Interview with Amy Grant

Six time Grammy Award winner Amy Grant has teamed up with Michael W. Smith, and the pair will play at New York's Beacon Theatre on February 26 as part of a multi-city U.S. tour. The “2 Friends” tour reunites the two multi-platinum recording artists for the first time on the road together (for a non-holiday tour) in more than 20 years. TheCelebrityCafe.com recently caught up with Amy Grant to see how the tour has been so far.

TheCelebrityCafe.com: I know that you’re on tour with Michael W. Smith and that this isn’t your first time touring together. What’s it like being on the road with him?

Amy Grant: When I first started my career in the early 80s, Michael was a great piano player. He was young, energetic, and full of music ideas. Then he started playing piano for me. I was just out of college, and we toured together through the 80s, and except for a few holiday tours, we have not shared a stage in 22 years. So this has been such a great walk down memory lane. We’ve had so much fun. He’s still a great player with fabulous energy. We spend a lot of the evening reminiscing. It’s wonderful to have a long relationship with somebody that you’re making music with where you haven’t been exercising your music relationship for a long time.

TCC: So how did you guys come up with the idea to do the ‘2 Friends’ Tour?

AG: Last summer, Michael and I were both invited to play outdoors in a great amphitheatre in Detroit. While in Detroit, we worked up a couple of songs together, but what we really thought was, “I can’t believe we haven’t done this in over 20 years.” And backstage in my dressing room that night, we pulled out a calendar and said, “When are we both free, and let’s go do a tour together.” So that’s where the idea came. And he wrote a song years ago called “Friends,” and I sang background on it, and we just called it the “2 Friends” tour.

TCC: That sounds wonderful. How’s the tour been so far?

AG: It’s been great. We’ve had sell-out crowds in almost every place. Of course when we toured together in the 80s we were playing arenas [Laughs], now we’re doing theatres. But just making music is fabulous, and it seems like the crowds are really pleased. It’s a three hour night with an intermission in the middle while we do a set change between our bands. I start the night with my band, and if it’s a 7:30 show, we’re on right at 7:30. We don’t usually wait because there’s so much music to get in.

TCC: And you have a show coming up in New York?

AG: Yes! We’re playing at a great theatre in New York [Beacon Theatre]. I love this tour because of the interesting old venues that we’re playing.

TCC: Do you guys perform together at all?

AG: Yes, off and on the whole night. It’s just my band is up first. You know we’ve toured so many years, so each of our bands know all of our songs. There’s a little more flexibility and not quite as much pressure for any one group of musicians to have to learn everything of the other person. My band is up first half, his band is up second half, but we’re both onstage off and on the whole night.

TCC: What’s your set list been like? New songs, old songs, or a mix of both?

AG: I’m only doing one song from my latest record, and I would describe the set list as being a bit more nostalgic. Michael’s got a new record that came out in October, and he’s doing a song or two from that. I have record called Somewhere Down The Road that came out last March, and I’m doing one song from that. But just because the experience is so nostalgic for us. We have pulled some more songs from the 80s and the early 90s than we normally would have, but it just absolutely fits the tone of the evening--which is a walk down memory lane.

TCC: Do you have a favorite song that you perform?

AG: Oh they’re all fun. There’s a part of the evening where we’re sitting on the piano and we change the songs there up – just songs that we have written together. I enjoy that part of the evening because it’s the most conversational part of the evening between the two of us. I think he’s such a good-natured guy. He’s great to be working with.

TCC: It’s so great that you get to perform with someone you care about so much. It sounds like it’s a lot of fun.

AG: Yeah, and I have a favorite part of the night, too. We wrote a song together years ago, Michael, myself, and Wayne Kirkpatrick, the three of us wrote it, called “Lead Me On.” It’s really a beautiful, powerful song, and--probably musically--that’s my favorite moment of the night just because of all the memories that that song holds for me.