So what's going on with Annie McRae lately?
Lots of new stuff! My family recently became the owners of the christian bookstore in our hometown in MS, and that has been an extremely exciting venture! Totally a God thing. I didn't realize what a great ministry it was in our community until I started meeting the people who come in everyday. We are so blessed and encouraged by the stories and lives of the sweet people who come through the doors. They are usually buying a book, Bible, music, or a gift to help someone they know who's hurting, or for their own benefit. It's an awesome opportunity to pour some love back into the town that has supported our family in the singing ministry for ten years.
What's it like traveling and performing as a soloist as opposed to sharing the stage with friends and family?
My family still travels with me most of the time, so not a whole lot has changed there. My fifteen year old twin sisters, Whitney and Britney, play the bass and lead guitar on stage with me and they are amazing! They inspire the same group of young people that Kelly and I sang to when we were their age. I think that is really cool! A different door that God has opened to me as a soloist has been speaking at ladies, youth, and kids conferences this year. That is something that I've always felt God would lead me into eventually and I love it! Reaching people with the Word is my number one calling.
Tell us about your new recording - Purpose and Passion.
I wrote seven of the ten songs within three months of actually cutting tracks. That made me kinda nervous! I had been through an extremely dry year, as far as writing, but God gave me these songs exactly when I needed them. Each one was birthed out of my own circumstances and they express the healing, unbelievable love, and mercy God embraced me with, in the darkest days of that year. The song "Purpose and Passion", is my favorite on the album. At the time of writing it, I was in desperate need for God to re-new me, in spirit and in His purposes for my life. I remember riding in the car with my sister, Leslie, in Nashville, just staring out the window, wondering what I was doing with my life. All of a sudden the words of "Purpose and Passion" started playing through my mind. That's so much like God! He gets right to the point! He reminded through that song that He, above all, is the purpose of my life and the passion of my heart. I hope that others will feel what I felt while writing this record; what God did for me through the writing process!
How has the response been to Annie McRae the soloist, as opposed to Annie McRae group member?
It's been a totally different response because of the ministry that I share now. I can definitely go deeper and get more personal in my testimony by standing alone on stage. I share about my deliverance over depression, anxiety, spiritual warfare, grief, and heartbreak....things I never went into depth with when I sang as part of a group. Because of the transparency now, I think it makes people go, "Hey, this is a real person with problems, who God has healed and set free. I know where she's coming from!" It's really been freeing to share my whole heart with people. So, the response has been great. It's led people to ask, "Will you come share that with our kids? Will you come share that with our ladies, our Sunday school class, our youth?" Giving God the opportunity to use every part of my story has given me fresh opportunities to minister. And that's awesome! Change is always scary, but when you know God's hand is in it, that gives you courage.
Each songwriter has a different approach to the craft. How do you approach songwriting?
I just let the songs come. I don't write everyday, or even every week. I don't stress out or panic if I haven't written in a while. But I used to! After a recent pro-longed time of not writing, I started praying that God would give me words to write. I felt that He was leading me to get my Bible and go through the notes I had used for speaking. I ended up starting, like, 20 songs that day! God proved to me once again that His Word is all the inspiration I need.
Have you tried cowriting?
Only a very few times. Since I'm not one to just sit down and say, "I'm going to write a song today!", it can be kind of uncomfortable for me. But I do love to bounce ideas off of someone else, learn their style, and mange to pull something together. The first co-written song I've recorded, "Every Knee", is on "Purpose and Passion". I wrote it with my friend Micah, and I thought it turned out super great!
What is your favorite song that you have written to date?
Probably "When He Said Live", because there is such amazing power in that Word from Ezekiel 16:6. It's the Word God used to heal me from depression, something I battled with through my teens and early twenties. I hear testimonies every weekend of how God has saved and healed and performed so many miracles through that one word. One of my favorite stories came from a guy who took that song and that scripture into the delivery room, where his wife was about to give birth to their baby girl. The wife had severe bleeding and the doctors gave them very slim hope that she and the baby would survive. But they prayed that Word and miraculously the bleeding had stopped when they went to deliver! It's amazing what the word "live" can do, coming from the Giver of Life!
What has God been teaching you lately?
That my steps are truly ordered by Him alone, and that He will work out His purposes for my life no matter what! I made a commitment to Him back in the summer: the first ten years I sang to pay the bills. The next ten years, I'm singing to give it away! And "I'm fully persuaded that what He has promised He is also able to perform". (Rom. 4:21)
http://www.anniemcrae.com
Author: SGN
| Author's Website: http://sogospelnews.com/
Written: 11/01/2009
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Category: Feature Articles
Comments: 0
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