Since the first time she visited Alaska as a young teen, Amy Grant has produced four platinum albums and won six Grammy Awards, but she can still remember that trip vividly.
She and her three older sisters accompanied their grandmother Zell (short for Mizella) on a cruise throughout the state, and saw distinctive wildlife and sights throughout the trip.
“I remember the mosquitoes were massive,” Grant, who was born in Georgia, told the Empire by phone Friday. “I remember the sun hardly ever going down. We went to Kotzebue and maybe the sky got dim. It was crazy to be somewhere that it was still bright, long after it would have been dark back where we’re from.”
This month, Grant will be recreating that trip, with a little bigger crew.
The Amy Grant Alaska Cruise, running from July 8-15, will make stops in Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay and Ketchikan. Fans of hers have a chance to tag along for the trip, as half of the Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam cruise vessel is reserved for her listeners.
She and other contemporary Christian artists such as Matt Maher and Ellie Holcomb will be playing regularly on the cruise, but there’s only one stop — Juneau — where she’ll be playing a public show.
Grant, known for successfully combining elements of pop and Christian music, will play at 6:30 p.m. July 10 at Centennial Hall. Grant wants the show to be open to Juneau residents first, and tickets won’t be available to her cruise passengers until the day of the show. Tickets are $20 and available at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center (JACC), Hearthside Books and the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council’s website.
“I’m showing up with kind of an acoustic band,” Grant said, “so there’ll be four other musicians plus myself and it’ll be an evening of storytelling and walking down memory lane with songs from four decades of making music.”
Sound check isn’t until 4 p.m., so Grant hopes to spend the morning and afternoon getting to know the town. Grant said she tries to find coffee shops in the cities she visits, just to interact with locals and get a feel for the community. She might also look to find time to go whale watching.
Grant has criss-crossed the country with numerous tours, and finds a great deal of value in interacting with fans and experiencing different places.
“It’s easy, because of politics or business, to notice the differences between people,” Grant said, “but when you travel, I find that you’re kind of stepping into someone else’s world and you’re seeing your culture differently.”
Though she’s been to Alaska a couple times for shows in Anchorage, this trip will be more in the spirit of that initial trip she took as a teenager, she said. Her three older sisters will also be accompanying her on this cruise just as they did years ago, and they’re looking forward to seeing the wildlife, the glaciers and the late-night sun once again.
“The real star of this trip is Alaska,” Grant said. “That’s why everyone’s going, to enjoy one of the areas of pristine wilderness that are part of the U.S. And we’re gonna do some singing.”
Know &Go
When: 6:30 p.m. July 10
Where: Centennial Hall
Where to buy tickets: The JACC, JAHC’s website, Hearthside Books
Price: $20
• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at alex.mccarthy@juneauempire.com.
