JENNIFER KNAPP

Letting Go

2010-08-08

Jennifer Knapp was a Dove-winning and Grammy-nominated gospel singer until she walked away from recording seven years ago and moved to Australia. Nothing was heard from her until late in 2009, as she released this record and joined the Lillith Fair tour this summer. This is "not a Christian record," she tells the media, and won't be promoted that way (although she says she retains her faith). She's also gone public about being a lesbian, so the songs are being scrutinized for more details about her personal life. All this drama aside, Knapp could write and sing a good song before she went to Australia and she still can today. The opener, "Dive In," is the single her promotion team is leading with; it is a good pop song, as is "Want for Nothing"; the songs "Mr. Gray" and "Stone to the River" are fine ballads. During her hiatus from performing, Knapp's had a lot of time to ponder music, faith and our judgments of one another. In an op-ed piece for CNN this year, she wrote: "Where music had led me to very strange lands, full of people with differing faith practices, cultural expectations, gender roles and more ... it had taught me to listen. Through the torrent of life’s confusion and seeming incongruities, there is a spirit, a song, that if we strain hard enough, we can hear. What we can hear, when we listen, is how we are much the same." 08/10 Michael J.

Quick Links:

• Jennifer's home page
• Interview with Christianity Today
• Larry King interview