In Amy Grant's first interview with a parenting magazine, the hometown singer talks about music, being a mom and her new book, Mosaic.

Amy Grant is one of music's biggest success stories. Her childhood hobby landed her a record deal when she was 15 singing songs about her faith. She was the first artist in Christian music's history to garner a platinum album, and her quest to take her music to a wider audience bridged the gap between gospel and pop.

During the past 30 years, Grant has sold more than 25 million albums, received numerous Dove and Grammy Awards, and last year nabbed a star on the coveted Hollywood Walk of Fame. But ask Grant what her biggest accomplishment is, and she's quick to tell you it's being a mom to her four children – Matt (20), Millie (17), Sarah (14) and Corrina (6) – and a step-mom to 25-year-old Jenny.

Last month, EMI digitally remastered and re-released all of Grant's albums, and a new greatest hits compilation spanning her entire career comes out Tuesday, Oct. 2. On Tuesday, Oct. 16, Grant's first book, Mosaic: Pieces of My Life So Far (Flying Dolphin Press; $24.95), will hit shelves nationwide. Grant's inspirational book includes song lyrics, poetry, journal entries and essays written about her life's journey and experiences.

I spoke with Grant when she took a break from her recent tour with hubby (and fellow music superstar) Vince Gill. We talked about her forthcoming book ... and a few other things as well.

CY: Amy, you talk about your parents in your book, Mosaic. How influential were they in nurturing your creativity?

AG: They were just encouraging of me as a person. When a door would open up for me musically, they would just say, "What do you want to do?" They were not at all stage parents; they were just parents. I think the greatest impact that my parents had on me was not ever acting like these things happening were special or different or set me apart. And my family always made a place for me to be absolutely myself with zero expectations attached to anything public.

CY: You mention that your dad periodically asks if you're ever going back to college to finish those 20 credits lacking on your English degree. Do you plan to?

AG: (laughs) Oh yeah. All through my life I've been a really great starter and a poor finisher. But this is one thing ... I hope he's still alive, and especially if he's not ... just in honor of him, I'm sure I'll do it.

CY: Your fan base crosses many generations and populations. Why do you think music is so powerful in the way that it connects people?

AG: I think music first connects us to ourselves, and you really can't do anything with somebody else that you haven't accomplished within yourself; kind of like you can only give what you already have. I remember Johnny Dicker, one of my favorite pals in grade school. We would be on the phone and have Carole King's Rhymes and Reasons album on our turntables, and we would try to push the needle down or slow the turntable down enough to get it to where we were listening to the exact same thing at the exact same moment. And I just think that's all of our desire to feel connected. Music, I think, is the quickest way to do it. Music is phenomenal. In any setting, it can accomplish the goal.

CY: What was it like to write your book? Was it easier or harder than songwriting?

AG: It was more difficult. You're the first person I've talked to that read it outside of my circle, and it's been a little bit of a head scratcher for me because I was offered this deal, and I was just so skeptical. When I signed that contract saying I would do it, I was immediately overwhelmed, thinking, "This is impossible. I have signed my name on the dotted line. I have to eat elephant." I was so angry with myself, and I called a friend of mine who lives in Texas who's a writer, and he said, "The anger is so much a part of it, because you have set a goal that up to now you've never attained." You know, it's not any different than the coach yelling at the team, "Five more laps!," and you going, "WHAT?!?!"

Little by little, I just made time every week to go write. I'd just drive out to this cabin to write every week, and on the way out there I'd let my mind wander. I was so glad I did it. It has made me wish that my children did not have all of their time sort of nibbled away by technology. I wish they would find themselves in a position to be absolutely alone and have to reflect.

CY: You've talked before how the process of making music and recording certain albums has been therapeutic. In light of that, do you recommend parents signing their kids up for classes in the arts?

AG: Definitely. I have found that kids are most interested, when they're young, doing whatever their parent is doing. Corrina is young enough that if I'm doing something on the piano, she'll hear it, come in and want to take over. The same thing is true if I have watercolors out. I will be painting, and she'll come in and say, "Can I have a brush? Will you get me fresh water?" The next thing I know, she's stuck her brush in my coffee and she's painting with it. I think doing so that your children will do is the best early experience. At some point they have to want to do it.

A child is never going to pick up an instrument if there's not one to be picked up. You can't not expose your children to something and expect them to have an experience with it. We just got Corrina a violin, and she's going to start lessons when we get home off this run. We were talking to her about just trying to get a clear sound with an open bow. Vince has showed her how to handle it gently and how to rosen and tighten the strings. I got so tickled the other day. I came in, and they were in the living room. Vince had an electric guitar with an amp, and she came in with her violin. Every time she would bow a different string – and you know she's just sawing at it – Vince would be doing these power chords. It was just so unbelievable. It just energized her to keep going.

CY: Do you remember the first thing that floated into your mind after Matt [her first child from her previous marriage] was born?

