Her crime is her popularity. Rather than remain rooted in one style for one audience, Grant is adopting the same pop "crosnetgate" strategy that has served country singers Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers so well. And it's working. She has had two major pop hits with "Love Will Find a Way" and "The Next Time I Fall."
While that's made the purists unhappy, Grant has hardly abandoned her spiritual side. Her duet with Peter Cetera for "The Next Time I Fall" is a standard pop ballad, but "Love Will Find a Way" is a rare case of Top 40 religiousness. When Grant sings, "Is there any circumstance He can't see you through?" it's clear she means a capitalized "He" and not a boyfriend.
Ironically, now that Grant is gaining the show-biz mainstream, still other people may question her choice as hostess of a network-TV special, "Amy Grant - Headin' Home for the Holidays," airing at 9 p.m. Sunday on NBC and Ch. 2.
When asked if he expected a backlash by having a Christian music star as a host for network TV, Rick Ludwin, NBC vice president for specials and variety programs, observed the adage that "you can't please everybody all the time," but he expressed hope that more people would embrace Grant than resist her.
And well they should. "Headin' Home" has its share of hokum and contrivance, but overall it is a warmly entertaining hour that showcases beautiful scenery, mixes music and light comedy and enlivens Christmas traditionalism with some fresh faces and fresh approaches.
Directed by Grant's co-producer, Dwight Hemion, the show was shot in Montana's mountainous, snowy Big Sky Country, where Grant concluded a tour and stuck around a few days with her husband, Gary Chapman (who also plays in her band).
What ensues is part-fact, part-fiction. Rather than adopt a variety-show format, the special has a story line. Grant quickly makes friends with the natives and, in the spirit of Andy Hardy, agrees to perform in a Yule program that climaxes the telecast.
This scenario has little credibility - the Big Sky residents just happen to have a full orchestra and chorus ready to back Grant's singing, and singer Art Garfunkel and composer-conductor Jimmy Webb just happen to be free to fly in at the last minute to appear with Grant in a well-rehearsed show.
It's also a little awkward having some guest stars playing themselves and others playing fictional characters. Garfunkel and Webb are Garfunkel and Webb, but Dennis Weaver portrays Tom Miller, owner of a horse farm, and Ed Begley Jr. of "St. Elsewhere" portrays Moose Simms, the folksy, funny proprietor of an offbeat gift shop.
Since Grant and her husband play themselves, little acting is required of them, and their naturalistic approach works well enough.
There's also a precious little girl - what Christmas special would be complete without an adorable kid? - named Kaleena Kiff. She joins Grant for a sleigh ride to the tune of (what else?) "Sleigh Ride". Later they gather round a campfire while Grant sings about Christmas back home in Tennessee, accompanied by her husband on acoustic guitar. Grant is far from being preachy. She talks about her shopping more than her prayers. But she also says that, while Christmas means many things to her, `"most of all it's time to celebrate because God sent us His son."
The program's wintry setting is unbeatable. No matter that the show was shot in October - it looks like Christmas.
In fact, an appreciation of Montana and its people sometimes supersedes the seasonal slant. Grant tours Glacier National Park while her hubby spouts travel-guide statistics. She also visits a gallery of Indian sculpture, where we learn about the area's real natives, the Blackfeet.
The concluding holiday concert is the only sustained musical segment. It includes a duet by Grant and the angelic-voiced Garfunkel of "The Animals' Christmas," a new Christmas cantata written by Webb, who conducts the orchestra.
The song gets a little sticky, and its overwrought conclusion rivals the ending of Webb's "MacArthur Park." But it is offset by the ensuing "Away in a Manger," sung soulfully by Grant with country-flavored backing on acoustic guitar and harmonica. That is followed by a stirring finale of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," with every one joining in.
This is Grant's first network special of her own - she has been a guest on three other shows. At 25, and at this stage in her career, she is more than ready. She's attractive, likable and listenable, and her Grammy and Dove awards for Christian music shouldn't stop her from branching out, as long as she doesn't forget where she came from.
Besides, what could be more Christian than Christmas? "Headin' Home" isn't that much of a departure, but rather a fitting forum for Grant's biggest foray yet into the entertainment mainstream. By blending her own contemporary Christian songs with traditional tunes, she dramatizes that her music is her way of, in effect, celebrating Christmas all year round.
That is best demonstrated at the start and finish of the NBC show, when Grant is seen performing her tour-ending concert before her happily boisterous young fans in Montana. If ever a soft-rock concert was a celebration, this is it.
And this is what she is all about - singing a Christian message in a contemporary context, giving kids something affirmative, rather than rebellious, to rock about. If that isn't good enough for some people, they can always turn elsewhere, but Grant's good intentions and good results are clear enough to me.
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