Amy Grant's self-titled first album was released to the Contemporary Christian Music market in 1977, when she was just 16. It did OK, but it would be her next album, My Father's Eyes, two years later, that would turn her into a CCM superstar. Eyes would be the first of eight straight non-Christmas albums to hit #1 on the Christian charts and the first of 14 that would peak at #1 or #2.
It was evident by the early 80s that Grant was eager to break into the mainstream, which she successfully did in 1985 with her single "Find a Way", which only had one quick, easily excised reference to Jesus, which became her first song to hit the Billboard Top 40. She capitalized on that success, appearing on mainstream talk shows and other places, such as the 1985 edition of Christmas in Washington, Late Night with David Letterman, and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. She also recorded a high-concept Christmas album, The Animals' Christmas, in which she deuted with Art Garfunkel, for release for the 1986 holiday season.
It's no surprise that NBC gave her her first network special, Amy Grant: Headin' Home for the Holidays, in conjunction with her new album. It proved to have some fortunate timing. Around Thanksgiving, her (non-Christian) duet with Peter Cetera, "The Next Time I Fall", hit #1 on the Billboard chart. As the special had likely been filmed months earlier, the song does not appear in it, though plenty of other music does.
Like a lot of specials from the era, this is less a variety show and more a one-hour TV movie with a loose narrative. Grant is in Montana wrapping up a concert tour. This allows for scenes of her performing in front of an audience, mostly it seems of a group of young women all wearing the most 80s clothing imaginable. She sings the aforementioned "Find a Way" as well as the much more Christian themed "Emmanuel". Now that the tour is over, Amy's then-husband, Gary Chapman (also playing himself) wants to spend some time exploring Glacier National Park. As luck would have it, their truck runs out of gas. As luck would also have it, they come to a stop only about ten feet from a house, which as it turns out, is part of a horse farm run by Dennis Weaver (not playing himself) and his tween daughter (no explanation is given why the then-sixtysomething Weaver was playing her dad and not her grandfather). Of course, this being a one-hour special that fifteen minutes had elapsed already on, the Grants and the not-Weavers become instant best friends, leading to Grant and Weaver taking a sleigh ride with a bunch of kids while duetting on, of course, "Sleigh Ride". We also get to stop off at a museum where Weaver (in real life, an environmentalist and western advocate) pontificates on Native American celebrations before we meet the special's second major guest, Ed Begley Jr, in an extended comedy sketch as a general store owner who can't quite place where he knows Grant from. She also (of course) agrees to perform at the local Christmas concert.
The concert, in which Grant is backed by a choir and orchestra that seems far larger (and more professional-sounding) than a small town in rural Montana should be able to afford, where she brings up Garfunkel (who, at least in the storyline of the special, apparently had nothing better to do than fly to rural Montana at a moment's notice to sing in a small town concert) to sing one of their songs from their new album. It ends with all the guest stars from the special joining Grant on stage to sing "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing".
In 1991, she finally achieved her dream of crossover success with her album Heart in Motion, which produced four top 10 singles, including "Baby Baby", which went to #1. That would be the peak of her mainstream career, as she would never have another song chart in the Billboard Top 10, though she would have several songs place there on the Adult Contemporary chart throughout the 90s. By 1999, it would be time for another Christmas album and CBS gave her a new special, Amy Grant: A Christmas to Remember, to promote it.
Grant's personal life was rather turbulent at this point. She and Chapman had gotten divorced earlier that year, and Grant had recently begun a romantic relationship with Vince Gill, also freshly divorced, with whom she had collaborated multiple times throughout the years (the two would marry in 2000). Other than a brief mention of "readjustments to changes in life", none of that was even hinted at in the special, which, unlike Headin' Home, was much more in in the style of a traditional special. No narrative or famous actors not playing themselves here.
To film it, Grant and company went even further north than Montana, to a luxury mountain resort in Alberta. The special opens with Grant walking beside a frozen river singing "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year", intercut with scenes from the resort where Grant is welcoming her guests: 98°, Tony Bennett, and CeCe Winans, none of whom actually interact with anyone except with Grant (even though Grant greeted each of them wearing the same outfit, I suspect that they all arrived on different days and indeed might not have been at the resort at the same time). After Grant solos with "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" while clutching a mug of hot chocolate, she sits around a table with the boy band (who had their own Christmas album out that year) singing "O Come All Ye Faithful" and discussing their pre-music careers before the boys sing an acapella "I'll Be Home for Christmas" (from their album).
This establishes the pattern for the special for each artist: one number, banter with Grant, and then another number, one solo, one a duet with Grant. Winans sings "What Child is This?" with a children's choir while Grant plays the guitar, then the two duet on "Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)". Bennett, in front of an audience, sings "The Christmas Song" and duets with Grant on "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" as well as "Winter Wonderland".
After that, it's time for 98° to essentially shoot a music video for their original song "This Gift" by that same frozen river from earlier. Winans also gets her own music video-like solos as well, with Winans singing "O Holy Night" in the forest. The closest the special comes to getting everyone to sing together is a rendition of Grant's 1992 "Grown-Up Christmas List", with Grant and the guests each handling a verse, all from different locations, probably the best proof that none of the guests were on location at the same time. The special wraps up with Grant, in a candlelit chapel, singing "Silent Night".
Of the two specials, I think I prefer the 1986 one, as cheesy as it is. It's very dumb, but it doesn't quite have the corporate sheen that the 1999 one has. That said, both specials are perfectly fine if you are a Grant fan.
As mentioned, Grant would go on to marry Gill in 2000 and remain active for the next decade plus, until health issues sidelined her for a few years. In May, she released her first album of new material since 2013, The Me That Remains, to strong reviews with NPR even naming the album's lead single "The 6th of January (Yasgur's Farm)" as one of the best songs of the first half of 2026.
As someone who grew up listening to my fair share of CCM, I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Grant. I can't say I particularly liked either Headin' Home for the Holidays or A Christmas to Remember, but I'm glad she seems to still be doing well and still producing acclaimed music.
Next time: A network Christmas special from a comedian--in 2024.
No comments:
Post a Comment