Has Amy sold out or sold in? To find out Thorn Grainger spoke to AMY GRANT at her Nashville home.

I love to write, but it's a job too, and the job is: saying, 'what communicates?', and 'to whom am I trying to communicate?' it's really interesting what adults like and what kids like. I was playing this one song at my sister Mimi's house that I felt really strongly about to all the kids that were in the house at the time, and by the time the song ended; all the kids had left the room! Mimi said, "Hey, I really liked that one," and I shook my head. It's not on the album."

Thorn: Did making this kind of an album end up feeling forced, like pounding a square peg into a round hole or something?

Amy: "No, and I wasn't trying to be 15 again either. It was actually a very freeing experience.

From an artistic standpoint, there's got to be the freedom for a painter to take the paint off of the palette and put it on the canvas. I just can't imagine Leonardo DeVinci with a bevy of people behind him, and with every glop of paint he adds, asking hem, "Do you like this colour? Is her smile ok? Is it too crooked?" There was a point where he had to lose himself in the moment of creativity and just paint. And when he was done you could either love it or walk away.

I think there's a certain amount of creative freedom that we have robbed ourselves of. We're all tempted to say, "Is this ok.?" because being accountable is part of Christian fellowship. But we've taken spiritual accountability and somehow tried to work it into music and art. Accountability needs to happen, but creativity needs to happen too."

Thorn: But the church hasn't always done the best job of teaching the spiritual value of creativity, has it?

Amy: No, and I want my kids, and that includes nieces and nephews and friends of friends, to have music that paints a backdrop for the experiences of their lives. All those experiences are not contained in a church or devotional music atmosphere. Young love, early relationships, songs for every aspect of life. You're not going to hear a lot of songs on top 40 radio right now selling innocent fun. We still have a need for songs like "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice." We grew up with music like that, but you can't find innocence now if you're diggin' for it."

Do you think people are hitting enough of a saturation point with explicit and vulgar lyrics that a stage could be set for Christian artists such as yourself to come into the spotlight?
"Possibly. But the point is not the platform. The point is saying, "God has a purpose for the platform." I talked to Naomi Judd on an airplane recently, who has been so sick with hepatitis she had to break up The Judds. She said, "You know Amy, I'm just your basic person. I was a full-time nurse - I'm still a registered R.N. - and overnight, my daughter and I sing some songs, and look what happened. But I don't think the long and short of God's plan was that he wanted Naomi Judd to be famous. I think He has a purpose for my platform, and I think my sickness has something to do with that. Fame is never the point, but God puts people on platforms in powerful positions to accomplish His purposes. Some people might look at this album and go, "She's just using gospel music as a springboard to be a more famous person." But I am so excited by what I see happening in the church right now. I think the public scandals of religious leaders in 1986 brought about a lot of private confessions of private scandals, and the reverberating effect of that is house cleaning. It was the best thing that could have happened, and a lot of the petty backbiting that was going on has stopped. I guess that's why I haven't anticipated a reaction to this album. I mean, in the scheme of Christendom it's not even a pebble in the pond. But its' not the same church that this album is being introduced to."

Thorn: How did the public scandals hurt and affect you, personally and professionally?

Amy: "Made me do a whole lot of confessing to the people in my life. Gary and I had a lot of housecleaning to do, too. But what gives me a certain anticipation about God's church in the '90s is that we've come out of a generation that tried to figure out what works. But you know that verse in John, "The wind blows wherever it pleases, and no one knows where it comes from or where it goes, and so it is for those who are born of God." I'm ready to be some wind."

Thorn: But you can't be wind any more than anyone else who desires to, can you?

Amy: Right, All you can do is put yourself into the position to be used and pray. But lest this all sound like a movement of the 70s - it's not, because we learned where pride can take us - right down the toilet.

It's always a temptation to copy a successful formula, like the youth group we held out here in the barn loft this summer. And we've already had people wanting to know how to do that. But I just want to say, "Yes, we've had a wonderful experience with the Loft. Now let that be seed in your heart and imagination and spirit to go do your own thing." God's gonna do something great where you are."

Thorn: Tell us more about The Loft - why it was conceived and what it was all about.