nevertheless! -- and I thought, Gosh, how can I not sing about my faith? There was not a [CCM] industry then. If I'd been trying to get a country deal, if I'd been trying to get a deal, period, I could not have gotten arrested.
B&N.com: It's an interesting full circle because that innocence and charm is really evident on Legacy
AG: It's a good thing, I guess. The other night at the Ryman there were a bunch of Word artists performing, and I mean just the caliber of musicianship and the knock-your-head-off vocal talent! I was going, I am so proud to be on a label with those artists!
B&N.com: Well, I've interviewed many of those artists and they all say, "Oh, Amy Grant is why I'm in music, I wore her albums out when I was a kid."
AG: Isn't that interesting? To me, I'm awed by their musical gifts! But you know, what I've had all along and what I still have is, I love communicating life and faith through songs. And I've never felt insecure about that. So I walk out on stage with my 11-note range and I go, By golly, I'm getting to do what I've loved doing since I was a kid. That is really a lot more than I thought would ever happen. But evidently it has had a bigger impact than I ever expected. The ripple effect is a neat thing in life.
May, 2002
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