AG: I felt so many things. It was euphoric and purposeful. I knew it was the most important thing I'd ever done. It was an amazing, beautiful experience, and even more beautiful because my family's so big, and they were all at the hospital. They made a circle around my bed, and his dad held him up like in The Lion King. It was so wonderful. I felt like I'd finally done something that mattered. And that wasn't to discount everything else, but it was that this really mattered.

CY: Your first three kids spent a great deal of time on the road with you during your heavier touring seasons. Can you reflect on those experiences?

AG: It's funny looking back because I was busy working. I had always been, by choice, kind of disconnected from the band because I felt like my first priority should be with the kids. I remember times after performing, then doing a 75-person meet-and-greet after the show, and Phyllis, my one and only nanny, would be handing me Millie at the steps with a dirty diaper saying, "Your turn!" I remember a lot of Winnie the Pooh and sleeping in the back of the bus like a big pile of dogs. We had cribs on the bus, we had baby beds, riding toys, roller blades and bicycles. It was absolute sleep deprivation, because even if I'd keep them up late, they'd wake up early. We saw so much, and we never socked into the room and watched TV. We went to every zoo imaginable. When they were little, Phyllis and I would have seats on the backs of our bicycles, when it was just Matt and Millie. We biked them everywhere. I look back now and go, "They don't even remember that." But maybe they do.

CY: I know that you work hard to arrange your schedule so you can be home when your kids have school functions. Have they ever told you that it's important to them?

AG: No (laughs). I tour much less now, but the times I have really worked the hardest to be there on the sidelines, to be there in the audience cheering them on, is just because it's this time in life. I think maybe they don't know that they care. I do it for them, but I'm doing it for me, too, because I don't want to miss another thing. The tough thing about touring is you have to book it so far out, and when the school calendar comes up, you go, "Oh, they've got the lead in the play that same night!?" You know, "Rutt-Ro!" It's always a juggle, and I laugh with my managers because they'll call, and I'll go, "OK, how are we going to squirrel around this one?"

CY: In Mosaic, you talk about the importance of instilling in your kids certain lifestyle patterns that were passed on to you, particularly faith and giving to others. How do you go about that?

AG: When they're little, it's definitely lead by example, and I think children get to be certain ages, and they don't want to be told what to do, and you cannot make them. You can take a bite of the pie and go, "Mmm, this sure is great," and just leave it on the counter and walk away (laughs).

I'm so grateful for the example my parents set for me. I remember so many mornings stumbling downstairs and either my mother or my father would be studying their Bible, but they never said, "Come here and let me tell you what I'm reading here." I would just watch them. We went to church. The way that my parents communicated with me let me know that their faith was alive and well.

I pursue my relationship with God because it establishes and helps me understand who I am. I act differently toward myself when I believe that I'm valued by Him. From that standpoint, there's a basic wanting them to embrace faith. I want them to know that they are fully loved and fully redeemed, regardless of what they do, because that will affect the way they live. Loved people love people.

I want my children to embrace faith because that is the most free state they will ever know. When they're little, I can teach them how to pray. To me, it's just teaching and communicating. You get to a certain point and you go, "I cannot say anything else." I have got to trust their journey. How a person invests himself speaks for itself, and if they take an opportunity to get outside themselves and do something for somebody else, that thing has its own reward.

CY: You mention your wedding with Vince in your book, and how on one of the happiest days in your life you were surrounded by grim-faced children. Seven-and-a-half years later, what advice do you have for parents going through similar circumstances?

AG: I guess my advice, or my experience, is that if you have two people that are having a hard time communicating, it is always the older person's responsibility to bridge the gap. It's never the responsibility of the child to come to the parent. Blended family or nuclear family, if you feel like there's a chasm between you and a younger person that you're invested in, it's not their job to come to you. I have felt this way, too, "Oh! One of my kids is just not talking to me." Well, go knock on their door, and they still might not talk to you, but at least you can make the effort.

I read something years ago that for a really serious talk, you have about as many minutes as your child's age. A 14-year-old can handle about a 14-minute talk when you really have to discuss something. I remember one of my girls was approaching puberty, and I said, "I need to talk to you about being a woman," and she looked at her watch and said, "You have one minute." I was so put off guard. I was stammering through a few things, and she was looking at her watch the whole time and said, "Forty seconds left." I think all she heard was white noise.

I think the most important thing you can do with your children is to treat them with respect, and you can do that with a 9-month-old. You can treat them with respect and observe healthy boundaries. You can keep your 2-year-old from being your performance pet. When they say, "Enough," then respect that. At every turn, if you treat them with respect, they have an understanding of what it means. You can't expect to treat them with disrespect and have them grow up to understand what respect even means. It begins at birth.

Chad Young is senior editor for this publication. Amy Grant's Unguarded record (1985) was the quintessential album of his youth.

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