Some 20 minutes into her Sept. 5 concert at the Sunrise Marketplace Outdoor Pavilion, one-time teen phenom Amy Grant explained why she ended a self-imposed hiatus and is back with a fresh album and tour.
“I was at the airport and the TSA agent was looking at my boarding pass and my driver’s license and said something like, ‘I used to know a gospel singer named Amy Grant.’ I thought, ‘OK, it’s time to make some new music.'”
The contemporary Christian music superstar, who has sold 30 million albums and has six Grammys to her credit, sang familiar tunes from her deep catalog of faith-based and crossover hits, as well as cuts from “How Mercy Looks From Here,” her first full-length studio album in a decade.
Released in May, the album has garnered positive reviews from both Christian and secular publications, including USA Today: “… her singing has an easy grace that’s well served by these songs of love, loss, faith and resilience, which benefit from Marshall Altman’s spare, glowing production.”
Though Grant, now 52, sounded a bit hoarse (no doubt the result of being back on the road after years of quieter pursuits), her warm personality was undiminished. Frequently accompanying herself on guitar, she admitted she was no “dancer,” but could “sway with the best of them.”
Sacramento-based guitarist-vocalist Lincoln Brewster, a worship arts pastor for Granite Bay’s Bayside Church, whose pre-gospel career included a stint with former Journey frontman Steve Perry, opened the show.
To view additional photos of Amy Grant, click here.
To view additional photos of Lincoln Brewster, click here.
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