A year ago they updated the analogy by labeling Grant ''the Madonna of contemporary gospel-rock.'' This time the comparison was inspired more by personal image. For despite popular concepts of how a conservative Born-Again Balladeer should look, the blonde, beautiful and vivaciously sexy Grant appeared in concert wearing designer jeans and a leopard-skin jacket. She even performed at the 1985 Grammies in bare feet.
''Last year at the Grammies, I was very scared and I had these atrocious heels on,'' Grant explained with a chuckle, in a recent phone interview from Nashville. ''I had just watched Tina Turner dance her way across the stage in high heels, but I could hardly stand up. And I thought, the only thing that's really making me nervous are these shoes. So before the curtain went up I kicked them off. The fear left. Must have been something about those shoes.'' This year the 25-year-old gospel music superstar is wearing shoes. ''When you're from Tennessee, you kind of shy away from being barefoot too much,'' Grant kidded. ''Gotta shake the hillbilly stereotype!''
More importantly, however, 1986 may be the year that Amy Grant shakes the relative confines of her gospel-country market, crosses over into pop mainstream consciousness and makes those constant comparisons to well-known pop stars unnecessary. She's already had a running start.
''Unguarded'' -- the first of her nine albums to be released both on a smaller religious label and the major A&M label -- recently went platinum, selling more than a million copies. Three of the album cuts are on national pop radio playlists. Her yet-unreleased track, ''Who to Listen To,'' was played on a ''Miami Vice'' episode. The single ''Find a Way'' made it into pop Top 10 status, while the tune's video version aired on MTV's adult contemporary sister-cable channel, VH-1. Grant won a Grammy this year for Best Female Gospel Performance. She has just embarked on a five-month, international ''Unguarded Encore Tour,'' her second major tour for the album, which stops Monday night at the Worcester Centrum.
''I still do not believe that I've gained the credibility that I would like in the mainstream market,'' Grant admitted thoughtfully. ''I wish I understood this, but I think credibility is won song by song. For some people,'' she added, citing Whitney Houston as a perfect example, ''it takes a very few songs. But for some it takes 20 songs.''
Grant, of course, sees her firm roots in ''contemporary Christian music'' -- and popular misunderstandings about just what that music is -- as a source of her credibility gap, a gap she will have to bridge in order to gain broader pop and rock music audiences. Performers with overtly religious lyrical messages, after all, rarely have been successful in the world of the secular Top 40.
Still, the ''Unguarded'' album, in Grant's perception, was ''a great first step.'' Musically, the album is a far cry from Grant's folk music origins, and even features new-wavish, dance-inducing music with all the right synthesizers and slashing guitars. Lyrically, there are fewer references to ''God,'' ''Lord'' and ''Jesus,'' and a lot more to love and self-reliance.
Were these changes marketing strategy or Grant's own musical evolution? Despite assumptions to the contrary, Grant argued that ''90 percent of it was evolution.'' Six months before she even knew that Word Records -- her Texas- based Christian record company -- was signing a contract for her with A&M, she had asked Word's vice president for more artistic leeway.
''I tried to explain to him that as a creative songwriting entity in and of myself, it was real important to me to feel the freedom to just write whatever came into my heart, whether it was a song about my right tennis shoe or a song about my toothbrush and toothpaste, or a song about God. . . . I told him I cannot feel like my faith is being put on the guillotine every time I write a song. That I'm a Christian. I love God. I'm not ashamed of my faith. But that as a writer there are a lot of creative instincts being squelched, because I'm not feeling the freedom to explore the total creative gamut. ''And he said, 'Ame, . . . go for it!'
''It just had to do with personal growth,'' she reiterated. ''Though oddly enough, there are some circles that would say, 'Growth? Are you kidding? This looks like backfire to me!' '' Those circles included her older conservative and fundamentalist fans who saw the new album, and Grant's growing popularity with non-religious, pop-rock audiences, as a sellout. ''I know what it feels like to get slammed from both sides,'' Grant admitted with a sigh and a soft laugh.
On the extreme right, of course, are folks like Rev. Jerry Falwell, who finds rock 'n' roll an abomination and Grant's brand of contemporary Christian gospel-rock not much better. ''Out of the depths of my ignorance I would have to say I've never read anything he's ever said about me,'' Grant mused. ''But from what I hear, I don't think he's crazy nuts about me! He was pretty far along in years before rock 'n' roll came to be. And for him it probably is a pretty tumultuous experience.''
On the extreme left are those who feel rock and rebellion are inseparable, making someone like Grant an improbable rocker. She is, after all, a married, outspoken Christian who believes in old-fashioned virtues like family, fidelity and apple pie, and has publicly decried abortion and Prince's X-rated stage antics. ''I think that in the '60s rock was rebellion. And I think that's what scared the parents . . . But for those of use who grew up only knowing rock 'n' roll as always being there, I don't think it's necessarily rebellion,'' Grant argued. ''The adjective I would stick on it would definitely be passion.''
Marriage is another of the old-fashioned virtues that Grant believes in, though not at the expense of her career. Four years ago Grant married her friend, songwriter and guitarist Gary Chapman. The two have recently moved from their Nashville condo to a sprawling, 200-acre farm outside of the city. The marriage has been a tough one, Grant admitted, because of their professional status. Grant is the acknowledged star while Chapman is co- songwriter and a featured musician in her backup band. In other interviews, Grant has said that she still strongly believes the man should be head of the family -- a seeming reversal of Grant and Chapman's roles in the band.
''I think I'm married to a pretty amazing man,'' Grant said. ''There are times we both cry. Cry because of each other and cry with each other . . . I think that if I were a man I would get really tired of people forgetting my last name and calling me my wife's last name. Gary might or might not ever say that in public, but I think he's a really neat guy. He has a really great sense of humor. And we talk. That makes the difference. I would get real scared if we quit talking about it.''
Meanwhile, Amy, Gary and the band have a long tour ahead. Their touring schedule has been such, in fact, that the follow-up album has not even reached its preliminary planning stages. Will the next LP be in the same mainstream pop-rock direction as ''Unguarded''? ''I'm very pleased and comfortable there right now,'' Grant finished. ''But who's to say? We might go in the studio in August and the No. 1 song off the album might be 'Jesus Loves Me.' ''
She paused to laugh.
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