Amy Grant News and Articles

AMY GRANT: I think part of the dynamic of having a public life is that really it was the handful of years that preceded that sort of public shame that were hard for me, because there came a point where my life derailed. There was a time when I was trying to so hard to keep the plates spinning. As hard as it was to feel like I had let people down or to have just failed in something as important as marriage, on the other hand, I have to be honest and say there was a sense of relief personally for me to not feel like I was being seen as something that wasn't really true.

LISA RYAN: Sometimes in ministry, if we feel like we can help one person because [we have learned from] the poor choices that we have made, that somehow it redeems it. What would you have done differently?

AMY GRANT: Oh, gosh. First off, I feel like that is a rough way to live your life. I was talking to Vince's mom on the phone not too long ago about my children. I have a son who is 14, a daughter who is12, a daughter who is 9,and then our 1 year old. I can't remember what I said to her that I wished I had done differently, but she said, 'Stop right there.' She said, 'Can you honestly say you did the best you could at every turn?' I said, 'I did,' even though I look back and think that was so immature about this or that. I look back and I just think I paid a lot of counseling bills. I poured my guts out to people that I trusted and prayed hard. I can't even now explain all of the circumstances that surrounded all of that. But whatever path you take in life, whether you make good or bad choices or good or bad choices are imposed upon you, there is always an opportunity for growth. That's how I feel about any hard path in life. That's what builds depth of character, depth of understanding, of everything -- grace, mercy, forgiveness, joy.

LISA RYAN: When you walked through the dark times?

AMY GRANT: Sure. A really interesting thing that I was not anticipating was the people that have come to me saying, 'I just feel kind of lost in my own life and I am trying to figure out where to go from here.'

LISA RYAN: One of the songs you wrote on this latest album is called 'What You Already Own.' A portion of the lyrics says, 'I know I am unfaithful / I know I do wrong / Do you protect what you already own?' What was going on in your life when you wrote that song?

AMY GRANT: I wrote that in the fall of 1998. At the time, I was going through -- as strange as it sounds -- pre-divorce counseling. Four months of that we went through. It's hard. Emotionally, I don't feel like I am in the same place that I was then. But what did I feel like? I felt like kind of the oldest pair of shoes stuck in the back of the closest and just worn out and forgotten, and I just felt, like I said earlier, lost. I remember thinking, 'Jesus, I know that story about how You left the 99 sheep that were found and went out to seeking the one. But what if there is a sheep in the fold that feels lost? Will You dig through the fold and say, 'Hey, you little sheep over, you are still here?' Anyway, that's really where that song came from.

LISA RYAN: On this latest album, Legacy, you decided to embrace the hymns as well as a handful of other new songs. What is it about the hymns that you love?

AMY GRANT: My earliest music memories are the hymns. I went to church every Sunday morning, every Sunday night, and every Wednesday night, even on vacations when I was a kid. I don't remember one sermon. I can't remember one five-point anything, no cute illustrations, nothing

LISA RYAN: Don't tell the pastor that!

AMY GRANT: It has been a long time since I was a kid, but by the time I was 7, I knew every verse of 'How Great Thou Art.' I knew and understood that I had been bought at a great price. I understood that Jesus wore a crown of thorns, and I knew my Savior died for me on Calvary, and I knew that my Redeemer lived. Profound adult concepts were planted deep in my heart as a child, and it was because of the words of the hymns. Hymns shaped my theology. The churches that I have gone to in the last two decades have not sung hymns the way I did when I was a kid.

I have to say that making the record, it was such an intense time to be singing these songs over and over again. It was just a great reminder. It was like going home to the motherland. I felt like -- yes! -- these songs echo everything in my muscle fiber. Everything in me is screaming amen.

I was grateful to my parents for that heritage. I guess somewhere in me I am just hoping that maybe some kid that loved the song 'Baby, Baby' or some grandparent who enjoyed these songs when they were younger might play them for kids my children's age and that they have the chance for the same seeds to be planted in them. Worship choruses are great, but the simplicity of a worship chorus robs us of the depth of theology of a hymn, and we need both.